News'It gives us a fresh opportunity' - Arne Slot's FA Cup programme notes
Arne Slot believes the Emirates FA Cup provides a 'fresh opportunity' for Liverpool to attack this season, with the Reds hosting Barnsley in round three this evening.
In his matchday programme column for the 7.45pm GMT kick-off, the head coach writes: "Given our position in the Premier League is currently not what we would want it to be, the FA Cup is a competition that gives us a fresh opportunity to build something meaningful.
"My experience of the competition is not yet the most extensive – we played only two games last season before going out – but what it means and what it represents is already very clear.
"In those two fixtures we learned a lot – about ourselves, about the qualities that lower-division opposition can bring, about how it feels to go through and go out and what the FA Cup means in general. These are lessons and experiences that we hope will help us not just tonight, but in every round we get to play.
"The starting point for this is to give Barnsley the respect that they deserve. Despite being a young team with a young manager, they already have a reputation for playing good football in League One and they have reached this stage with two very good results against York City and Peterborough.
"Like us, they will view this fixture as an opportunity, particularly as the game will take place in front of a TV audience, which I assume will include a lot of people hoping that there might be an upset. Last season we had similar occasions at home to Accrington Stanley and away to Plymouth Argyle so we should definitely use those experiences, good and bad, in this game.
"I would like to welcome Conor Hourihane, his players and staff and the directors and supporters of Barnsley to Anfield on what I am sure will be a big night for their club. I am aware that there will be those in the visiting dressing room who have connections with Liverpool, which will only add to the sense of anticipation.
"For us, it is about matching that passion in our own way. At the time of writing these notes it is too early to say what our starting line-up will be, but for whoever is in the team the message will be the same – bring all of your desire and all of your quality because you and we are going to need it.
"This is what we did in our most recent fixture against Arsenal and although our efforts could not bring a win over the line, there were a lot of positives that we should use going forward.
"Aside from chance creation, which I would be the first to say was not at the kind of level we need it to be at, so many other elements of our game were promising and this is something that we definitely need to build on."
- Pick up your copy of the matchday programme at Anfield tonight or order online here.