Slot Talk: “It’s Normal That We Are Far From Perfect”
The new coach gave his assessment of the squad and playing at Anfield following the last two preseason matches.
That’s a wrap on the preseason shenanigans. Liverpool Men hosted a double header on Sunday at Anfield, starting the day early with a full fan attendance for Sevilla, and once everyone went home from that the lineups changed just a little bit to welcome Las Palmas. The Reds beat Sevilla emphatically by 4-1, including a brace from Luis Diaz, while the squad that faced Las Palmas were unable to get across the line and it all ended 0-0.
New coach Arne Slot spoke to the press following both matches, answering a wide range of questions covering his preseason assessments, and experiencing coaching at Anfield for the first time. Considering much of the squad had a summer break shortened by international tournaments once again, first on everyone’s mind was fitness. Senior players like Andy Robertson and Virgil van Dijk didn’t play full 90s on Sunday, like they may be expected to do next weekend, and Slot acknowledged where they’re at.
“Ideally we would have had them from the start, all of them. Then, players like Virgil [van Dijk] and all the others that went off after 60, 70 minutes could have played the whole game,” Slot said.
“But I am pleased, if you look at the situation. These players had to go to a holiday, a lot of them came back really strong. And the ones I had from the start stayed fit for all the time. Yeah, pleased with the fitness level the team has, and also without injuries at the moment, and that is an important thing in pre-season.”
Thankfully no one has ended up with serious injuries so far, even coming out of the hot trip to the United States last week, and if anything players are coming back from injury. Robertson himself missed the trip to the US after suffering an injury during his short stint in the Euros. The important thing ahead is the upcoming week leading to the Premier League kick off on Saturday, especially with Liverpool having the early match against Ipswich.
“Not only an important week, an important year to come. We have to improve day by day. I think we saw today in both games a lot of good things but I can make a big list also of things we have to improve, which is completely normal,” the coach continued.
“Some of them with the certain new ideas we have, have only been [working] with this for a week so they have to adjust to that, they have to adjust to each other maybe with these some new ideas. So it’s normal that we are far from perfect, but even being far from perfect we can score four, so that’s a good start.”
Some of those new ideas include deciding who will play in the number 6 holding midfield role going forward. The club may still be trying to pursue another midfielder, but Slot wanted to give our rotating cast of established and potential DMs their chance to prove their talents before making concrete decisions.
“Sometimes that also had to do with the players we had available, the ones I’ve tried there. I think we’ve seen mostly Wata Endo there or Ryan [Gravenberch]. And in a previous game even Dominik [Szoboszlai] was a bit lower,” Slot explained.
“But I have quite a good idea which player suits there, at this moment in my opinion, best. But like I said, we are only one week working together with some players. So, sometimes you feel, ‘Oh, this is the best No.6’ but then the combination with the other two might maybe not work out that well.
“It’s not to say that the ones who played today will play next week or the weeks after. We are still in a situation where we are constantly evaluating which is the best team for us, which is the best line-up. And today you saw this but it’s not to say that it’s the same next week.”
Sunday was also Slot’s first time at Anfield as a coach with a full crowd, and his first chance to hear You’ll Never Walk Alone in it’s home. A special moment with a lot of build up, but will likely be even better for the first home match of the season in two weeks’ time. There was even a moment when the fans took up the song for the new coach that Jurgen Klopp left us with, to welcome him properly.
“That’s always nice, no matter which team you lead. Always if you play a home game it’s always nice,” Slot said of those opening moments.
“f you lead a team with 15,000 fans it’s nice; if you lead a team with 50,000 it’s even nicer; and if you lead a team that has 60,000 fans that are also constantly behind the team, similar to my former club at Feyenoord, those are always games to look forward to, and I got a taste of it today.
“What you hear is that they sing my name, but when I’m in the city or I have stayed for a while in the [hotel], those people and also the ones at AXA have been really nice to me. But it’s mostly like this if you become a head coach! People are always nice to you, especially if you haven’t lost yet! Although we did lose once, against Preston. So that helps. In general, I think people have been nice to me and have given me a warm welcome. Not only me, also the rest of my staff as well.”
The big week ahead has only just begun. Bring on the Premier League.
Source: liverpooloffside.sbnation.com
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