Liverpool boss Arne Slot on the tricky test they have against in-form Bournemouth side, Mo Salah's links to Saudi Arabia and the need to stop social media abuse of referees and players
Melwood, Liverpool, UK
Melwood, Liverpool, UK
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Morning.
00:04You could go out of bed a bit later now.
00:16Arnold, we'll start with a serious topic.
00:18What do you make of the Eustace-directed referees that's been highlighted this week
00:22with online Eustace and Michael Oliver,
00:24and what responsibility is there for players, coaches, even the media as well,
00:28is that an example?
00:30Yeah, no, we all have a responsibility when it comes to this,
00:34we are aware of that,
00:36and maybe not always we've been perfect examples,
00:40but we are human beings as well,
00:42but we try to be as responsible as possible.
00:45The good thing in this country is the atmosphere in every ground,
00:49we go to every stadium, it's fantastic,
00:51and that's not everywhere in Europe.
00:54In Holland there are much more problems in and around the stadium than here in England,
00:58so England was maybe the first country that has this under control,
01:02hopefully we, England, can become now also the first country
01:07that has the online abuse as an answer to that,
01:10because it's about referees, but I think players get this,
01:16and as a manager probably as well if you lose a few games.
01:22The social media thing is something we all are aware of,
01:27and hopefully, like I just said,
01:30we can get this in a way that this abuse is not there anymore,
01:35but at this moment that's irrealistic.
01:38I just wanted to ask you about Mo Salah as well,
01:41because there's quotes from the Saudi Sports Minister today
01:44where he says we would love to have him,
01:46which I don't think comes as any surprise to anyone,
01:48given the numbers he's producing,
01:50but from an objective point of view,
01:52what would your advice be to someone like Mo over a move to Saudi,
01:56when he's playing at the level he is at the moment in terms of the numbers he's producing?
02:00Yeah, I would be surprised if there's anyone wherever around the world saying,
02:05we don't want Mo Salah, he's been doing so well for so many years
02:09that everybody probably wants him.
02:12He's done so well without my advice for a long time,
02:16so he can probably keep doing what is best for his career, even without my advice.
02:22But my advice to him would be different than the one you just mentioned.
02:29Can you expand on that slightly then, if your advice would be different?
02:33No, what I mean by different is everybody wants him, including us.
02:38We want him to extend, of course, as well.
02:42Yeah, that is clear, but I'm not surprised that Saudi wants him,
02:46but I would not be surprised if other countries want him as well.
02:50He's been old and wise enough, he's done so many smart things in his career
02:57that he will make the right decision for himself and hopefully for us as well.
03:01We will look at football, because Bournemouth, nine first-team players injured,
03:0611 Premier League games unbeaten, nine goals in the last two games,
03:10beating Newcastle and Nottingham Forest as well.
03:13How do you assess the challenge you face this weekend?
03:16It's a big one, and this is probably going to sound strange,
03:19and I knew this already when we played the second half against them in our home game.
03:23We were 3-0 up at half-time, and I was expecting a second half
03:28where we could just control the game, have the ball a bit and maybe score the fourth one,
03:32but they just kept on going at us for 45 minutes,
03:35and that showed me the character of the team.
03:38And since then they've been outstanding.
03:41Before that game also, because we were 3-0 up at half-time,
03:44we didn't really match the first half, in my opinion.
03:49Maybe we deserved to be up, but not with three goals.
03:52And afterwards they've beaten so many strong teams, and there's a simple reason for that.
03:57A lot of quality created by Richard, of course.
04:02He created our current sports director, who worked there for a few years,
04:06and he hired a fantastic manager as well.
04:09Why is he a fantastic manager? He has a great game plan,
04:12and his players work incredibly hard.
04:16And then, in a different way than Arsenal, they're also a threatened set-piece.
04:22Arsenal, nine out of ten times, does the same.
04:26They always come up with worked ones that have been very useful for them as well.
04:31So, in every department, a very good and strong team,
04:35and they deserve to be where they are.
04:37Maybe they even deserve a bit higher than the position they are in at the moment.
04:55Yeah, he's one of the many examples where I think Richard deserves a lot of credit for.
05:00But not only Richard, the manager of course as well, because he started working with him.
05:04And you know that I believe the team makes individuals better.
05:08So, yeah, you need quality, and that's what Richard brought there,
05:13and his successor probably as well.
05:16But I think most of the players that are there were there last season already as well,
05:21and the manager has done an incredible job.
