• 3 months ago
Liverpool head coach Arne Slot on his first Champions League debut at AC Milan

16/09/2024

Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, Italy
Transcript
00:00Hello again. Exactly the same process as with Alisson, we have simultaneous translation on headsets.
00:09If you could raise your hand if you would like to ask a question.
00:12Gary?
00:13We missed him. I missed him for a while.
00:16Oh, yeah, he followed you, didn't he?
00:18No, no, no.
00:20Oh, yes, I need this one.
00:23Hello there. San Siro, first game in charge of Liverpool in the Champions League,
00:29and your birthday.
00:31Tomorrow it is, yes.
00:33Congratulations. Hopefully lots more to celebrate as well.
00:38How big a night will this be for you in your career so far?
00:41Yeah, I think it's the first time that my birthday is not so important tomorrow.
00:49It's a big game, not for me, yeah, also for me, but it's a big game for us
00:54because it's the first game and it's the next game,
00:56and the next game is always the most important one, as you know.
01:01But because of the history that these two teams have and the venue where it's played in,
01:08it's one to look forward to.
01:14Last question from Hungarian RTL Television.
01:16Question about Dominic Szaboszlai.
01:20There will be another celebration.
01:23If he plays, it will be his 50th game in Liverpool.
01:28So far he played all four games full-time, 90 minutes.
01:34How important is his role for you in the team?
01:40I think all of the squad players I have, they have an important role,
01:43and he's played all four of them now.
01:46Every player feels more important when he plays than when he's not playing,
01:49but every squad member has his role, and during a season all of them will play a lot
01:54because we play a lot of games.
01:56But he's been important for us, especially until now in our work,
02:02when we don't have the ball, so he's been outstanding in his pressing game.
02:06And I think something that we have to work on with him
02:12is that he's also even more involved in scoring goals and creating chances for us,
02:18I think last season he scored three, if I remember correctly.
02:22And for an attacking midfielder at Liverpool, his numbers need to go up,
02:26but I'm really happy with the way he's done until now,
02:30and I'm 100 per cent sure that if he plays in a team with so much quality around him
02:35and with the quality he has, that he will in the end score more goals for us as well.
02:49Good evening, Mr Slot, my name is Paolo Vinci. Can you hear me?
02:54Yes, I can.
02:55OK.
03:01I would like to ask you the following.
03:04You have been telling about the history of AC Milan,
03:07the history of Liverpool, great teams and great games.
03:12In this very moment, are you scared about something related to AC Milan,
03:17or are you scared by some players,
03:20some players you would not like to see tomorrow in AC Milan?
03:27I don't know if the translation is correct, but the word scared was used,
03:32if I was scared for some players or for AC Milan.
03:35I don't think any manager or any team is scared to play the other team,
03:39but we have a lot of respect for the quality and the players and the history of Milan.
03:44The first one that comes to my mind is of course a Dutch player,
03:49Tietjani Reinders, who has done really well over here
03:51and also for the Dutch national team last week.
03:53So they have quality players, we're not scared,
03:55but we do respect the quality of the players and the history of AC Milan.
04:01Good evening.
04:02Good evening.
04:03Good evening.
04:04Good evening.
04:05Good evening.
04:06Good evening.
04:07Good evening.
04:08Good evening.
04:09Good evening.
04:10Good evening.
04:11Good evening.
04:12Good evening.
04:13Good evening.
04:14Good evening.
04:15Good evening.
04:16Good evening.
04:17Good evening.
04:18Good evening.
04:19Good evening.
04:20Good evening.
04:21Good evening.
04:22Good evening.
04:23Good evening.
04:24Good evening.
04:25Good evening.
04:26Good evening.
04:27Good evening.
04:28Good evening.
04:29Good evening.
04:30And happy birthday for tomorrow.
04:32Well, you listen.
04:33I was kind of surprised before,
04:36because the English colleagues are talking about a disappointment
04:40because you lost the game on Saturday.
