Round-upIpswich, Konate, Elliott and debates with dad - the best bits from Arne Slot's press conference

The Reds return to domestic action at Anfield on Saturday when they host the team they defeated 2-0 on the opening day of the 2024-25 campaign.

See what Slot had to say about this latest encounter – plus more – with our summary of Friday morning's briefing below…

• Curtis Jones injury update

On how different a proposition Ipswich will be compared to the opening-day meeting...

They've been a bit unlucky sometimes in the last moments of games. I've said this a few times recently that the second half of the season is always more difficult than the first half because some teams strengthen themselves during the winter break, some teams – not all of them but many teams – work with their manager for half a season and that normally leads to a team becoming better – and that's definitely the situation also for Ipswich, although they made it really difficult for us already in the first game of the season.

But I think it's fair to say that they've improved during the first half here and that is also a compliment to Kieran McKenna that he already made it really difficult for us in the first game. I think the few games after were more difficult for them but then at a certain point they've become a very good team that makes it difficult for every team – except maybe their last game, which was an exception to the rule and maybe that was because [Manchester] City was City again.

On what Harvey Elliott needs to do to get more starts...

Keep bringing performances in like he did and keep working as hard on the training ground as he's doing as well. I always say to the players it's not only about you, it's also about the competition you are in. And in his situation he's in competition with five very good midfielders that you know and there are a few youngsters coming through that are very talented as well but they are not close to playing time yet. But he's in competition with Wata [Wataru Endo], with Ryan [Gravenberch], with Curtis [Jones], with Macca [Alexis Mac Allister] and himself, so these are the midfielders we have at the moment. He has to bring performances like he does and then playing time will probably increase.

On how good Ibrahima Konate can become...

I think he's already very good. It's a centre-back that without him even touching the ball you already feel, 'Quite impressive' because he's so strong and tall. I think one of the things he could improve, in my opinion at least, is his play with the ball, bringing the ball out from the back. I would not say he was poor in that but he could improve [and] he could go to another level. I think he works really hard to improve that and I already see this improvement.

Defensively, he's of the highest standard. I think he's fast, he's strong, he wins duels through the air, over the ground and [he] can cover for his teammates as well if he's needed, he can play one-v-one with a lot of space in his back. So, defensively there's not a lot he could or can improve. But bringing the ball out from the back – which is not his single job, it's also his teammates he needs for that – was something we have worked on a lot and keep on working a lot. Not only with him but with the others as well because from all the ball possession we have, we would like to create even more chances than we are doing now and that starts from bringing the ball out from the back.

On whether his rotation at left-back is down to managing workload or because Kostas Tsimikas' level has improved this season...

I think both. If Kostas was on a completely different level than Robbo [Andy Robertson] then it would not be smart to rotate in that position or manage the load because then you drop so far in quality that it could be a risk. I don't know what Kostas' situation was last season, I know he didn't play a lot but I don't know where he was at which level. But from the moment I came and in our tour in the United States, he did really well. He's proved that he can play in the left full-back position as well. Since we've now got two good options, in my opinion, you can indeed see we are managing loads and rotate in that position quite a bit. Yes, that's true.

On the need to be patient against Ipswich...

That is difficult for fans and my father is a fan as well and when I call him after the game he can also say, 'It wasn't as exciting as other games of Liverpool' when he watched the game against Lille. And then I have to try to explain [to] him that these games you can easily lose if you are starting to force all kinds of difficult balls – but he's not always agreeing with me then!

But as a manager, I was quite happy with our performance against Lille because they were a team so well organised and [have] so much control, and I think there was one moment in the game I can remember that Curtis tried to play on the halfway line a ball that was a bit of [a] risk and we lost that ball and they counter-attacked us. So, that's the risk you have if you play against a low-block team. [Nottingham] Forest is probably the best in the league if you play these stupid balls – which I call stupid balls [and] what my father would love to see us playing a bit more. That is the risk of them creating then much more chances.

There's a difficult balance between taking the risk and conceding a lot, or having control [and] maybe not creating as much. But against this team, going 1-0 down – as we've seen against Forest – is an even bigger problem, especially against a low block. So, it's a balance we have to find and I can understand that it's sometimes difficult for fans as well that come to the stadium to see us winning but us hopefully scoring a lot of goals and an exciting match. But you need two teams for that and the better we do, the less likely it is that teams come to Anfield and say, 'Let's go to a high press and let's press them all over the pitch.'