Arne Slot press conference: Facing Tottenham, Liverpool's form, Ekitike, Jones and more
The Dutchman spoke to reporters at the AXA Training Centre this morning, with the game against Thomas Frank's side on Saturday (5.30pm GMT).
See a summary of Slot's briefing below...
On Mohamed Salah...
I've said last week actions speak louder than words. We've moved on. He was in the squad [versus Brighton & Hove Albion] and he was the first substitution I made. Now he's at the AFCON playing big games for himself but also for the country, so I think it's fair to them – but definitely also for us because we are going to play some very important games – that all the focus for him is over there and there should not be any distraction from me saying anything about his time at Liverpool, because what I said: we've moved on after the Leeds interview and he played against Brighton. Now he is there, so it's fair for the country, for him and also for us to talk about Tottenham and other games and for them to be fully focused on their tournament.
On Liverpool's impressive goalscoring record against Tottenham in recent years...
But it took us 92 minutes to score away against Brentford, against a Thomas Frank team last season, so you cannot compare... Yes, you can compare certain things because [it is] mainly the same players. They've added a few players to the team and with Thomas Frank [there is] a new manager, so I don't think you can compare our games of last season with this season. Even more so because we not only added, we lost a lot of players as well, so you cannot compare this team of ours to last season – even with the same manager – and you cannot compare our results of last season [against Tottenham] with facing a Thomas Frank team.
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On what potentially going into the top four with a win ' would do for the spirit and the feeling around' the club...
I think winning always gives a good feeling and good spirit for a team that had so many changes during the summer. The league table, the first 12, 13, 14, 15 teams are so close to each other that winning or losing matters a lot, with one exception although [Manchester] City are coming closer and closer to Arsenal now, but Arsenal are quite far away from us. I think the main thing for us is to build on what we are building on in the last five games. I think with the exception of Brighton maybe, because we did concede a lot of chances against them, but the other games we were solid defensively and that's a good base, combined with that the players are getting more and more ready to compete at Premier League intensity as a group. So, I think we can expect more from us in the upcoming part of the season than what we've shown before, but I assume that everybody would expect that [of themselves] as well.
On having a week in between matches...
I think it's always helpful for a manager to work on the training pitch with the players, especially if you bring in players – not all of them but a few of them – a little bit later in the window. With Alex [Isak], for example, he's the best example of that on the first of September. But you can also influence players if you play a game and you do video meetings. So, it's not an excuse for our results, not at all. But I would prefer to have more of these weeks than we have because it's a way of implementing either new things or pointing out more and more or stressing on things we have to do better than we did them before. I liked it and next week is the same, so that is almost a mini-pre-season for us.
On whether Hugo Ekitike has 'surpassed his expectations so far'...
He didn't, because we knew what type of player we signed. I think I said it after the game and this is something I just said as well: he had to go off in the Brighton game after 70 minutes because he had cramp, but he did almost double the amount of work he did three months ago where I also had to take him off with cramp. But his ability to score, his technique, his speed, all these things, that's just what he has, so no-one is surprised to see that. But he improved a lot in terms of how much he runs during a game and how hard he works. That's a big help for the team as well.
Because people are focused only on goals, but he helps us out now defensively as well and that is also very important for a No.9. In the talks I've had with him, I've probably spoken more about what I expect from him defensively than offensively. Before we signed him, he had no problems with that. After we signed him, he sometimes felt like, 'Can we also talk a bit about offence?' But there's not so much to talk about offence with him because that part of his game is very good. Defensively, I'm more and more excited to see what he's doing as well.
On Curtis Jones' form...
He's done really good in the last three games and I think that's not the first time. But maybe since I'm here it's the first time that it's three times in a row that he brings in very, very good performances. He's had in the past also very good performances and a game later I didn't like the performance as much as I did now recently in his last three games. So, I think it's again a challenge for him to go to the fourth, to go to the fifth, to go to the sixth game. But I think I'm not the only one who liked the way he played – with so much confidence, with so much work-rate, giving it all in every single moment for the team and really, really comfortable on the ball as well. His last three performances are the base where we expect him to go on, but that starts tomorrow against a challenging opponent like Spurs.
On whether he feels the team is getting 'closer to finding the balance between being good defensively and offensively'...
I think we are getting closer and closer to the team I want us to be, and that has gone with ups and downs, let's be completely clear about that. But for me that makes complete sense because of all the changes we made during the summer, and we made them on purpose because we thought we needed to. If I'm completely honest, maybe I didn't expect it to take as long as it did. But looking back on it, reflecting on it now, I think I've been too positive, because if you go with a new group where not all of them are completely ready to play every single game 90 minutes in this intensity, you have to adapt – sometimes he can play, then he cannot play. So, it takes maybe a bit of time.
And we've been a bit unlucky with referee decisions, I've said this multiple times. Even [on] Saturday when I said afterwards that the referee was completely neutral, I missed out on a red card, so another influential decision but this time it didn't hurt us. We have to go to that situation that if a referee's decision is against us, it doesn't matter, we are still good enough to win. If we concede a set-piece, no problem, we're still able to win. So, set-pieces are another thing, I think from almost all the losses that we've had except for one maybe, in all the other ones we've conceded a set-piece and that shouldn't influence our result anymore.
That's why we have to improve, that we're not dependent as much on luck or bad luck because we are in that mix too many times from the start of the season, because we were a few times lucky maybe in the start when we scored late-goal winners. We deserved those wins but still they were small margins and we have to make sure that this team gets to a level that either referee decisions or set-pieces don't influence our results as [much] as they've done in recent weeks and months.
