ReactionArne Slot press conference: Southampton win, 'special' Salah and not getting carried away
An eventful clash with Southampton ended 3-2 in the Reds’ favour on Sunday as Mohamed Salah scored twice in the second half to secure the win.
The visitors had previously led in the first half, through Dominik Szoboszlai’s goal, and then trailed as Adam Armstrong and Mateus Fernandes netted either side of the interval for Saints.
Success on the south coast increased Slot’s team’s lead at the summit ahead of a week in which they host reigning champions Manchester City after meeting Real Madrid in the Champions League.
Read Slot’s reaction to the victory at Southampton at his post-match press conference below…
On whether he is ‘over the moon’ with the victory...
‘Over the moon’ is a bit exaggerating but of course we are really happy. Especially because after an hour we were 2-1 down. Maybe that wasn’t a reflection of how the first hour went because I think we dominated the whole game, which is not that easy, maybe you think we played the number 20 [team in the league standings] and this is what we expect, but I’ve seen many games of Southampton that they were dominating the game. In the end, if you’re 2-1 down after an hour you are maybe over the moon if you win 3-2.
On Salah’s performance...
We always know we can trust on him if things are difficult for us. After we went 2-1 down I didn’t really feel that was the moment we should score in. Then out of a fantastic pass from Ryan Gravenberch though [we did]. But the timing of the run and the way Mo finished it was special and that helped us really back into the game, of course. It’s normal if you score at 2-2 it helps you back in the game but we needed that goal maybe to play the last 25 minutes that we played because then for me it was a matter of time before we scored a goal. In the first hour we dominated possession without really creating that much. In the last half-hour we were dominating – or the last 25 minutes – with creating some chances.
On whether any of Southampton’s changes surprised him...
No, I think what I do as a manager is I want to know their style of play. Sometimes it makes a bit of a difference if a No.9 is high and tall or fast or slow. So, it makes a bit of a difference, but I don’t think they changed their playing style. Not in the way they lined up as a 5-4-1 and also not in the way they like to play, because the first goal we scored was from them trying to bring the ball out from the back, which didn’t happen a lot for them today. And that did happen a lot in other games because I showed the players yesterday how many times Southampton can play through a press. But today I think that part of our game was quite good. We were really aggressive without the ball.
On how tough the Premier League is and how difficult a game it was ahead of facing Real Madrid...
That is the difference... this league asks a lot from every player every weekend and then if you then play in Europe, that’s not always easy. Only a few teams in England have shown they can do this. Liverpool have shown it in the past for many seasons. The last two years that has been more difficult. That’s also why teams in England have such a big squad because top clubs have quite a lot of money. We can also make a bigger squad than maybe some other teams in other countries. That’s also what we need, you saw it today again, the two or three players that came in really had an impact on the game and that is also what we need in this league.
On not getting carried away with the eight-point lead...
No, definitely [it’s a healthy advantage] but we also know what we have to put into it to get this lead that we have at the moment – and to get these wins. I think there were maybe one or two games for us that were wins by a big margin, but the rest of them were all by small margins. We know how difficult it is to win a game and these players have been longer in the Premier League than I have been. I think it was last season and even later on in the season that Arsenal led by eight points and [Manchester] City came back, so you know if you face Arsenal, City, Chelsea and all these other teams – Tottenham [Hotspur] were great yesterday, as well – they’re all able to win so many games in a row. It’s nice to have this position, but we are definitely not getting carried away.
On whether he spoke to Southampton manager Russell Martin...
Not more than I speak to any other manager, you shake hands before the game and after the game. What was a bit unlucky for them I think is normally they play, in my opinion, even much better, they create much more chances and hardly score. Today they only created two chances, which the first one wasn’t even a chance, and scored two. They maybe could have done this the opposite way and then they would have had more points because in other games they played through the press of other teams so, so, so many times but then they were not effective enough. Today they were really effective because I think they arrived two times with the first one not even being a chance, maybe, and the second one from our set-piece. If they can combine these two things, the style of play they have, for all the other games with the effectiveness they had today, then I am sure they will bring in a lot of points in the future.
On the penalty decision awarded against Liverpool...
In general sometimes you could have made a different decision or not, but for me with the offsides and deciding if a ball is inside or outside, that is just black and white. It was a foul, that was clear, so if they saw it was inside then, yes, it’s a penalty. Sometimes with a knock, yes or no, or red card, yes or no. There was also an incident in the first half where you could argue if it’s a red card, yes or no. Those things you can argue, but offside and inside or outside the 18-yard box is something you cannot argue.