NewsRound-up: Arne Slot's press conference ahead of Liverpool v Qarabag
The Reds host the Azerbaijani side at Anfield on Wednesday night in the conclusion to the league phase and can guarantee automatic progression to the last 16 with a win.
See what Slot had to say when he met the media on the eve of the matchday eight encounter…
On Andy Robertson's future...
Robbo is part of the team tomorrow evening and he's been part of this squad, of this club for so many years. Happy to have him, good that he's available because that's something that's quite important for us at the moment – to have players available. Yeah, he will be part of the team and nothing happened from my side.
On whether Robertson is 'definitely staying in this window'...
It's hard to say anything definitive in this world we are in, but I expect him to stay, yes.
On what Liverpool need to achieve this season to 'quieten the outside noise'...
I think it's going to be really difficult to quieten the outside noise with the position we are in in the league. Even if we win a few games, every loss or every disappointing result will start the noise coming back again. That's what you expect if you started the season as we did, not started but at a certain moment with so many losses. But it's impossible to shut down the noise at a club like this if you are not competing for the league. What we have to improve, for me it's so simple.
I think in between the boxes we are a very, very, very good team. The way we play out from the back, the way we bring the ball towards promising positions, the box entries we have, also against Bournemouth so many times we were in positions where I would like my players to be in. But killing those moments, bringing it from promising positions towards chances and if we have the chances then be clinical and finish it off – that is something where we have to improve. So, in the box we have to improve.
And in the other box, other teams arrive there three, four times a game [and] too many times if they arrive it leads to chances and sometimes to goals. So, there's an imbalance in how many times we arrive in promising positions and how many teams arrive there – but there's not an imbalance in the goals that are scored, and that's a very bad cocktail we are having. If we can improve in both boxes, we can do very special things this season. If we can only improve in one box then it's probably going to be an acceptable season but not more than that. And if we can't improve in both boxes, [there is] going to be a lot of noise throughout the whole season.
On managing his players' workload…
That's not a worry but that's a difficulty. Because I can assure you that I would have preferred to start with Hugo [Ekitike] against Bournemouth. If we probably would have had one or two days extra, he would have 100 per cent started that game again because I liked his performance against Marseille. But he was out with an injury for two weeks and then he had to play quite a lot of games. And with only one No.9 available for the upcoming months, it made sense to me to manage his load as well, and that is what I had to do with more players.
Jeremie Frimpong, who was sitting here just before me, is another example of that. Giving him another time 90 [minutes], I think you could see that he was tired just before I took him off, at least that was my take on it, and then it's a big risk to keep him on. But I want to emphasise how much respect I have for the players that we have, because it's almost constantly the same players that have to play and they have to do this in difficult circumstances.
What I mean with that is results are not what we want and we get scrutinised – we all are scrutinised – and we get the criticism that we deserve. But usually if you get so much criticism, that does something to you mentally and if you then have to play so many minutes, I can give you multiple examples of players then getting injured. So, that's why I have so much respect for my players, that within the circumstances that we are in, they are constantly available – except for the three or four long-term injuries we have.
On which aspects of Qarabag's play is the hardest to prepare for...
It's always the individuals and the players that make things difficult. In terms of playing style, they are very direct, fast players, go very direct towards goal with a lot of runs in behind, players who are comfortable on the ball. They've shown this season against big clubs – because there are only big clubs in the Champions League – that they are a very good team and a hard team to beat. Even [against] Chelsea they were able to keep them to 2-2.
I think even if you look at our Champions League campaign this season, some teams maybe have been lucky enough to face the ones that are now all outside the next round from 24th to 34th place. I think there's only one team from those 10 that we faced. We've had a lot of strong teams to face and we did really well. But maybe two days afterwards when we had to play in the league that brought us some problems because we've played so many strong teams in Europe.
On whether Wataru Endo could be utilised at centre-back against Qarabag and his overall fitness after time out with injury recently...
He's been out with an injury for quite a long time, he had to play against Bournemouth [for] quite a long time and now, tomorrow, there's a game coming up and then three days later another game [is] coming up. As I also said, that's not the only way I decide on my line-up – tactics are involved in that as well. It is for sure at centre-back tomorrow there will not be a centre-back, I can only play a midfielder there because there are no centre-backs available.
Apart from Virgil [van Dijk], who is one of the players I credit a lot for him being fit all the time. At his age, constantly being ready to play another 90 is something we should not take for granted. Coming back on what is 'acceptable' for me, I can say if we improve in both boxes I think we're able to win something this season, and if we only improve in one box it is going to be really difficult to win something this season.
On whether Dominik Szoboszlai could be considered for a right-back role on Wednesday night...
As I said, I consider him for every position almost! We will wait and see. Jeremie Frimpong is there to play as a full-back but he can also play as a winger. But on the right wing I also have Mo Salah. So, I have two options for the right wing to play and one option with Jeremie as a right full-back, but if we include Dom or Curtis [Jones] then all of a sudden I have three options to play at right-back. But, we both agree on the fact that he's best playing in the midfield – and the two of us definitely agree on that, Dominik and me!