05:23So, just a great season he's having, nice and good to see for us,
05:28because we always knew he was a big talent, he left Holland quite early.
05:32He was a bit criticised for that, because in Holland many people always feel
05:36you need to have some extra years in the advisory before you go abroad.
05:40But he's a great example that you can be really successful by going abroad early
05:45and go to a few clubs, and then at a certain age, because I think he's only 24,
05:50he's not so old yet, and be at this level already.
05:55He will play another big talent that has grown up at Ajax, Ryan Gravenberg,
06:01so an interesting match-up tomorrow.
06:05Obviously you rested a lot of players in the previous game,
06:08we're expecting you to make a lot of changes,
06:10but how has the rest of the squad, any of the players coming back from injury?
06:14Yeah, you can say I rested a lot of players,
06:17you can also say you played the ones that needed playing time.
06:21I was really pleased how they performed in PSV Eindhoven,
06:24who were, apart from three or four players that were not playing,
06:28had quite a strong team, and we were more than competitive,
06:32even in the second half when there were so many youngsters on the pitch.
06:38And the ones that stayed behind, they didn't rest in the sense
06:43that they had three or four days off.
06:46They did train, but they didn't play a game.
06:49As I said already, that doesn't give us any guarantees for Saturday,
06:53but it hopefully will help us during the upcoming three or four months,
06:57because the Premier League and the Champions League is a long season for them,
07:03with ten months in a row non-stop playing games without any weeks off in between.
07:10So hopefully that will help us to stay fresh for the upcoming months.
07:19We saw Federico Chiesa play the 90 minutes against PSV,
07:23every time he always seems to be really positive, always wants to attack.
07:27How much of a threat could he be for the rest of the season,
07:30and is he ready for more minutes in the Premier League as well?
07:33Yeah, of course, he's ready for more minutes in the Premier League,
07:36because if he can play 90 at Champions League level,
07:39then you are able to play an amount of minutes in the Premier League.
07:45His main problem, if you want to call it a problem,
07:49is that he's in competition with Luis Diaz, Darwin Nunes,
07:53Cody Kakpo, Mo Salah and Djoko Djota.
07:57I think you agree with me that they are doing quite well also.
08:02But it's very good for us that it was six or seven months ago
08:06he's had against Swiss when they lost in the Euros,
08:08it was his last time he played 90 minutes.
08:11It's very good from him, but definitely also from our performance staff,
08:15that during training sessions we've got him to the point
08:20that he's able to play 90 minutes without a lot of friendlies or whatever he has to play.
08:25So a big compliment for him, how hard he's worked,
08:28and for the performance and medical staff as well.
08:31I know you mentioned Dominic Sabre's life after the game last weekend,
08:34but at the end of last season he was talking about the difference
08:37between the pace of the Bundesliga and the Premier League,
08:40he maybe set the bar himself too high and didn't perform as well as he could have done in some games.
08:45What have you seen from this season to give you that opinion
08:50that he can play that role for you this season?
08:54If he said what you said, then I will talk to him today or tomorrow and say,
08:59at this club you can never set the bar too high, because that's impossible.
09:04The bar at this club is of the highest standards and this is where you have to get to.
09:10But probably he meant that he played some really good games,
09:13and in football it's impossible to play 60 games of a certain level.
09:20You can always go a bit lower, that's normal, but not too far.
09:24And then we are talking about consistency.
09:27And this season he's been very consistent in his work rate,
09:33which is a main thing in football, it's underestimated sometimes,
09:37but I just highlighted why Bournemouth is doing so well,
09:41I think it's one of the reasons why we do so well also.
09:44But he's not only working hard, if he works hard the intensity he can run at,
09:49the intensity he can play duels in, is of the highest standards,
09:55even of this level we are playing at.
09:58So that's what for me stands out with him compared to many others,
10:03the ability for him to run in a certain intensity and keep on running.
10:08And I think what he is improving in recent weeks or months
10:14is that he's more and more involved in dangerous attacks
10:18and sometimes in assisting goals.
10:20In the last game he was involved in two goals,
10:22so that is something he deserves because he's putting so much work in,
10:27and his technique is also outstanding.
10:30I've always felt that it's a matter of time before he would score goals,
10:34give assists, because his shot, his touch on the ball...
10:39Yeah, he should set the standards high because he's a player
10:44that can reach definitely those standards.
10:49Hi, Arjen. You mentioned it was just Hughes,
10:52he obviously played a big part in assembling this Bournemouth side.
