Q&AEvery word from Arne Slot's pre-Nottingham Forest press conference

The Liverpool head coach sat down with journalists at the AXA Training Centre on Friday to discuss his team's hosting of Forest at Anfield in the Premier League.

The Reds will return to on-pitch action on Saturday afternoon [kick-off 3pm BST] following the September international break, as they aim to continue their 100 per cent start to the 2024-25 campaign.

Read what he had to say below...

On Caoimhin Kelleher wanting to play first-team football...

I would be really worried if a player comes out saying, 'I don't care about first-team football. I like it so much on the bench, I want to stay there for the rest of my life.' That would be a bigger worry for me. So, it's normal that they want to play, but it's also normal that a club like this that tries to compete for trophies has more than 11 players that can play. As long as they accept the situation, not accept [and] taking away I don't care that I'm not playing, but accepting it by helping the team whenever they have to, then it's a good place to be in and I think Caoimhin has shown many times in the past few years, even in pre-season, that he is every time ready when we need him.

It's a good thing that he wants to play and who knows [if] he's going to play for us in the future, but at this moment it is also quite clear that Alisson [Becker] is the number one. But last season he [Kelleher] played many games, so [it's a] normal situation for a player to be in. If you're not playing, you want to play. But he handles the situation really well.

On Ryan Gravenberch's form and the work he has put in to 'learn' his midfield role...

Yeah, learn that position, he's been a midfielder all his life, maybe he's playing a bit deeper is the English word I think, a bit lower [and] deeper than he did before, but it's not that much of a difference. I think he, like the other ones who do really well, benefit from how the team is playing. Ryan came back strong like many others and [by] stronger I mean really fit. He played some good games and took his chance, but I think in general, like the others who score goals, we are talking about the benefits also from a team structure.

On whether he has full trust in him...

Yeah, if trust means that you play him then I trust him. But I also trust the ones that are not playing, so I think it's always the most easy argument to give. Yeah, you give him trust, that's why he plays good, if it was that simple I would've thrown my trust to every player! But we're going to go out to the training ground hoping to prepare them in the best possible way. I believe more in this than in the word 'trust'. But if he trusts in his teammates, if he trusts the structure and the way we play then that will help of course.

On whether Liverpool's early momentum could be halted by the international break...

That's always the question after two weeks, but if you saw them playing with the national teams, I think the momentum for the individual [is there] and now let's see if they come back together if they can play in the same way as the last few games. But it also depends on the opponent you face, so sometimes they make it more difficult for you than in other situations, so of course we look at ourselves a lot, but you also have to relate it to the team you face, and Nottingham Forest hasn't lost this season yet. I think they won the last two games of last season, so they're in a good place as well. It's going to be a tough one and an interesting one to look forward to.

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On whether working with Liverpool's defence was one of his 'top priorities' when he arrived at the club...

[It was] to tell them exactly the opposite of what you are saying - 'the defence is keeping a clean sheet'. In my opinion, it's not the defence who keep a clean sheet, it is 11 players who keep a clean sheet. That's why we try to convince them constantly about this because in an ideal world we don't need Alisson, but that ideal world is still not there because against [Manchester] United we needed him a few times, against Brentford we needed him one time in particular and against Ipswich in the first half as well. So, it's a team performance that we don't concede - and that has a lot to do with us putting in a lot of work without the ball.

On whether there is any news on new contracts and if such talk is 'a distraction'...

It's again the boring answer which you are going to get from me as long as there is no news about this. We don't talk about contract situations over here. Is it distracting? No, it isn't because I am fully focused on the individuals and the team and they are part of the team. [We are] trying to work with them in the best possible way to get the best out of them, so it's not a distraction for me at all.

On Trent Alexander-Arnold playing two full games for England during the international break...

He proved he could do 90 minutes, but maybe he could have done that before as well. In the Ipswich game, I saw he became a bit tired towards the end of the game, but he played two games afterwards, so I think he is completely ready to play 90. Sometimes in the beginning it was that I saw he was tired and sometimes it is also having another player like Conor Bradley who can do the job really well.

So, he is able to play 90 he showed, like all the others, but I have a whole team to manage and a whole team to prepare for the season. It's also good for Conor to get his playing minutes or for the one that comes in for Mo [Salah] or the one who comes in for one of the other ones I took off. You guys - and I understand - try to look always at the individual, I look at the team and I have to prepare the whole team, the whole squad, for the upcoming fixtures.

On the upcoming run of seven games in three weeks and whether he will rotate his team...

That's something that I decide before every game. My former teams… we were actually able to play almost every game with the same players, but it's a different league. I might have to adjust to that, but it also depends on what they show and by what they show I mean in terms of physique. In the first three games we were [in a] really strong physique but we only played one day each seven days. Now they have a point to prove and I assume that they all want to play every game.

So, if they want to, they have to show up every time, also in quality, but especially in work-rate. We have more than 11 very good players so I can use more. I can't tell you now if I am going to do so or not, that I am going to decide before every game that comes up. I get some feedback from medical staff, performance staff, whoever they are, [about] what's the best thing to do and we make the decision before every game.

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On 10 members of his squad playing two full games over the international break...

In some situations I was really happy with the fact that they played 90 [minutes]. Jarell Quansah, I think he played two times 90. Kostas Tsimikas played two times 90, Cody [Gakpo] played a lot of minutes, and we were just discussing that I've played in the first three games mostly the same players. Conor Bradley played two times. For now it was a present that I got from most national team coaches. Maybe in the future I would sometimes love for it to be a bit different, but it's a positive thing that we are in that we have 10 players that can play every minute for their national team. It says a lot about the quality we have.