Liverpool boss Arne Slot on Chiesa signing, transfers and previewing Manchester United derby clash
30/08/2024
AXA training centre, Liverpool, UK
30/08/2024
AXA training centre, Liverpool, UK
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00:00Jürgen, how satisfied are you with the business you've been able to do this week?
00:17Chiesa and Mamadashvili, and what chance is there of maybe another signing on deadline day?
00:22Again, a lot of questions in one question.
00:26Of course we are happy with the ones we signed,
00:29because I've said many times that it's difficult for us to make the team even stronger,
00:34because we already have a very strong team,
00:36and if we then find them, of course we are very happy with that.
00:39Chiesa is someone who can help us for the short term,
00:43and Mamadashvili, I think I pronounced it really well,
00:50is one of the examples where this club did very well in the past,
00:55and we look also at the long-term future of the club, and that's why we signed him.
01:01Any chance of...?
01:03Oh, yeah, that was your last question.
01:06I'm not expecting anything, but again, it's no different than all the days before,
01:12if we see an opportunity we could act, but I'm not expecting anything.
01:16I just wanted to ask you about Kelleher with Mamadashvili coming in next summer,
01:19and his long-term future, how do you see it?
01:21Because he's got two years left on his contract,
01:23obviously it's going to be a different competition for places with Mamadashvili coming in,
01:27so at his age I'd imagine he's got a decision to make on his future, hasn't he?
01:31Maybe, but we have to make decisions as well, it's not only the player.
01:36I think if you work at a club like Liverpool you need competition and we need a lot of good players,
01:41and like I said, Mamadashvili is someone for the long future of the club,
01:46and I'm really, really happy with the goalkeepers we have at the moment.
01:50And Kouive is one of them, like Fita and Ali,
01:55so we're in a good place when it comes to goalkeepers for now and for the long term.
02:00Good start to the season, you've obviously already faced Manchester United in the summer as well,
02:04but how different an experience are you expecting going to Old Trafford in the Premier League?
02:09It's going to be different, of course, because when we played them in the States I think it was 50-50,
02:15when it was about the fans, the stadium was somewhere the same,
02:19I think it was 80,000 or something like this.
02:22But the atmosphere will be completely different, of course,
02:25because I'm not expecting half of the stadium to be cheering for us or in favour for us.
02:31I would be surprised though if it happens.
02:33So it's going to be different, but what makes it more different
02:37is that both teams have a lot of different players on the pitch,
02:41so you can't compare that game with the game on Sunday.
02:45What have you been told about this fixture,
02:49what's been said to you around the club this week ahead of going to Old Trafford?
02:53Some of them tried to tell me a few things about it, but I don't think that's really necessary.
02:59If you're starting to work at Liverpool, everybody knows, every player that comes in knows,
03:05and every manager that comes in knows how important the game against United is.
03:09It's similar to when you work at Feyenoord, how big the game against Ajax is.
03:12So people tell you, of course, but it's not really necessary,
03:18because if you follow the game of football, which I do,
03:21for a long time you know the importance of United against Liverpool.
03:27Obviously two Dutch managers in charge, you've already met Eric,
03:30both in your home country but then in pre-season too,
03:33how would you describe your relationship with him?
03:36As good and as normal as the relationship you have with many other managers.
03:41So Eric, Rene Hagen and Ludwig van Nistel have joined him,
03:47and the relationship with both of them is also the same as with Eric.
03:51I would call that very good, because all of us respect each other a lot,
03:57because of what these managers did at their former clubs.
04:01They've been successful, all three of them at the clubs they worked at in the past,
04:06so there's a good relationship between us.
04:10Friends?
04:11No, no, no friends.
04:15Friends is something else, I think.
04:17But a very good relationship, but a friend is someone you see a lot and you go out with,
04:22either to dinner or with, but that's not something we've done in the past.
04:26For that we don't know each other well enough.
04:31Hi, Arne. On Federico Chiesa, he hasn't played since the Euros and didn't have a pre-season.
04:37Do the fans have to be a little bit patient with him to see the best out of him?
04:40How excited are you to sign such an exciting winger who is still only 26?
04:45Excited, like I said before.
04:48If we sign someone that can help us achieve our goals and improve the squad,
04:52if we then find someone, of course you're really excited that we brought him in.
04:56I think one of the best things of working here, what I've noticed till now,
05:02is the culture of this team.
05:04They work really hard to try to achieve their goals,
05:07and I think it's really important that the first player you bring in
05:11has that same attitude and brings the same culture.
05:19So he works really hard on and off the pitch to try to get the best out of him,
05:25and he combines this with scoring goals.
05:27And, like I said, really aggressive without the ball,
05:31and those are already two characteristics with him.
05:36Playing on so many positions, on the right, on the left and maybe even in the middle,
05:41makes him an interesting signing for us.
05:43Although I agree with you, we should take care of him in the beginning,
05:46because he didn't train with the team in the last two weeks, but before he did.
