ReactionArne Slot press conference: Brighton cup win, Gakpo form, Jaros display and more

A pair of superb finishes from Cody Gakpo put the Reds two up just after the hour mark following a goalless first half on Wednesday night, before Simon Adingra pulled one back for the hosts at Amex Stadium.

Luis Diaz quickly made it 3-1 to Slot’s team, though, and then a deflected hit from Tariq Lamptey gave Brighton hope in the final minute.

Liverpool held firm, however, and will continue their defence of the trophy in a last-eight tie at Southampton that will take place in December.

Read every word from the head coach’s post-match press conference below...

On whether he was pleased with the way his much-changed side managed a difficult tie...

Yeah, it was definitely [tough]. If you have to come here you know it’s going to be a difficult game because of the style of play, because of the recruitment they have here over the last few years. And then to get away from here with a result, with a win, is of course very pleasing. For the long term, I really liked what I see from players that haven’t played that much this season yet, that they were able to play a similar style that we usually do and they brought quality into the game, so that makes it even harder for me to make line-ups in the upcoming weeks.

On Gakpo’s form…

I think in the second half of last season he got a lot of goals already. He has been a good player for Liverpool for a long time now and that’s a good thing.

On how close Gakpo is to being a ‘regular starter’…

For me, he is a regular starter. He is not starting every game but he has started on a regular basis and he is in a tough competition with Luis Diaz, who, in the moment he went on the left, also scored a goal. So, that’s normal: if you play at a club like Liverpool you have got two quality players for many positions and if you look at the way Joe Gomez played and also Jarell Quansah – who was maybe a bit unlucky with the goal we conceded because the overall performance I liked from them both as well – they are in competition with Virgil [van Dijk] and Ibou [Konate]. So that’s what you have when you play at Liverpool, but for me, Cody has been a regular starter this season.

• Read our match report from Amex Stadium here

On what is behind Liverpool’s impressive away form so far under him…

A bit of everything. So, maybe in some situations the fixture list and in some situations just the quality of the players we can put on the teamsheet and I think it is also our playing style that helps us. But yeah, and then it’s only been 13 or 14 games or something like this, but it’s been a very good start away from home but also at home and we need good form on Saturday as well because we came here knowing they are a good team and that’s also what they showed today. So, we need to be on top of our game for Saturday again.

On Vitezslav Jaros’ performance, both in terms of his key saves and with the ball at his feet…

I like the last thing you say because everybody could see how important his saves were. I think the first big chance of the game was for them where he saved the one-versus-one and in the second half of course we all remember one or two saves as well. But he also added to that how comfortable he was with the ball at his feet: making the right choices on when to go short and when to clip the ball towards the striker, and it helped for him the quality Jarell Quansah and Joe Gomez brought in build-up. So, I liked that triangle today a lot in ball possession.

On what he saw from Dominik Szoboszlai and Curtis Jones after opting to start without a recognised centre-forward…

Yeah, I think they did [what I asked]. If you play those two without a No.9 you are always a bit worried if you have enough runs in behind the last line because these two like also to play into the midfield and make combinations over there, to make triangles over there. But I think what they did really well was combining, trying to become an extra midfielder, but don’t forget to make the deep runs as well.

And it helped that Luis Diaz and Cody Gakpo were a constant threat in behind also, so in general I liked what I saw. I prefer to play with a No.9 but if they are not available – and of course we had Darwin [Nunez] available but I think it was not good for him to start today after playing three games and with the upcoming schedule – then this was the result of what we tried to come up with and the players did really well, in my opinion.