Arne Slot on Liverpool extending lead at top after 2-0 Villa win
09/11/2024
Anfield, liverpool, UK
09/11/2024
Anfield, liverpool, UK
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SportsTranscript
00:00A win tonight, top of the league, five points clear of Man City,
00:03it doesn't get much better, does it?
00:05Because of the first reason, if you win, it mostly doesn't get better than that.
00:11If you win the amount of games we do, you can be ahead,
00:17it's not sure yet in this league, because Arsenal, City, Chelsea,
00:21all these clubs that are playing in this league,
00:23they were able to win so many games as well,
00:25and that's what they've shown in the last few seasons.
00:28So we're only focused on ourselves, and then a win against a very good team like Villa,
00:33who have done so well in the last few years, is always important.
00:38The crowd were really up for it from the start of the game,
00:41did you get a sense that there was an extra motivation
00:44possibly at the back of having watched Manchester City lose a few minutes before?
00:49I cannot tell what the fans felt about that,
00:52I can only tell that if my players need extra motivation for a result on another pitch,
00:57that would not be a good idea.
01:01I think if you play at Anfield in front of your own fans,
01:05you should always be motivated, and that's what they've been for the time I've been here now,
01:10and probably the years before as well.
01:13You should not need motivation from a result on another pitch,
01:17and that's also not what I felt today with the players.
01:20Maybe the fans feel different, I don't know, you have to ask them.
01:25Jürgen, you scored by breaking away when they had corners,
01:29did you pay attention to what they were doing at corners
01:32and knew they were leaving themselves exposed, or was it just the quality of the break?
01:37No, we did put effort in preventing them from scoring,
01:42because they are a main threat, not in general, but today that was their main threat,
01:48in my opinion, their set-pieces.
01:50So we had to do a lot to prevent them from scoring,
01:52and one or two times we needed a goalkeeper for that.
01:55And then these counter-breaks have nothing to do with what we do in a training round,
02:00or what we tell them before, that is pure quality
02:02and pure what the players come up with in these transition moments.
02:08For us it's about preventing the other team from scoring,
02:11but for the ones that have been here for so many years,
02:14it's not going to be a complete surprise, because it happened before, I think.
02:18Jürgen, you mentioned the goalkeeper,
02:22what's your attitude to people who hold the number-one goalkeeping spot?
02:27Does Kevin Carragher lose his place in the moment and does Alisson-Becker become fit?
02:33First of all, Alisson needs to become fit.
02:36I've always been quite clear, and that's always been the position of Alisson,
02:42that he is and will be our first goalkeeper if he's fit.
02:46But first he needs to be fit.
02:49Kweif has done outstanding last season, this season again as well,
02:55but the moment Alisson will be fit he will be our first goalkeeper.
03:02Just a trend came up today, what was the injury, do you know how serious it is yet?
03:08That's difficult to say how serious it is,
03:11but it's always serious if a player goes out in the first half,
03:13not because I didn't like him, but because he asked for it himself.
03:17And he didn't ask for it because he was tired, he asked for it because he felt something.
03:21So, yeah, that's first of all not a good sign,
03:25but it's always difficult so close after the game to tell you exactly what it is.
03:31But, yeah, let's wait and see.
03:34I would be surprised if we would see him playing for the England national team this week,
03:38but hopefully he can.
03:43Jürgen, you don't coach many different instruments,
03:46but it does feel like it's a big league as we know,
03:49another must-be at the top of the championship,
03:51and that's clearly a good connection with the club,
03:55and did you feel a bit of a consequential two games?
04:00Sorry, what was the last?
04:02Did you feel a bit of a consequential, big week?
04:06No, it was definitely a big week, but every game is a big week.
04:12We play so many games in all these competitions against so many strong opponents,
04:18so hopefully we will have a lot of these weeks to come,
04:22because these weeks are mostly big if you are competing for something,
04:27and that's what we are doing at the moment.
04:29We are trying to compete for the league, trying to compete for the Champions League,
04:32and trying to compete in the Cups we are in as well.
04:35And we also know it's a long season where we have to continuously be on top of our game
04:41because the likes of Arsenal, City, Chelsea and all these other clubs
04:44are able to win just as many games as we did in the first 15 to 16 games.
04:48So we have to stay on top of our game, which is never going to be easy,
04:52but we will push for it as much as we can.