NewsPress conference: Arne Slot on Leicester, the Premier League title and summer transfer window
Arne Slot today discussed Liverpool’s approach to their trip to Leicester City, the possibility of winning the Premier League title this weekend and the club’s plans for the summer transfer window.
The head coach was speaking during his pre-match press conference on Friday morning.
As well as providing a fitness update on Trent Alexander-Arnold and reacting to the news of Virgil van Dijk’s contract renewal, Slot was also asked about a variety of other topics.
Read on for our round-up from the AXA Training Centre.
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Watch on YouTubeOn what thought he has given to the fact Liverpool could be crowned champions on Sunday…
My thoughts are not on that at all. My thoughts are, as always, on Leicester and on our team: how to improve, what can we do better. We couldn’t do many things better in the first half against West Ham [United] but we could do a lot of things better in the second half. So, during the start of the week we have worked on that a lot and now we are working towards Leicester. One game at a time and influence the one we can influence, and that’s the Leicester game.
On whether he has considered at all the prospect of winning the title imminently…
The honest answer is no. I’m not sure you believe me but that is the honest answer. My whole life I’m living in the moment, in the day, and I’m not looking backwards a lot and I’m not looking forwards a lot because it’s the type of person that I am, that I am not constantly looking back at what I have achieved at former clubs. That is also so difficult in football, people constantly tell you, ‘Try to enjoy it, try to enjoy the whole journey,’ but the only thing you are thinking about as a manager is, ‘Oh, at the weekend there is a game coming up as well and we need to win that and we need to win the next and we need to win the next.’ So, maybe that’s one of the reasons: because I’m already so long in football that you get used to the fact of living day by day and trying to influence day by day.
On whether there hasn’t been enough focus on Liverpool’s resilience in recent weeks...
That’s difficult to judge because I don’t follow everything that’s being said. What I see is I think we’ve won five out of the last six [league] games – and what I’ve seen during the whole season, and I’ve said this multiple times, is the first 32 games we’ve played in the Premier League were – apart from three or four – all tough, but when you look at the results I think we’ve won many games with one or two goals’ difference and only two or three with more than two goals’ difference. That tells you it is a very good league we are in and how it is to win a game of football. I’m not bothered by opinions by pundits; that’s what they are there for, they need to have an opinion.
Yes, we didn’t play well in the second half against West Ham, so if they say we didn’t play well in the second half against West Ham I have to totally agree with them. But let’s look back at Wolves away – we didn’t play well for 90 minutes and that was the start of the season! So, it’s not the first time that we don’t play well. Wolves at home, the second-half performance – not one shot on target.
I think you can look at it both ways; you can see it as a big compliment that you are then where you are in the league, or you say it’s not the team like [Manchester] City that was at half-time last season either 2-0 up, 3-0 up or 4-0 up. That would be the next step for us... if that’s still possible because Pep [Guardiola] says that isn’t possible in the current Premier League anymore. But everybody is going to try to next season – him, Mikel [Arteta] and me as well.
On a ‘big summer’ potentially being ahead for the club…
I think at Liverpool there is always a big summer, at a club like this, and it’s already a big summer now because maybe the players don’t follow everything in the media – me neither – but what I do know sitting here every time is that it was a big thing: ‘Can we hold on to them?’ And by holding on already to two [Mohamed Salah and Van Dijk], it’s already a big summer and let’s see what the rest of the summer will bring. But it would be strange for me now to say I am not happy with the team we are having because I have said this for a year. So, we are happy with the team we are having so maybe if we can even keep that team that would already be a big summer.
On whether he agrees with the opinion ‘you go backwards if you stand still’ by not being active in the transfer market this summer...
We showed the opposite last season because we didn’t change anything and I don’t think we went downwards. In general, I agree with you, but there is also a lot of study being done [in that] the longer a team plays together, the more success it has. The core of the team you want to keep together as long as you can as long as they are performing in the best possible way. It is also, in general, good to have some energy in and around the place with one or two new players, that I agree on.
But it isn’t really a necessity if you look at the quality we have and the quality of the season we’ve had because, again, we saw during the week how good of a team Newcastle [United] is – they are third now. That they played so well against us in the League Cup final is probably not a surprise anymore. And Paris Saint-Germain have been good, but [Aston] Villa – who are seventh at the moment – showed that they can win against Paris Saint-Germain. What a league we are in!