04:46Alisson said that you need to be back to a good path.
04:50Alisson said this,
04:53but you have won the first three games
04:57and you only lost one.
04:59So is this disappointment that great, that big?
05:02What are the other things?
05:04We have to put right afterwards.
05:08Oh, yeah.
05:09We have to be better.
05:11Yeah.
05:12Not only the journalists were disappointed about the result from us
05:16against Nottingham Forest,
05:17the team and me were really disappointed as well.
05:20Although we always put it in the right perspective
05:23when we beat United,
05:25the journalists and us were really positive, of course.
05:28But I also saw things we had to improve.
05:31And last Saturday we didn't do as many things good as we did against United,
05:36but there were still a few things that went quite well.
05:39But it was a totally different game, and that's also for tomorrow.
05:42I expect a completely different game against Milan
05:44with the type of players they have and the playing style that manager has
05:49compared to Nottingham Forest.
05:51But we should be disappointed.
05:53If you lose a home game against Nottingham Forest
05:55and you play for and you work for Liverpool,
05:57if you're not disappointed.
05:59If you drop points in a home game against Nottingham Forest,
06:02then something is wrong.
06:04So, yeah, four games, nine points.
06:08It's a good start, but it's not a great start
06:10because then we would have had 12.
06:13Arno, good evening.
06:14Ian Dennis, BBC Radio.
06:15In the old Champions League format,
06:17if you won your home games or got to 10 points,
06:20there was a fair chance that you would qualify.
06:22I'm just intrigued to think how many points you think
06:25might be required in this new phase,
06:27and also what are your thoughts about the revamped Champions League format?
06:32A lot of questions in one.
06:34I think it's difficult for me to tell you now how many points are needed
06:38because it's the first time we play this competition
06:42and it's eight games.
06:44I've been in Europe for a few years with my former clubs
06:48and sometimes we went through to the next round,
06:50I think one time even with six points or seven points,
06:53and we ended up number one in the group.
06:55So that is difficult to say before you start,
06:59but I think it's clear that if you want to end up in the first eight,
07:02you have to win a lot of games.
07:03You need a lot of points.
07:08And what I think about the format,
07:10that's also something you can ask me better in the end.
07:13The only thing I like about it,
07:15just as someone who loves to see football every night on television,
07:18is that on every night there's a nice fixture.
07:21Where in the former format, sometimes there were evenings
07:25where you're like, OK, tomorrow is a nicer game than today.
07:28But now, for example, with our game tomorrow,
07:31I think everybody who loves football is looking forward to that game.
07:34So that is the positive thing for the person
07:37that sits at home in front of his television.
07:39How is it going to be for the players with two extra games?
07:42How is it going to be exciting in the end of the group stage as well?
07:46That's something that we have to find out
07:48and I don't think anyone has the answer to that at the moment.
07:51But if you ask me these questions in a few months,
07:54I can answer it probably much better than I can answer it now.
07:59After the defeat on Saturday,
08:01a lot has been made about rotation or lack of rotation,
08:04especially from your teams in the past.
08:07But with the fixtures coming now, thick and fast,
08:10and more Champions League games, are you going to have to rotate?
08:14Should we expect to see changes in different games now going forward?
08:21If rotation would be the reason why you don't win a game,
08:24then it probably wouldn't be the first game I lost in 2024 last Saturday
08:30because I found indeed we didn't rotate a lot.
08:33So for me, but everybody can have his own opinion,
08:37it's too simple to put this loss on rotation.
08:40It's because I think too many players didn't reach their normal level,
08:44and that was not only the ones that started, but also the ones that came in.
08:50For me, it had a lot to do with the playing style of the opponent
08:53who made it really difficult for us.
08:55But in the end, if you don't win,
08:58you try to look at as many arguments as you can find.
09:01And also, I ask myself the question,
09:04does it have to do with the things you said?
09:07But I prefer to look the game back and see what we did well,
09:11what we didn't do well, and I think we could have done a lot of things much better.
