Round-upPressure, away form, contracts and more: Arne Slot's pre-West Ham press conference
The Reds travel to London Stadium (5.15pm GMT kick-off) for their final game of 2024 having extended their lead at the summit to seven points by beating Leicester City 3-1 on Boxing Day.
Slot previewed the meeting with the Hammers immediately after the win over the Foxes. Read our round-up from the head coach’s media briefing below.
On whether a seven-point lead brings pressure or a change of expectations…
No, you’re sitting in front of the Liverpool manager; so, there is always pressure at this club, if you are one, two, three, four or five in the table. If you work at a big club like Liverpool there is always the pressure. I think last season halfway through the season, were they also No.1? I think they were last season. So, it’s not so strange for a club like us to be on top of the league. But we know how many good teams there are in this league and they’re able to win almost every game as well. There’s no extra pressure – there’s always pressure if you work at a club like Liverpool.
On Liverpool’s strong away form and West Ham next…
I think our away form has been good but maybe it has a bit to do with the teams you face in the first half of the season. So, I think mainly we have faced the teams in the top half of the table at home and the other ones we faced away, so that might have something to do with it. We are strong away from home and at home as well. So, I don’t see any reason why we are stronger there than here, [it’s] something we can best judge at the end of the season if we have played every team home and away, to see what fits us best. But I think we are a difficult team to beat away from home as in our home games.
On Dominik Szoboszlai being suspended on Sunday and this being a period where the whole squad is going to be needed…
Yeah, that’s what you saw [on Thursday] as well, because I think Dominik Szoboszlai was outstanding against Tottenham Hotspur and the idea and plan was that he should be outstanding against West Ham. But he is not available so someone else should be outstanding against West Ham.
On Virgil van Dijk’s form and whether this is his best level at Liverpool…
Yeah, that is difficult for me to judge because like you said, I wasn’t here when Virgil was close to winning the Ballon d’Or, for example. He has been a tremendous player, such a great player for Liverpool for so many years. Unfortunately for him, he was out with an injury for almost all of a season; that didn’t help this football club at all, so that probably tells you how big of an impact he has had here at this club. I can only tell you what my experiences are with him and he has been not only for what you see – because you see him during the game and he is outstanding during the game – but he has such a big impact in training sessions as well. He is the vocal leader of this team, every time we start an exercise he is on top of his teammates and he leads by example. So, for me, he has been outstanding until now and we can only hope he can continue showing this during the games and in the training sessions as long as he’s with us.
On contract situations and whether anything will change on January 1…
If we would then probably it is not the moment for me to tell you now. But in general, I don’t talk about contract situations here and it would be a surprise if I was the one to announce that one of them had extended, that’s in a different moment. Keep asking because that’s your job but you’re probably not going to get an answer from me. It’s clear that from the first of January maybe for you guys things change a lot, but they are in constant talks with the club and let’s wait and see what happens. As long as they keep performing like this, the manager, or head coach I have to say, is happy with them.
On West Ham’s Mohammed Kudus and if he might start in midfield on Sunday…
I think he’s a good player, that’s for sure. Everybody sees this. He can play multiple positions, I think he played here for Ajax against Liverpool as a nine as well. He’s a big threat for them. They have many players, I think they have signed also many players during the summer so even if three midfielders are out I don’t think they have to play U21 players, they are still able to play players they brought in for many, many millions. That’s the Premier League – they all have, not only us or Chelsea, a lot of clubs have so many good players. Although when I didn’t play my starters, we used our U21 players – that is part of our identity and that’s what makes this club special I think as well.