Press conferenceArne Slot on Chelsea victory: 'I have a lot of confidence in this team'
The Reds secured a hard-fought win in the Premier League meeting with the Blues as a Mohamed Salah penalty and Curtis Jones strike in either half kept them top of the table.
Chelsea had briefly levelled the encounter after half-time, with Nicolas Jackson's goal requiring VAR intervention after being ruled offside on-field, but Slot's men closed out the contest for a 10th success in all competitions this term.
Read some of the thoughts of the head coach below as he gave his reaction in a post-match press conference...
On how happy he was with the victory...
Yeah, of course [I am pleased] with the outcome. Because if you win then you're always pleased about the outcome. In an ideal world we would've outplayed them completely. That's definitely not what we did. It was an equal game, in my opinion. There were phases in the game where we had to work really hard not to concede, but it's very pleasing to see that is also what we did.
I think we all saw the great block tackles Dominik [Szoboszlai] and Curtis had - Curtis first half, Dominik second half. Those moments are just as crucial as the goals we scored and added to that, there were a lot of eventful decisions by the referee, which made it the game it was. I think if you're not a Liverpool supporter or Chelsea supporter, you really liked what you saw today. In the end, also if you are a Liverpool supporter you liked what you saw today.
On Jones' performance...
I think what we all made of this today. He had a very good game. He had a difficult job to control Cole Palmer, which is an incredible player, in my opinion. It's so difficult to defend him because he has so many qualities. Curtis did that really well today. In my opinion, he controlled him for most parts of the game; it's almost impossible to control a player like this for 90 minutes, but he was quite close to that. And then to even have an impact on the other side with a goal and two penalties that he was involved in, one of them was in the end disallowed by the VAR, but that shows you that he had a big impact on both sides of the pitch.
On whether winning a game like this gives him confidence his team can sustain their position at the top of the league...
I think it was mostly the media that told us that this was our first big test. I think if you go to Old Trafford against a very strong team like [Manchester] United, that is definitely a test as well. I said, I think it was Friday in the press conference, don't judge us on this week, you have to judge us after six, seven or eight [more] games. That's also what I say now after this win because Wednesday is Leipzig, Sunday it's Arsenal, then it's Brighton, Brighton [and] then it's Leverkusen and Aston Villa.
So, this is in my opinion our biggest test, to play Champions League and Premier League; the hardest games three days in a row. That's what [Manchester] City did last season, that's what Arsenal did - both of these clubs did this for two years in a row now. You saw two years ago how difficult that was for us and you saw last season how difficult it was for [Manchester] United and Newcastle to be involved in the Champions League and Premier League. That is for me the test we have to go through to see if we can stay or be where we are now.
On Salah's performance and impact so far...
The good thing is that normally if someone asks a question about Mo Salah it's always about his contract, so now it's nice that you just asked me how important he is! He is important for us for the numbers he has... it was a bit of a funny remark after the game, I said to Trent [Alexander-Arnold], you have some competition now because I saw today that Mo can play as a right full-back as well! The defensive effort he put in today to help the team in that part is what pleased me just as much as his goal and assist.
On whether the manner of the win gives him added 'confidence' moving forward...
I have a lot of confidence in this team, but you also saw today after the international break that we had some problems. Conor Bradley is not in, Trent, which you probably don't know, was also not training in the first days after he came back so he was a bit of [a] doubt before we started the game. Then we had Macca [Alexis Mac Allister] being sick. Today Diogo [Jota] had to be substituted. I'm not sure what it is, but I will be surprised if he's there on Wednesday [against RB Leipzig].
These are all things everybody has and you have to cope with during the season as well. So, that's why I always say it's so difficult to win a league title no matter where in the world because so many things have to be done really good. This is a good start to win the second big game we played. But I also saw how difficult it was, how difficult Chelsea made [it] for us. So, in my opinion, if I would be sitting as the Chelsea manager I would say, if we can play like this at Anfield, we are also one of the teams that can compete for [a] top-four position.