Liverpool boss Arne Slot previews their Premier League clash with Wolves and hopes Alisson will be fit
Melwood, Liverpool, UK
Melwood, Liverpool, UK
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00:00First of all, how is Alisson, is he ready to return and where is he in his recovery?
00:20We think he is. He trained yesterday, a part of our session with the group,
00:27so we expect him to do the whole session today.
00:31So we think he is available, but of course we have to train today.
00:35And of course we are really happy with Alisson being back,
00:39but I want to emphasise on the fact that Kweeb did really well in the two games he was on goal for us.
00:45Another example of me having two, and I think even three, good options in certain positions in goal.
00:55In your forward line you've got six options,
00:57Jota scored two goals against West Ham, Salah has got four goals in his seven games so far,
01:03Gakpo is off the mark with two against West Ham,
01:06Nunez started back-to-back games and scored against Bournemouth and Luis Diaz,
01:09five goals in six appearances so far, add to that you've been able to give Kies a minute.
01:13Talk us through how you look at it, how would you describe the decisions you've got to make
01:18when selecting your starting forward line?
01:22For me it says two things, it says that these players have a lot of quality,
01:26and second of all it says that the team is always creating chances
01:30for the players we are selecting for that game.
01:34Because if we play Cody or if we play Lucio, the team is just creating chances for these individuals,
01:42and because they have so much quality they can promote this to assist our goals.
01:50So, yeah, that's what it says to me.
01:53Also, I need to follow up on that, because it's showing that they're sharp as well,
01:59whether they've been out on the side, they're coming in and producing,
02:02how are you able to maintain that sharpness when they're not necessarily getting the maximum amount of minutes?
02:08Yeah, that's the positive thing about playing so many games,
02:11that these players will always play a lot of games,
02:15and I think they understand that they can't play every game unless it's absolutely necessary
02:21to keep them fit and sharp and to keep them ready to perform like they do.
02:27So as long as they accept the situation as it is, and that's what they're doing at the moment,
02:34because they have good numbers and I see them smile a lot as well,
02:39then it's a very positive thing for us, and that's also one of my things on my job.
02:44We have to keep them alert and happy in the position they are in.
02:49Jürgen, I know the answer to this as well, but with regards to contract situations,
02:54obviously there's further talk of Trent being offered a new contract,
02:57continues to be linked with Real Madrid,
02:59how disappointed would you be if you only got to work with Trent and or Virgil or Mo for just one year?
03:07Because I'm guessing you're not going to bring us up to date on what the contract situation is at the moment.
03:11No, and you're just trying to find another way of asking me!
03:16I'm very happy that these three players are in my team at the moment,
03:20and there are a lot of games to be played in this season,
03:23and especially also in the upcoming week and weeks,
03:27so I'm really happy that I can select them, and let's see what the future brings.
03:35Continuing on with that theme of the depth of the squad,
03:38Curtis Jones is obviously impressive in midweek as well,
03:41particularly after the change of position,
03:43and when it's so necessary in this busy period you've already spoken about.
03:47How impressed are you with this inherited squad's willingness to learn and adapt on the job?
03:54I think I've said it on many occasions already that I'm really happy with the squad I inherited,
03:59not only because of their quality but maybe even more about the culture that Jürgen left behind.
04:04All these players are team players, so they accept their role even if they are not playing,
04:09and they always want to work hard for the team first,
04:14and, yeah, it's been a privilege to inherit a squad like I inherited from Jürgen.
04:25Wolves, obviously the opposition, struggling to get off the mark this season,
04:30you lost one point from their five games, what do you expect from them this weekend?
04:35I don't think it represents the way they played,
04:42and they had a very tough fixture list in the first five games,
04:47I think they played Arsenal away, Newcastle away, Villa away, Chelsea at home,
04:51so that's a more difficult schedule than we had, for example.
04:56So you always have to take this into account, and of course I had to watch a few games of them
05:02because we play them tomorrow, and I can see that even the games were very tight
05:07and they deserved more than they got a few times.
05:10So I think they will be fine during the season, hopefully not tomorrow,
05:14but they will be fine at the end of the season.
05:18Hi there, Arner.
05:20More encouraging signs this week with the victories against Bournemouth and West Ham,
05:26but in both games you gave up quite a lot of chances to the opposition,
05:32how much of a concern is that?
05:35Because excellent goalkeeping from Koubine Kele in both games,
05:39but you can't always guarantee that goalkeeping excellence,
05:42even despite the fact you've got quality in that position.
05:47The last thing you say is very important for us in the last two games,
05:52that we have a lot of quality in that position.
05:55On the other hand, we create a lot of chances as well,
05:59but in an ideal world we don't concede as much as we did in the last two games.
06:03But if there is one big difference for me between my former club
06:07and the competition I worked in and this competition,
06:10is that every team has so many quality players in their squad and in their team
06:16that they are always able to create chances as well.
06:19You also have to give credit to the teams we face and the quality they are having,
06:25but we need to do better in that aspect if we want to keep clean sheets more and more often.
06:32We keep emphasising on that.
06:35One of the reasons why the other team doesn't score that easy
06:39is also because we have a good goalkeeper,
06:41but if you every time count the bodies that are inside our 18-yard box
06:44the moment the other team gets a chance, that's also a real positive thing
06:49and it makes it more difficult for the other team to score as well.
06:52How do you address the question of doing better defensively?
06:57Because there's clearly a risk and reward element to the way you play.
07:01Is it tinkering with what the players do individually and so therefore collectively?
07:06No, it's mostly about working on it collectively,
07:09but in the last game I think a few chances also came from set-pieces.
