Q&AArne Slot press conference: Brighton cup tie, squad options, young players and more

The Reds head to the south coast on Wednesday night for a fourth-round showdown with Fabian Hurzeler's side at Amex Stadium.

Slot covered a wide range of topics during his session with reporters – read on for a summary of what he had to say…

• The head coach on Liverpool injury news and team selection plans for Brighton

On Wataru Endo and keeping players happy who are not playing regularly...

The last thing is not always easy because they all want to play – and it would be strange for me if they are all happy [when] they don't play. But they are professionals, they know these things can happen and they also see the players who play in their positions do really well. So, that is mostly with Wata but it is also with Joe Gomez and Jarell Quansah, that they are in competition with Ryan [Gravenberch], Virgil [van Dijk] and Ibou [Konate]. So they understand and they see how well these players play and that they also stay fit until the last minute of the game. But I think Wata is one of the players that might be in the line-up [tomorrow] because the season is going to be so long and we will need him during the season. Therefore, once in a while he needs this playing time as well.

Fortunately he has this playing time with the national team, but it helps if he once in a while gets a game with us again. I really liked him against West Ham and what I admire about him, what I respect about him, is his personality because two times he had to come in five minutes before the end and in my managerial career I sometimes have seen that players who, if they come in five minutes before the end, they come in with a face like this and play like that. But every time when we need him – even if it's for five minutes – he shows up for the team, for his teammates and for himself. Also for that reason he deserves to play tomorrow.

On options for the No.9 role and Darwin Nunez's recent performances...

I think about Darwin, I gave him credit for the fact he worked so hard in previous weeks when he didn't play a lot to be able to play three games in a row. I think [it was] three games in eight days, so that says a lot about him – but it also says a lot about the quality of our performance staff and medical staff that we were able to give him the right sessions to prepare him in the right way. You always need the player to buy in because you can give him the right sessions, but if he doesn't give everything then it is very difficult for him to do what he did.

Also with him it was a good thing his ban for the Uruguay team was cancelled so he could play two games there, that probably helped for him to play the way he did – and I am not talking about the quality he played with, but the intensity he played with. The quality was also good, so that was a positive thing. It is a pity Diogo Jota is not available and Federico Chiesa is also not available because they were, in my opinion, the most logical No.9s, but still we have some other options.

On Chiesa...

First and foremost [the important thing] is that he gets fit again and then we can see where he is. I think there were also reports in Italy and what I meant about him was he missed pre-season and in pre-season that he was on low-intensity sessions because he had to train with three or four players, apart from the group. That is what I said. And then going from there to a high-intensity league, to a high-intensity playing style, is difficult in general for every player, but especially if you have a pre-season like this. We knew this before, so we knew we had to be really careful [and] adjust where we could to his individual needs. But it hasn't been perfect yet, so we are trying to find the right way of building him up without overloading him, and that has been difficult until now, but I have the full confidence that that will happen.

On the threat of Brighton...

Very good idea about football for many years already. I like their playing style a lot with their former manager already and with this one as well. And I think what makes the club Brighton, in my opinion, special is that maybe [they do not have] the most money in the league when they buy the players – but they always find the right ones. So, there is a lot of quality, although also for them the transfer fees go up a bit but they are not spending £100 million on a player. They always find the right ones. So, many quality players to pick and a very good playing style.

On sending young players out on loan...

Yeah, that is sometimes difficult because in certain situations you would prefer to keep them here, because then they can train every day with you and you can implement in the best possible way your playing style. But if that also means that they hardly play that will normally also lead not to the progression you are hoping for. That is the balance we always try to find with our players, also with our very talented ones and sometimes that means you bring them on a loan – Stefan Bajcetic was a very good example to that. Then you hope to see that he plays a lot, and he already played a few games. And then it's very pleasing in this particular situation that he went to a very good manager as well with Pepijn Lijnders that knows this club.

And for Ben Doak, it's similar. He also went to a very good manager and they have a very good playing style. It's a balance we need to find: do we want to play them on a regular basis or once in a while and keep them with us where we have to be aware of our own interests? So, we can't let everybody go that doesn't play all the time – and there Tyler Morton is a good example of that. He's a quality, quality player, good enough to play everywhere around the league, but is in competition with so many good midfielders over here. Like you see now, we've got six forwards, two of them are injured, so only four left. With the schedule we have, that's sometimes a bit of a worry for me. Maybe we should bring Ben Doak back!

• Loan watch: Eight Liverpool players feature across the weekend