ReactionArne Slot press conference: Every word on Liverpool 4-0 Accrington
Read every word from Arne Slot's reaction to Liverpool delivering a 4-0 Emirates FA Cup victory over Accrington Stanley at Anfield.
A much-changed Reds side in Saturday’s third-round tie included a senior debut for Rio Ngumoha and the chance of game time for several players.
First-half goals from Diogo Jota and Trent Alexander-Arnold put the home team in control, Jayden Danns scored in front of the Kop again and then Federico Chiesa opened his account for the club in the last minute.
Slot’s men will learn who they face in round four next month when the draw takes place on Sunday evening.
Read every word of the head coach’s post-Accrington press conference below…
On his assessment of today’s game…
First of all, credit to them the way they showed themselves here today. Of course, before the game starts you watch a few games of them and then you see, ‘Ah, they’re not afraid to press high, not afraid to play one-v-one.’ But then you always wonder, will they do this at Anfield as well? But they definitely did. They were not afraid. Their playing style is also when the goalkeeper has the ball to play it long, so it is not that they stole this from the team we played last week, that’s just their style. They showed up in a very positive way. For us, it was all about the players that haven’t played that much yet, to give them playing time and give some playing time to a few youngsters.
On handing Ngumoha a debut at senior level…
I think he’s been with us now for half a season. Every time when he comes training with us we see what his qualities are. He can dominate one-v-one situations, he is very quick on his feet, he can change directions really fast. And I’m always happy if a player makes his debut that he shows what we see on the training ground as well, so the fans could see it. And I think the fans liked what they saw; you could feel this in the stadium in the first half already and when I took him out, [from] the reaction of the fans I think we could see they liked what they saw as well. So, special day for him – making your debut, win. He will sleep well tonight, I assume.
On Chiesa’s goal and what the next step is for him…
Rio was lucky that Federico wasn’t with us in the last two days – because he was sick – otherwise Federico would have started, of course. Now he could play 45. We could bring Dom [Szoboszlai] 45 minutes, bring him out and then Federico [in]. It’s nice to make your debut and if you have played for this club already then you want to score your first goal, especially in front of your own fans. That’s what he did now, so that’s a good next step. Let’s not get carried away too much because although I liked the way Accrington Stanley played, a lot, it is in the end a League Two team. But it’s definitely a good next step for him to be available and even score a goal.
On the confidence boost for Chiesa after not being able to show himself fully so far…
Yeah, that is definitely true. But if a player is fit and he doesn’t get the chance to show it, it’s also a frustration. The best part of being a footballer is playing, doing well and winning. If you don’t play because the manager makes a different decision or you’re not available, that is always difficult for every player because every player wants to do what he loves most. Even I would love to play still but unfortunately that is not possible anymore.
On the quality of Alexander-Arnold’s goal...
I can talk for hours about that! Unbelievable. I think the biggest compliment Trent could get was the reaction of everyone after the [Manchester] United game. Every player around the world, maybe except for a few, have bad games and that’s completely normal. But the moment Trent has a bad game, everybody has an opinion about him. Maybe – maybe – that has to do with the contract situation, I don’t know if that wasn’t there if everybody would have reacted in the same way. The biggest compliment you can get if you have such a great first half of the season and you don’t play a good game against United – that was clear for me, for the fans, for you, for all the analysts who saw the game – [is that] many were quite hard on him, and maybe that’s the biggest compliment you can get.
On whether he selected Alexander-Arnold to give him confidence...
I do think that is important, but that was not the reason to play him. The reason to play him was that Conor Bradley came back from a hamstring injury and two days ago he played his first minutes against Tottenham Hotspur. I think it’s a bit unknown for everyone how our flight was that night, so we couldn’t land here in Liverpool and we had to go to Birmingham. We came home really, really late and for me it was too big of a risk to play a player that had a hamstring issue five, six, seven, eight weeks ago two days after the Tottenham game.
Then, the only available full-back is Trent and as a result of him playing I think it was good for him to play again in our own stadium, to feel the reception of the fans again. That was already fantastic when we played Tottenham and also again special for him today. That will only help him and us because if you want to do special things during the season we have to do it together. Not only the players, not only the players with the manager, but definitely the players with the fans.
On Danns and whether he could be loaned out in January...
The last thing [a loan move], I don’t know at the moment, to be honest. What I like most about him – and with most of the Academy players – is the mentality they have. So, that’s a big compliment for him and definitely also a big compliment to our youth academy because if you are a youngster and you come to the first team sometimes you are used in a way that you might not expect [in training]. Although it is common in football, you are then playing the other team that has to copy sometimes the team we face over here, so sometimes you are in a different position.
He is a striker, but if we are playing 11v11 and I make the choice to play [Diogo] Jota and the other side Darwin [Nunez] is playing as a nine, he has to play as an 11 or as a six or whatever position we need him. But he will always, like the other Academy players, give all they have. James McConnell is also a perfect example of that. If that is your mentality you can definitely get the most of your potential. That is what is going to happen with him. What that potential is, it probably needs some time to find out if he will in the end be a starter for us, but he will have a very good career because of his mentality. I am very sure of that.
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