ReactionArne Slot press conference: Southampton win, Reds changes, Chiesa return and more
Arne Slot praised his Liverpool squad for stepping up to the task and earning a place in the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup at Southampton on Wednesday night.
The Reds secured passage into the final four of the competition after a battling 2-1 victory on the south coast.
Slot was forced to watch on from the stands as he served a touchline ban at St Mary's, though was left pleased with what he saw from a line-up that provided chances to those in his squad who require minutes and a number of youngsters.
Goals from Darwin Nunez and Harvey Elliott - who started his first game of the campaign - gave the visitors a half-time advantage, before Cameron Archer's strike just before the hour cut the lead to one.
Liverpool held firm, though, to earn their place in the semi-final draw, which takes place on Thursday night and will also include Arsenal, Newcastle United and either Tottenham Hotspur or Manchester United.
Read what the head coach had to say in his post-match press conference below...
On watching the match from the stands due to suspension...
Good. Warm. Warmer I think than down the line. Hopefully it stays just as one time.
On whether he was 'nervous' when Jarell Quansah and Mateus Fernandes tangled on the edge of the Liverpool box in stoppage time...
The moment the ball is over the top, you are not nervous, but the moment you see two players colliding into each other then you always wonder what the decision might be and in real life, I thought he could have made a different choice. But then I saw it back and I felt he just used his arm. For me, it wasn't a foul, but you never know refereeing decisions, do you?
On making wholesale changes to the team and how impressed he was with Elliott and Wataru Endo...
Harvey already had a good impact in the game at the weekend against Fulham, so it was good to see he is able to play 90 for him today and even score a goal. Started him off on the right, I felt he almost got a bit bored and didn't touch the ball a lot, so after 15-20 minutes we changed his [position] and were playing him in the midfield. We know he is a better midfielder than he is a winger, but we had to do it like this. So that was pleasing to see.
If I have to give someone a big compliment it should be Wata Endo because in a different position playing such a good game in these circumstances, that shows you what a quality player he is, but mainly maybe what kind of mentality and personality he has. Good to see them both, but I think it was not only them - but you highlighted them, so I answered your question.
On how pleased he is being able to call on the talent from the Academy...
I think this club is known for this. I heard the fans singing for Trent [Alexander-Arnold], the song about the Scouser, I don't know exactly what they sing, but it probably has to do with him coming from the Academy as well. We have already a few starters from our Academy and to see these players that train with us on a daily basis, we know their quality, so it's nice to see that they show [it] on a Premier League level that they can easily play at this level.
The thing for them is, it's not about easily playing at this level, but you have to compete with Mo [Salah], Virgil [van Dijk] and all these kind of players. It's not enough to be good enough to play at this level, you have to be good enough to play for Liverpool and that is probably the next step they have to make. But they've showed today that these players are capable of playing at a Premier League level, that's for sure.
On Federico Chiesa's performance from the bench...
I don't know if we saw it the same, but I think what I saw is what you can expect. If a player is out for five or six months you cannot expect [too much]. I saw ups and downs. I saw some really good moments and I saw some moments where I felt like, 'OK, you can do better than this.' For me, that's completely normal if a player has been out for so long and plays his first game in five or six months.
I already said before that it makes it so difficult for me because normally in the pre-season a player gets three, four or five games especially and then he's only out for four or five weeks. Instead, he was out for so long, so to get him back to his best level is not easy, but it was good to see that he showed some quality already today. But it's the same for him like the youngsters, it's not enough to play at this level, you have to compete with Mo Salah, Cody Gakpo, Lucho [Luis Diaz], Darwin and Diogo [Jota]. But it's good to see that he's back and that he had a few good moments in the game.
On how much of a risk it was in making so many changes...
It would be normal if I play with all the regular starters that we have a better team than we have tonight otherwise I make every week the wrong decision. Maybe it's a possibility! We also trust these players because we know how much quality they have. So, that's the first reason to play these players. We have a lot of confidence in them as well.
Second of all, it's not about the result on Sunday, it's more for the long-term fitness of the players that we made the decision that the ones who have played so many minutes to give them a bit of rest during this week, because the schedule is going to be intense again in the upcoming weeks. For the ones who have played a lot, only 45 or 60 minutes, and the ones who haven't played a lot play 90. That's what we did, and it was good for us that it was enough to win it.
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