05:51We haven't played many game-minutes yet, but we have a very good performance staff,
05:55so we will build him up in the right way,
05:58and then hopefully we can see his quality in the near future.
06:03When you're in the Netherlands, you've experienced one of the fiercest rivalries
06:07in European football with Bane, Audience and Ajax.
06:09I just wondered, how much does that experience prepare you
06:13for the biggest rivalry in English football?
06:16I think preparing for every game takes a lot of time,
06:20and one of the most important things is to prepare them for what they can expect.
06:25And what they can expect is mostly about the players they face,
06:28but I think now playing in a hostile environment with 75,000...
06:36Players have to be aware of that, but the good thing for me,
06:39it might be my first time that I go there with Liverpool,
06:42it's going to be my second time over there.
06:44But many of these players have played there before,
06:46so I don't think I have to prepare them for these 75,000, they've been used to this.
06:52But I have to prepare them in the best possible way of what they can expect,
06:55because United play, in my opinion, a bit different than the last two seasons.
07:01Therefore, I need to prepare them.
07:04Arno, do you think talk of Chiesa's injury record is over-exaggerated?
07:09There's no concerns there for you at all?
07:13Would be the first time that English media over-exaggerate, wouldn't it?
07:17I think it's true that he had a long-term injury with his ACL,
07:23but for the rest I don't think he had big injuries,
07:28minor injuries like every other player may have.
07:31But, again, we have a lot of trust in our performance staff,
07:34and the good thing is that he's not the only winger we have,
07:38he's one out of four where some others can play in that position as well.
07:42So, if he's not available at certain moments,
07:46but not only with him, he will also be with the others,
07:49then there are still enough players for me to choose.
08:00Do you see any more outgoings today, Arno?
08:02Maybe someone like Benzo going out on loan,
08:04or Matt Phillips who's been on the fringes of things?
08:07Again, same for incoming transfers or loans.
08:10If it's the right opportunity for the player and for us as a club, we will act,
08:15and if that opportunity comes for the both of us, it will happen.
08:19But, to be honest, my main attention is on United and not on the outgoings.
08:26And just fitness-wise, how's the case with Jones, are there any more injuries?
08:30At the moment there are not any other injuries except for Curtis Jones,
08:34and he will not train with us today, so for the rest we'll train with his team.
08:41Arno, you said it's going to be your second time in Old Trafford.
08:47What was the first time like, how did you experience that?
08:51Yeah, the moment I said it, I thought,
08:53it's not so smart if people don't know that I've been there before.
08:56Because we lost 4-0, with one of my former clubs,
09:01I think it was the Europa League, when Kuno Solskjaer was still there.
09:05So that wasn't the best experience,
09:09but it's also, although we had a very good team back then with Ajax at home,
09:16we played 0-0 against them, I think I have a better team now to go to Old Trafford.
09:23But you cannot compare, of course, anything.
09:26And one question about when we talked to trainers and managers who worked here,
09:33Van Gaal, Hiddink, Ten Hag, they all said the same,
09:38that they were surprised about the fact that in England there's always pressure on the ball.
09:43If you play United, if you play Juve or Town, it doesn't matter,
09:47of course you're only a short period here, but can you see what they experience?
09:52I'm not sure if they said this or meant this,
09:58what I see is maybe not that there's always pressure on the ball,
10:01I think every team has a high press, most of them do, though,
10:05but the physicality of the league is much, much higher than we are used to in Holland.
10:11In Holland you face a number of 10 to 18, then there's a lot less physicality.
10:19But when we played Staples Bridge, the first half,
10:23they could see the few yellows who were maybe close to,
10:25maybe being a red card.
10:29That's a bit exaggerated, so I get used to the English media.
10:36But, yeah, like I said, it's much harder to win against a number 10 to 18
10:43than it is in Holland if you are Ajax or final, it's obvious.
10:56Jürgen, Javi hasn't really featured much this season,
11:00what's the plan with him and his game time?
11:03Like all the others, it's the same, I think the disadvantage for some of them
11:08without having a lot of playing time is that we only have one game a week,
11:12so we don't have to manage game time in that perspective.
11:16Javi came in 10 minutes, so that's not a lot,
11:18but he, like some others as well who are not playing, have a lot of competition.
11:23That's also one of the reasons why we only brought in one player,
11:25because we think we have a lot of good players,
11:28and we already have a lot of competition.
11:30Javi will get, in my opinion, a lot of playing time if he keeps doing what he does at the moment,
11:37work really hard, show his quality when he comes in,
11:39and he already showed his quality in pre-season.
11:42But he's in competition at this moment,
11:45if you look at the player who's playing on his position, it's Dom Soberslein,
11:50who's done well in the first two games as well.
11:53It's a luxury to have the choice between the two of them.
11:56Yeah, thank you.
11:57Can we just check, is it too early for Chiesa this weekend?
12:00He's going to train with us today,
12:03but there's a bigger chance that he's not in the squad for Sunday than he is,
12:09but if injuries might come up in the upcoming two days we might need him.
12:12I don't expect him to be in, but I cannot guarantee that.
12:23you