NewsPress conference: Every word from Arne Slot ahead of Liverpool v West Ham

Liverpool’s head coach spoke to the media at the AXA Training Centre ahead of his side’s Carabao Cup third-round tie with West Ham United at Anfield on Wednesday night.

As well as providing a team news update, Slot also answered questions on a wide range of topics, including the importance of attempting to retain the trophy won under Jürgen Klopp last season, his decisions around selection and Trent Alexander-Arnold’s recent remarks about their relationship.

• Team news update: Alisson target, Chiesa condition and Kelleher to start

See a transcript below.

On where this game ‘lies in his priorities for the football club’…

It’s very important because it’s the next one, the next game we play and that’s always the most important one. And I know the history of this club, I know what happened last year and I know how special winning a cup can be. We are far away from that because it’s only the first game and a lot have to be played, and we have a difficult tie against West Ham. Fortunately at home. It’s a game to look forward to and an important one, as always the next game is.

On whether being holders of the trophy makes it any different, and supporters loving to win trophies…

Not only fans love winning trophies, players do and managers do as well. We all love to win something but that’s far away, we have to play our first game of this tournament tomorrow. And like I said, it’s a tough one with West Ham United at home. But it’s always nice to win something and I know the history of the club, they won it a lot of times, recently last season in a very special way with so many youngsters on the pitch in the final. If you won it last season, we are aware of the fact we won it last season and we are the holders of that trophy so we have to protect that, is that the right word to use? Maybe not perfect. But we’re going to give everything to win it again, let’s put it that way.

On West Ham’s start to the season…

Tough start as well, they faced some strong opponents. I saw during their games that they have very good spells as well, sometimes were a bit unlucky with the result. A lot of good players, brought in a lot of players in the summer window that haven’t been implemented yet but maybe there is a chance for them tomorrow to start. They will come back stronger because of all the quality they already had last season and which they brought in. They have a good manager as well. Hopefully it’s going to take them a few days extra! But they will come back stronger than they have started the season.

On the importance of getting rhythm into the players who have not played regularly so far this season…

They have [played] – the ones that haven’t played a lot here at Liverpool have played their games for their countries. But it’s important for them to keep getting playing time and it’s very, very difficult to arrange some friendlies for them because of our schedule so that is why we have rotated already a bit in the last few games, where you saw other players coming in apart from the ones that all started in the first two or three games and this might be a chance for the players to get some playing time as well. But it’s not only about playing time, it’s also for them if they do really well in the week – which they have all done until now – they will get their chance eventually. That’s also what you saw with Darwin [Nunez] and with Cody [Gakpo] as well. So, let’s see who will get their chance tomorrow but most of them, maybe even all of them, will get their playing time during the season.

On the hunger of those players to get game time…

Yeah, but I think every player is hungry to get playing time. If you play every week you are hungry to stay in the team. There is so much competition in this team, we have got so many good players, and I think they also like to go out because they play for a great club in front of great supporters. So, who would not like to play at a club like this in a home game, for tomorrow as well? So, we are in a good place when it comes to the quality players we have and I can choose between a lot of players again for tomorrow as well.

On Alexander-Arnold’s comments about his relationship with Slot…

It’s nice to hear it and to read it because I think we all remember the day Jürgen left what that meant to him, so you can assume then how good of a relationship the two had and to hear him saying this after two or three months about his new manager is nice. It’s always good if they had such a strong relationship, and a lot of them, maybe all of them, had that with Jürgen. It’s not always easy to come in and replace a manager like this, and that he feels it like this is a positive thing, I think. But it’s the same with him as with all the others, they all get a lot of individual attention to try to make them better because if they get better then the team will get better as well.

On the team’s defensive record this season and whether that has helped accelerate their general progress…

Yeah, the defence has been really good although I think in the last game I think we needed our goalkeeper too many times to keep the clean sheet. And I think it was yesterday or the day before I looked at the league table and, ‘OK, which teams did we face until now and which position are they? Are they in the top half or the bottom?’ I think all of them apart from [Manchester] United, I’m not sure about United, but most of them are in the bottom half of the table, so you have to take that into account as well. There are a lot of difficult teams we still have to face and if we are able after playing those teams as well – and after West Ham United tomorrow we go for two difficult away games – let’s see where we are then when it comes to conceding goals because maybe the fixture schedule has been ‘nice’ to us when you see the league table. And from the five games we have played three times at home, so that helps as well.

On Alexander-Arnold saying he is working with Slot on the defensive side of his game…

Yeah, it’s difficult for me to judge how it has been in the years before but the only thing I know is that we are talking here about a player that won the Champions League and won the league title and he mentioned himself, Trent, that winning the league is about defending, so it’s clear to me then that he has been a good defender all his life. But because he is so, so special with the ball, the main emphasis goes to him doing special things with the ball and I think with him it is not about if he is capable of doing things, it’s more can his concentration rate constantly be in 100 per cent focus, that’s what it’s more about with him. So, this is what we talk about a lot, that he has to stay active in every situation of the game, even if the ball is further away from him. But it’s not that we or I taught him to defend in the last three months: he’s won the league and he’s won the Champions League, so it’s just getting him to understand all of what is necessary to play the best possible game. That’s what we talk about with all the individuals but also with him.

On whether Trey Nyoni could be involved in the fixture...

Let’s see first how everybody comes in this morning and then we make a plan for every individual, where he is going to play and if they are going to play. The way I look at it now, it would be a fair chance for him to be in our squad instead of being with the U21s, but it also depends on how fit all the other players are.

On what he’s made of Nyoni since coming to the club…

I think what you say is true, he is a young player – really young, only just became 17, but with a lot of talent. He had some impact in pre-season and when he played against Seville he even scored a goal. So, a talent but only being a talent is not enough to play on a regular basis for the first team, so we need to keep developing him. He needs playing time, he needs playing time to develop and that’s why sometimes as a manager you feel like, ‘We might need him with the first team’ but it’s so, so important for him to keep playing his games. That’s why he played in Milan also with the U19s, because for him to develop he needs to train with us and he needs to keep having his playing time at the highest possible level. I think training with the likes of all the midfielders and players we have helps him to develop as well. So, we take good care of him and we are aware of the fact he has just became 17 – and that’s probably also the reason why people see him as such a talent because he already showed some interesting things at this age.

On whether he felt Bournemouth deliberately allowed Ibrahima Konate to have possession on Saturday...

I’m not sure if they saw him as a ‘weakness’. What could be is that they see Virgil [van Dijk] as an unbelievable strength, so that makes it maybe for Ibou, it’s not that he has a weakness, but maybe Virgil is even further ahead when it comes to bringing the ball out from the back. It was a surprise for us as well because in all the games they played until now, they were pressing the left centre-back with their No.10 and this was the first time they went to the right. For us, this was a real good decision because it led to three goals. Who knows what would have happened if they had given Virgil the same amount of space, maybe we would have scored even more. It’s a very positive thing for us and for me to see that if – if – they think they can press Ibou, Ibou is capable of finding his teammates the way he did last Saturday.

On Luis Diaz’s form and whether he has ‘done anything differently’ with him...

The way I looked at Liverpool for the last eight or nine years, I only saw players that were highly, highly, highly motivated. I think almost every manager took Liverpool as an example of how to work without the ball. The energy they put in, in all these years with Jürgen, I think that’s what you still see and I am really happy with us. So, for me, I don’t see any change. If you see any differently then that’s possible because you saw more games than me, but the way I looked at all the Liverpool players and the way they’ve played in recent years, they were always very aggressive and that’s what [Luis] still is.

• 17 stats to know ahead of Liverpool v West Ham cup tie