07:13The goal they scored also came from a set-piece
07:15and their second big chance in the game was also a set-piece.
07:18Then we lost one time the ball so easy where Simmerfeld could go on a 1-v-1.
07:23But as always, it's always about the collective idea, that is what we have to improve.
07:32Then the individual quality that we have helps, of course,
07:35to become better as a team as well.
07:39Thank you, Bob.
07:41I was interested to read in your programme notes mid-week
07:45that you were challenging the players to show how they react to certain situations.
07:49Is there anything in particular that you've learned in the last week or so
07:54that maybe you weren't aware of before?
07:57I've said it earlier, I learn day by day, every time, more about the players.
08:05Of course you know their quality, you know what they can do on the training ground,
08:09but we haven't faced many set-backs yet, although the first game was a set-back for us.
08:16So you always want to learn how individual players and we as a team react on set-backs,
08:21how we react if we play a fantastic game with a great score,
08:26how we react three days later.
08:28So you have to learn day by day, and that's what I'm doing,
08:34and then you try to adjust wherever you can to trigger them to get the best out of themselves,
08:40because it's all about offence, defence and all these things we try to work on,
08:47but it's also every time you try to find a trigger for them to be on top of their game
08:52every single time they step out on the pitch.
08:56Tom?
08:58I know you've spoken generally about the depth of the forward line,
09:01can I just ask about Luis Diaz?
09:03Five goals this season already, and I think that's probably an area that's improved,
09:08personally, since last season, where he was getting in additions but not getting the goals.
09:14What's changed with him, do you think?
09:17Oh, that's difficult for me to judge because I wasn't here last season.
09:22It's still a small sample size where we are talking about,
09:25and I said before also when it comes to us winning quite a lot of games,
09:31that till now almost all the teams we've faced are on the bottom league of the table,
09:37where of course we expect United to be on top of the table in the end of the season.
09:46So there's still a lot for us to prove,
09:49maybe the fixture list helped us by this amount of goals the forward scored,
09:54and let's see if we can keep scoring so many goals if the fixture list is getting harder and harder,
09:59starting tomorrow in a difficult away game against Wolves.
10:02Have you done anything specific with him in terms of improving his output?
10:07No, I don't think so, not particularly with him.
10:10We train on a daily basis, trying to get them as much as we can in certain situations,
10:14and then help them in the best possible way where to position themselves
10:18and what to do in certain situations.
10:24But it's mainly also in this last period of the pitch,
10:28the quality of the player and the finishing he has, and I think he always had this.
10:33And I wasn't even that aware of the fact that...
10:36How many goals did he score last season?
10:38Eight.
10:40Eight, OK. For me he was someone who could score a goal,
10:43and eight is for his quality, not of his standards, I would say.
10:47But did he play a lot? Did he play every day?
10:50OK, so then I think he just comes back to his normal situation.
10:56Maybe he was a bit unlucky last season,
10:58but a player of his quality will always score a lot of goals in every season.
11:04Arno, one of the hallmarks of Wolves' season so far
11:07is that they're starting very quickly in games.
11:09I think they've been ahead at half-time in both their last two games,
11:12even though they went on to lose those.
11:14The same happened with Liverpool when they were last season.
11:17And if you look at Liverpool's last few games,
11:19you obviously had the goal away in the lad,
11:21but there were a couple of early moments against Bournemouth and West Ham
11:25where maybe concentration wasn't at its highest.
11:28What do you put that down to?
11:30Is this something you stressed ahead of this challenge against Wolves?
11:34If you look at us, our games, I think it's always in a game,
11:38the first 15 to 20 minutes both teams have a lot of energy,
11:41and they're all very hard and try to get maximum energy in the start,
11:47and then after 10, 15, 20 minutes the game mostly settles down
11:51and then the team that, in my opinion, plays the best football
11:54gets the ball a lot and starts to play.
11:57But the first 15 to 20 are always two teams that are doing this.
12:01When it comes to Wolves, I'm not surprised that they go up
12:04because they play really good football,
12:06and I think they've been really unlucky
12:08not getting the results they might have deserved.
12:11Even last season, because that game where Liverpool won,
12:15they were also 1-0 up, and I think it took to the 85th minute
12:18where Robbo scored a goal, which he doesn't do a lot.
12:23So that was also a tough game for us.
12:27So I think the players who played that game,
12:29and almost all of them are still in the team,
12:31know how tough it is to play over there.
12:34We need to be ready in the start, but you need to be in every game,
12:38because, like I said in the beginning, it's always two teams full of energy
12:43trying to come out in the best possible way.
12:49Arne, you came in at the start of the season after Jürgen,
12:55are you pleased with the progress of the team so far,
12:58where you are at the table?
13:00Did you expect to be this high up, especially with the fixture lists that came out?
13:04Can the players keep this going for the entire season?
13:09I think it's been a positive start,
13:11with a small disappointment of us losing at home against Nottingham Forest.
13:15I think every home game you lose is a disappointment,
13:18especially if it's not against a team that's competing for a top-four position,
13:24although you never know what Nottingham Forest is going to do this season.
13:27That was definitely a disappointment, but overall it's been a good start,
13:32not a perfect one, because then we should have won the game I was just referring to.
13:38But the style we play, the way we play, is still very close to what you guys were used to for nine years,
13:45which is quite normal because we almost have all the same players like Jürgen had.
13:52Keeping results going is a good thing.
13:55Again, I have to mention that the fixture list has been good to us,
14:01although you never know, maybe in 17 or 18 games,
14:04these teams that are now on the bottom side of the table
14:07maybe go up in the upcoming weeks and months.
14:11It's been a good start, but not a perfect one.