Arne Slot press conference: Everton analysis, derby preparation and more

On the rivalry with Everton and how he compares David Moyes’ team this season to last season…

When we faced them last season they had a very good spell as well – and it wasn’t a spell because they just kept on going with that and into this season again also. I think they’ve made some good signings and one of them is of course a player on loan who was worth £100m in the past, someone paid £100m for him and he is doing so well for them, Jack Grealish. So, a good team. Indeed, there is rivalry but what I also liked and I want to emphasise in this moment as well is what they did when Diogo [Jota] passed away, coming to Anfield, being there, and of course they showed their respect from sporting director to sporting director and all these kind of things. So, in these moments of time it's so nice to see that in those tragedies the rivalry is still there but the respect towards both is also there. So yeah, looking forward to the game tomorrow because every Anfield game is special but this derby is even more special.

On how he prepares the new signings who have not played in the derby before…

I have experienced the away game as something different than something I’ve experienced before than all the other away games we’ve played, but Newcastle away felt similar for me as Everton away last season. It is not for the first time we play this [type of] game and for the new ones it’s not the first time they play in circumstances where there is a lot of rivalry, a lot of intensity in the game, a lot of tackles being made. But I think yes, the focus should be on the rivalry but should also be on what we need to do to win that game and that is being intense, that is winning the duels but that is definitely also going to be playing good on the ball and playing good when we don’t have the ball, be intense. It’s again going to be a difficult game because they have many good players.

I don’t know exactly what they are going to do – is it going to be like last season when we faced a lot of long balls, while this season I have seen them playing out from the back many times very well. Maybe also because they have brought in some very talented players that can play both styles. So we have to prepare them for that and of course maybe Virgil [van Dijk], Mo [Salah] and these kind of players will tell the new ones what they can expect. But we are not talking about rookies, it’s not like these players play for the first time in a full stadium or for a first time in these kind of games. If you talk about Florian [Wirtz], he has played so many special games in his career already and I can come up with all the others as well. Yes, it’s special but it is not miles off other special games they have played.

On Mohamed Salah’s form this season and performance against Atletico Madrid…

For me, when you are a great player you still contribute to the team if you don’t play well. So, so many players can contribute goals and assists when they play well but not a lot of them can contribute something to the team when they don’t play well and by this I mean goals and assists. So, they can always give their work-rate but this is what stands out with Mo. I think, and this is normal, especially when you are a winger, it is so difficult to always be creative, always be the player he was against Atletico Madrid, but if he is not that player – which is normal – then he still has goals and assists and I think that is why the fans love him so much and why he is so highly regarded and respected.

Because a lot, a lot, a lot of players can play good when the team plays good or when they play good themselves, but not a lot can do special things when they are not at their best and that’s what he can and what makes him so special, I think. But I prefer to see him like he was in the Atletico game. He was very much involved, that was also very positive. So, in the Newcastle game there was hardly ball in play so it was difficult for every player to be special, but now we played so many balls to him, he was so much involved, touched the ball so many times, Florian found him so many times. So that was a joy to watch to see him like that but if we don’t see him like that he is still able to score goals and that’s what makes him special.

On whether he would consider playing Alexander Isak and Hugo Ekitike as a front two…

I consider, of course, because you consider many things and it depends always on how well they are doing, so if both of them are in the best form of their life you would even consider it more, playing them together. But it’s also clear that we have a certain structure, which has mainly been 4-3-3 [and] playing with three midfielders, but the amount of times we have, at the end phase of the game, played with two nines, that has happened quite a lot as well. Hugo can indeed also play from the left differently from Cody [Gakpo] or Rio [Ngumoha] and that’s the good thing about our squad, we have multiple options. But first of all they all have to stay fit to have these options and if some of them are not fit then we might have to use them both in a 4-4-2. That all depends on the form of them and how many players we have available. All of them are fit now and I think I can maybe choose between 21 players, so that’s quite normal. It’s not that it’s far too much.

Liverpool v Everton: Merseyside derby team news

On whether he has seen a pattern in Liverpool’s concession of leads in games this season…

We have only played five games so then it is difficult then to see something for the long term in it. So yes, twice we gave away a 2-0 lead, completely different when you see the goals. Against Bournemouth we were too open maybe, we missed Ryan [Gravenberch] in that position in midfield so they could just go all the way to our goal and score two counter-attacking goals. I don’t think Atletico scored two counter goals, two goals from transition, so you cannot compare that. But it is not ideal that if you have a 2-0 lead, twice we gave it away. So that is something we definitely have to improve, as [there are] many other things we have to improve. But the positive thing about it is then that if we feel the urgency again we were able to score a goal. But this is something we talk about with a 2-0 lead because you can run out of energy or run out of steam towards the end of the season if you every game have to go mentally and physically all the way to the end to win a game of football. So, it is never a good idea to keep on doing this but if we need it, I still hope we can do it.

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