10:56Have you spoken to him before the game?
10:59Can you talk about how your relationship is working with him?
11:04Yeah, I spoke with him before this game, as I speak to him before every game,
11:08and one day before the game, two days, three days, four days,
11:11we almost speak to each other on a daily basis.
11:15And of course I asked him a few things on Bournemouth as well,
11:21but we have very good people that analyse Bournemouth,
11:27and I'm doing this myself quite a lot as well.
11:30I see a lot of games of them already.
11:33So it's just the more information you can get, the better it is.
11:38But my relationship with him is very good,
11:41which is probably what you can expect if you win a lot of games,
11:44because mostly relationships between managers and sports directors
11:48are a bit under debate if you start to lose a lot.
11:53But, no, my relationship with him is only very positive from start till now.
12:03Just to go back to the question you asked about giving advice,
12:07I know you're not involved in contract negotiations,
12:12but have you expressed your thoughts to those three players
12:15that are out contracting so much about what you want from them
12:20and where you see their future?
12:23I think you know the answer to this question, don't you?
12:26The answer is, of course, I speak with these players,
12:29I speak with them not every day like Richard, but quite a lot.
12:33And it would be ridiculous if in all these times I speak to them
12:37we've never spoken about the future.
12:40So, of course, we do.
12:42But, as you probably also know,
12:45that's not something I'm going to discuss with you,
12:48where we are talking about.
12:51But it's not only with the three that are out of contract,
12:55you also talk about future things with the other players as well.
13:00It's a non-stop process talking to your players,
13:03but it's also a non-stop process that I will not talk about that here in public with you.
13:10Jürgen, just to pick up on how much is Josh's return?
13:19All three of them are in training today,
13:23so then the question is, are they already far enough to join us towards Bournemouth?
13:29That's something we have to wait and see today,
13:33because we have probably also more than 20 players available.
13:37We always have more than 20 available, but the ones that are mostly there.
13:41So we have to make the smartest decision for them,
13:44but also for winning the game tomorrow.
13:49You mentioned a few times there about how hard Bournemouth work,
13:53and the physical attributes they bring to the game.
13:55We know they've run more than anyone else in the Premier League.
13:58How much is winning that physical battle going to go towards winning the game?
14:02How much did that influence your decision to rest so many players?
14:06Oh, that hasn't had any...
14:09There was no reason, because we play Bournemouth and they run so much,
14:13to rest them during the week.
14:15We would have done that against any other team that we face,
14:18because I already said it's not about...
14:21We rested them not because of the Bournemouth game,
14:24we rested them more for the long term,
14:27and it's quite a long time between November and March that there's an international break,
14:31and I have a week off.
14:33I know Virgil, because of the Dutch team,
14:36I know that they played two games against Spain,
14:38so for them it just keeps on going.
14:41That's why I've already explained that,
14:44if you look at our season, after every three, four or five weeks,
14:47we've tried to create a moment where players like Virgil and all the others
14:51that have played so many games didn't play during the week,
14:54mostly there was a League Cup game that they didn't play.
14:58Was that an answer to your question?
15:01How much of the physical battle against a team like Bournemouth,
15:04who use those chances, will work?
15:06How much is that going to play towards winning the game?
15:08Yeah, a lot.
15:10If you can't compete with them in that aspect,
15:14then you need luck to win the game.
15:17Then you need a special moment or a lot of special saves from Ali to win the game,
15:25but if we're able to compete with them on a physical level,
15:29then the margins for us to have a chance to win the game go up a lot, of course.
15:35But if we cannot compete with them physically,
15:38which I think we definitely can because we are a team that's really fit as well,
15:42I agree with you, they're just above us.
15:45It probably also has to do with the fact that we have a bit more ball possession than them.
15:49But I think it's one of the few games we've played this season
15:53that we were outrun, only by a small margin,
15:56but we were outrun against Bournemouth.
16:00And, yeah, I hope that's going to be different tomorrow.
16:06But it's just not going to be easy.
16:20These are also ongoing discussions we have,
16:24and you know how it is in football.
16:27Yesterday can be different than today or tomorrow.
16:30So if I can give you a certain answer now,
16:33and then, of course, we're not hoping that this is going to happen,
16:36but if I then leave the training pitch and we have three injuries along the training session,
16:42then it's going to be a different answer.
16:44So it's a process we are discussing a lot about,
16:50and these decisions will be made, will be pushed towards the end of the winter,
16:55which is almost there.