09:15That was not related towards rotation.
09:18But we would never know if I would have rotated three or four new players in
09:22if we would have won then.
09:24But this is going to be a long answer.
09:27I think it was the day before the press conference,
09:29someone said to me,
09:30ten of your players have started for the national team.
09:34So which ones were completely rested then?
09:40Now I can do something about rotation in the upcoming games
09:43because they're all with me.
09:45But before that, they were with the national team
09:47and almost all of them played two times 90 minutes.
09:53But I think they were prepared for that.
09:55We tried to prepare them for that.
09:58For me, this loss didn't have to do with rotation,
10:01but more to do with the opponent
10:03and us not bringing too many players what they can bring.
10:13Good evening, Mr Slot.
10:17Could you please tell us why did you want Federico Chiesa at Liverpool?
10:22What did you see in Federico Chiesa?
10:24What did you like about him?
10:25Will he be on the bench tomorrow?
10:29What we like about why we brought him in
10:31and what we like about him.
10:32I always like to bring in quality players
10:34and we believe and I think that he's a quality player
10:37that combines quality with an enormous work rate.
10:40And the culture of this club and the culture of this team
10:44is working really hard when we don't have the ball
10:46and I think he brings this to his game
10:48in combination with scoring goals,
10:51in combination with he can play in several positions up front.
10:56He is for the first time in our team selection.
11:03Since I said it's the first time he's in team selection,
11:06it would be a big surprise for him and for everyone
11:08if he would start tomorrow.
11:12I don't think you should expect that he starts,
11:14but he can make a few minutes for the first time tomorrow
11:17if we need him.
11:19And that is something we will see tomorrow.
11:21But for the first time with us,
11:24and don't expect him to be there in the starting line-up
11:29because he's been with you for training on his own for a long time.
11:34Now with us for a few weeks, he has some training time.
11:36So it's too early for him to play 90,
11:38but hopefully he can make his first minutes
11:41in the upcoming fixtures.
11:44Welcome to Milan, Mr Slot.
11:46My name is Marco Bidi from Gazzetta dello Sport.
11:50In Italy, there is always a large debate
11:53regarding Rafael Leao, regarding his football,
11:55his style of football.
11:57You have trained great wingers, Salah, Luis Diaz,
12:00now you have Federico Chiesa and many quality players.
12:03Regarding Leao, do you think that he is already a top player
12:07or he still has a long way to go to become a top player?
12:11He still has a long way to go to become one of them.
12:14Do you have something special tomorrow to stop him?
12:22You were asking me if he's already a special player,
12:24and there's a lot of talks about him, you said.
12:27I didn't know, but that's what you told me.
12:29And I think that means that he's a top player.
12:31But because people always talk about the top players,
12:34they don't talk about the players that are underneath.
12:38We know his quality.
12:41We've studied, of course, the Milan team.
12:44One of the ones that catches your eye is definitely Rafael Leao.
12:49How do we try to stop him not being at his best?
12:53That's always a team performance thing.
12:55We need to defend as a team really well
12:58to stop the likes of Rafael Leao.
13:01But they have more quality in the team
13:03and more special players than only Rafael Leao.
13:07He's definitely one of their top players, in my opinion.
13:17A quick question regarding McAllister,
13:19a very important and crucial player for you.
13:22I would like to know from you whether he's included
13:27in the rotation you were mentioning before.
13:32I have only important players.
13:34All 23 I took to the Milan game tomorrow
13:38are very important to me and to the club.
13:43I think you saw I took him off after 60 minutes,
13:46somewhere around 60 minutes, against Nottingham Forest.
13:50That also had to do with him not playing the full 90 minutes
13:54with the national team, being out for a few days with an injury.
13:57That had a bit to do with rotation.
14:04But I think he's able to play tomorrow, again, 60 or 90 minutes
14:08and we will see the decision I make tomorrow.
14:10But he's definitely, like the other 22, an important player for us.
14:34.

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