Q&AArne Slot press conference: Aston Villa challenge, Curtis Jones, left-back competition and more
The Reds head coach spoke to reporters at the AXA Training Centre on the eve of his side's final fixture before the November international break.
See the best bits from Slot's pre-match briefing…
On whether he's 'surprised' by Liverpool's start to the season...
I don't think surprised is the right word to use because I knew the quality of our team. But quality is one thing, but to be consistent is the second thing and I'm not surprised in this because from the moment I started working with them I saw how much energy they put in on a daily basis. And that is, I think, the reason why you can be consistent – if you do the work on a daily basis. You can be consistent and then sometimes a bit of luck comes with that as well. Most of our results were, I think, deserved but some of them were a close call and then maybe you have a bit of luck as well. But in general, [I'm] not surprised because of the quality I already thought was in the team, and when I started working with them I also saw how much effort they put in to get these results.
On managing expectations within the squad...
I'm not trying to manage expectations with the squad because we don't talk about expectations. We do talk about expectations and the only expectations I have is that they put the same effort in on a daily basis, like they've done for the past three, four, five months and probably for the last six or seven years – but I'm only here for three, four, five months now. That's the only expectation there is – that they work every day as hard as they can to get their habits, our habits, what we want to see on the pitch in the best possible way. And with that, normally results come as well. But I'm not asking them to win every game – I'm hoping they do – but what I do ask from them is they put the effort in on a daily basis, and that's the only thing we focus on. And I think the players, first of all, after Saturday they think about their national team. And when they come back then we focus on the games you were just talking about.
On Curtis Jones' excellent form...
With Curtis, maybe it's not me who did it because he became a father and I had nothing to do with that! You never know if that plays a part or not, but since the moment he became a father he started putting great performances in, and he already did this in the first few weeks that we worked together in pre-season. I was like, 'Quality player!' But then his performances dropped a bit. But since the moment, like I just said, he became a father, he's outstanding again. It might have to do a bit with that but in general I think it has to do with the way the team plays, because every player that comes in has a good performance – and that probably tells you a lot about the quality of the team, how they play together. As a result of that, individual performances are good as well.
On what makes Jones such a good player...
He has a lot of qualities on the ball. When he has the ball, he's never afraid to do something special with it. Sometimes that led to a situation where, in my opinion, he touched the ball a bit too much, because sometimes he's a bit too overconfident. But confidence is an important tool and that's what he has. And he combines this – at the moment and probably for a longer period but as long as I'm working with him – with an incredibly hard work-rate. And we can trust him in defence as well, you saw how well he played against Cole Palmer.
He's quite complete but for him now, and I think I used this word a few days ago, it's all about consistency. Because if you are a quality player – I think they are all quality players – to have a good performance once in a while, that's not a big accomplishment. But the best players in the world show up every three days, and if he wants to continue progressing that's what he has to show now, to be every three days the player he's been for us in the last few weeks.
On the competition at left-back between Andy Robertson and Kostas Tsimikas...
I think my line-ups tell you what I think about this – I think we have two very good full-backs and we play many, many, many games. I think both of them need their games because it's also a position where a lot of effort is being asked. If you look at the players that have played most games, it's mostly our centre-backs and they don't run the most if you compare that to full-backs, midfielders or wingers. There are multiple reasons why our full-backs or midfielders are sometimes rotated, but definitely also has to do with the quality of the players. For me, I have two very good left full-backs and Kostas has started a few times. Let's see who starts on Saturday.
On his options in the No.9 position...
It depends on the availability of the players. So, when we had Darwin [Nunez] and Diogo [Jota] available, we always played one of those two. The moment Diogo was no longer available – and, in my opinion, because we play so many games and Darwin didn't play in the first games, it was too much for him, so that's why we started to come up with other ideas. To be honest, I especially liked the last idea! I think every Liverpool supporter did with Lucho [Luis Diaz] scoring three goals; two as a No.9, one as a winger. That's always interesting to see.
Lucho is also a very good left-winger and, at this moment, we have four attackers available for three positions, so we could come up with another idea again – but if Diogo comes back, Darwin is back, then we've got two No.9s available again. In the beginning of the season, I always chose one of these two but, like I said, Lucho did really well and it was even for me maybe a bit of surprise to see how well he did. Of course, I played him there for a reason, I expected him to do good, but that he did so well that was even a surprise for me.
On how he expects Aston Villa to shape up on Saturday...
If you ask me now I would say it's not that difficult because Unai Emery has played in a similar style now for years at Aston Villa. It's almost always the same formation, but it sometimes depends on the player that you can have different characteristics, but his style of play, his idea about football, has been the same always. Saying this, that also was the situation with Xabi Alonso, who we studied for I don't know how many games but never once did he come up with the idea of playing [Victor] Boniface as a left-winger and playing without a No.9.
That he hadn't done at all before we played them, but that's maybe also a compliment – most managers feel that we have a very good team so they think they have to change their game plan, not their playing style, a bit. If you ask me now do I expect Unai to change a lot, I would not expect that because he never did this, not if he played [Manchester] City and also not when he played Liverpool in the past few years. But in terms of personnel he can change a bit, he has different options in the full-back [areas], different options on the wings, but it's also been a 4-4-2 that he's been playing for many years now.
