ReactionArne Slot's post-Real Betis press conference: 'We controlled the game really well'

The Reds made a winning start to their pre-season tour of the USA thanks to Dominik Szoboszlai's first-half goal at Acrisure Stadium on Friday night.

While encouraged by what he saw against the La Liga outfit, the head coach did also stress there are a number of areas his team need to improve in.

Read on for a transcript of his post-match press conference…

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On the game...

I think there were a few positive things and, of course, a few things we have to improve. But the positive thing is that we kept a clean sheet. I think we only conceded one big chance and that was somewhere around the last 10 minutes of the game. So we controlled the game really well and in between we had a few good attacks where we created a few good chances and scored a good goal. Those were the positives from this game.

On the formation used...

I think during the season you will see us play with a real striker. But at this moment we have no-one available and then with Dom and Harvey [Elliott] we've got two No.10s, so we put them in the position they will play during the season as well. So that was one of the reasons why we played with a double 10 instead of with a striker. That is maybe out of necessity. But for the rest of the style of play with trying to build up from the back, that is our style – to control the game, to not concede constant counter-attacks. That will hopefully be our style during the season. There are also, of course, many things we can improve but that's normal after two weeks.

On Stefan Bajcetic's performance...

I think you have to take into account with Stefan that he was out for a year, one-and-a-half years almost. So if a young player is out for that long, you have to give him some time. But I saw today already a few good moments from him and also a few moments where he got caught because he acted a bit too slow. But I think that's normal if you've been out for such a long time [and] then you need rhythm, you need game time to grow even further. But I think he showed some good moments during the half-hour that he played.

On handling Real Betis' press...

I think we pressed them higher than they did us. We won the ball back a lot of times high in their half. But there were moments when they pressed us high. We played through their press a few times really good, so the goal was an example of that and our biggest chance of the second half was an example of that as well. But I also saw moments where we lost the ball too simple or we made the wrong choices, and I think that's normal after two weeks of trying to implement more control from the back. So, we take some positives and we take some things which we can and have to improve, especially with the likes of Arsenal and Man United coming up.

On leading Liverpool in front of fans for the first time…

If I'm coaching my team I'm only focused on 11 players. What can they do? What can they do better? Which positions they have to take, which choices do they make? So I'm not so aware constantly of coaching Liverpool or the amount of fans that are there. My focus is mainly on the team and where I can help them during the game or during half-time. Of course it's a nice experience to play in front of the fans, because they were there with a lot of people even here in the USA. Like I said, mainly focused on the players and not as much focused on the fans, but it's nice to play in front of them and to have them here as well.

On how much of a talent Trey Nyoni is…

I think he did really well today but it was only an hour. Like I said, he did well. He was one of the reasons why we scored the goal, because he turned really quickly and [played] a spot-on pass in between the lines. And he was also involved in the biggest chance in the second half. So he did well. But he's just turned 17 and his body has to grow, and we are really careful with him. So he doesn't join every session and sometimes he goes out a bit earlier because he only turned 17 and you can see his quality but you can also see his body still needs some time to grow to play at Premier League level. But he showed some interesting things today.

On the pitch at Acrisure Stadium…

The field was really good. Sprinkled it, it was full of grass so I think the field suited the way we wanted to play. We did lose the ball a few times but that had nothing to do with the field, that had to do with the individual performances of some players and the choices they made. But the losses of the ball had nothing to do with the pitch! The pitch was perfect.