NewsRound-up: Key takeaways from Arne Slot's pre-Chelsea press conference
The Reds can confirm qualification for next season's Champions League on Saturday if they beat the Blues and then AFC Bournemouth fail to win at Fulham.
Read on for the key takeaways from the head coach's session with the media.
On the chance to secure Champions League qualification and the importance he's placing on performances in the remaining three games...
Usually this goes hand in hand. If you have a good performance, that usually leads to a result. So, that's why performances are very crucial and important. It's not always like that in football. Sometimes you can have a poor performance but still win. But over the long term, if your performance is good then it helps you [in] picking up more points. But the first and main aim is [to] qualify for the Champions League.
I think we've shown this season that we need a good performance to get results, because the opposite has been true a lot of times – that we had a good performance but the result was not there. But we did not have many times a poor performance and still had a result. It's not the type of team we are – we are not that well on set-pieces or holding on, defending with all we [have] got. So, we need to have a good performance usually to win a game of football.
On facing Chelsea...
If the information is correct, a few of their players that they've been really missing have come back. So, it will probably be a stronger team than last week – if the players that they say are back are back. That will be massive for them, as it is for any team. If you miss out on your best players, that's never helpful to get results. But it's always a difficult game for both teams because there's so much quality on both ends. So, it doesn't matter that much at the moment, I think, how much you lost or how much you won. It's a game between a lot of very good individual players and let's hope we have a very good team performance as well because that usually helps individuals in being even better.
On whether it's possible to know what to expect from Chelsea under interim head coach Calum McFarlane...
Yeah, absolutely, because all managers have their own idea about football. What I mean, they've had three this season and I think the current manager is a bit closer to what [Enzo] Maresca usually did. So, he has a very clear identity in how he plays, so it's exactly clear what to expect. It's usually the three-box-three they are playing with. It depends a little bit with which players they are using, how they fill in the positions. They have a very clear identity, as they had under [Liam] Rosenior, but they also have a clear identity under this manager.
On finishing the season on a positive note...
I think the season has gone in a way that even if we have three wins and three very positive results, I don't think everyone will still be positive about how we ended the season [or] how the season has been. It's important, as I said now so many times, that we get at least one win over the line, which we think is enough to qualify [for the Champions League] – we're not sure because four points makes it completely clear. That's what we need to do and what we are trying, which we've tried the whole season – to do this in the best possible way performing-wise, which has not always happened, but that's always been the aim. The positive thing is that a few of the players that can be really important for us are either coming back for the weekend or after the weekend, so that can only help us to achieve what we want to achieve.
On what's required for the team to not be 'so vulnerable to counter-attacks'...
In moments we've been vulnerable in counter-attacks. It's not like we concede 10 counter-attacks a game or eight or seven or six. At Manchester [United], we conceded two counter-attacks, indeed, where one of the two went in. The other one was just almost close [from] Bruno Fernandes. But I don't think that's the only thing we've been vulnerable at. When we are in a low block, defending crosses, there are too many things [where] we've been too vulnerable in moments.
But it would also help if we would score more goals, because I think controlling the game from a 2-0 lead is always easier than being 1-0 down or 2-0 down or 1-1 or 2-2. It's a mix of everything and I said many times it's, for me, very clear and obvious where we have to improve, and that's what we've tried to achieve throughout the whole season. It has worked with ups and downs but it's definitely something we will address in the summer, where we think we can improve on [in] the market and then afterwards on the training ground.
On whether 'mentality' can be added to the squad and whether it 'needs experience' with Andy Robertson and Mohamed Salah leaving at the end of the season...
For me, mentality has nothing to do with age. I think you know, when Mo was 26 and these players were all in their prime, they were able to win the Champions League, to win the Premier League, to pick up 99 points, so you don't have to be 32 to know what standards mean. I think recently, we have quite a good example of players that are not that old – the ones of Paris Saint-Germain – but definitely have the standards for what it takes to win a game of football in terms of attacking with 11 and defending with 11. For me, mentality has absolutely nothing to do with age, but more with personal character of a player or the personality of the player. Of course, you can inject this in the transfer market, but we also have a lot of players – maybe all of them – that have the right mentality to play for this club.
On whether he feels next season could be 'another season of transition' due to summer changes to the squad...
No, I am only looking forward to it, so I have no worry at all. I am looking forward to it, as I looked forward to working with these players two years ago and one year ago, looking forward to working with the players I am working with now. I think if you are a manager, you are never worried – you just look forward to starting working with a group of players. Indeed, it will be another little transition, probably not as drastic as it was last summer, but we have to change a bit of personnel because of the two players that are leaving, which we have to replace but one of them will probably be replaced with Kostas Tsimikas because he is coming back off a loan.
So, no, I am only looking forward to starting again next season, but that's not my main aim at the moment. My main aim at the moment is getting over the line in the upcoming three games. Then, [I will] go on holiday and when I am on holiday I am already with a lot of energy looking forward to next season, which then it is going to take me three, four or five weeks before every player is back from the World Cup, but that is the same everywhere. The only difference is maybe that we have a lot of changes where other teams usually add players to what they have when we talk about the Premier League. In other leagues, players go and players come in, but in the Premier League it is usually adding.