6 days ago
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Liverpool (sort of) gets its competitive campaign underway on Sunday, with Crystal Palace lined up as the opponent in the Community Shield. Supporters may well be more interested in ongoing transfer questions, but Arne Slot found time to address the upcoming match as well.
The importance of the traditional curtain-raiser is always keenly debated, but a win would at least start the season with a piece of silverware, and put yet another dent in Man United's increasingly desperate claims to be the biggest club in England based on trophies won. Speaking to the media, Slot discussed how he is approaching the game.
He was also asked about Alexander Isak, and potential transfer plans in defense. While he didn't stray too far from his usual script in that regard, there were some interesting pieces of insight.
Here's every word that the Liverpool boss said in his press conference. The first question was about the ongoing impact of Diogo Jota's tragic death.
"First of all, the tragedy impacted us, of course, most," said Slot. "But again, it impacted far more his wife, children and parents.
"But it impacted us as well, definitely. The tributes that have been done since were all very emotional and impressive, every time we were somewhere.
"It started off in Preston and in Asia as well. It's been emotional, but impressive as well."
Next up, Slot was asked about Liverpool's offensive options, and the potential departure of Darwin Nunez. The reporter also sneaked in a section about the potential signing of Alexander Isak.
"These are a lot of questions! As you know from me – and I think every manager works like this – you never talk about players that are not yours," Slot remarked.
"I can talk to you about Hugo [Ekitike], who we signed recently and has done really well until now. I and we are very happy with the squad we are having and there is every reason to be happy about that because we won the league last season.
"OK, players left, but we have brought players in as well and youngsters are doing good. At this moment in time, Darwin [Nunez] might indeed leave, but things are not signed yet, so you need to wait maybe a few days before that is completely done. But there is indeed a chance he is going to leave."
Of course, this isn't the first time we've heard the line about Slot only wishing to talk about his own players. But he talked a bit later on about constantly assessing the market (more on that soon), and there was an admission that Nunez is moving toward the exit door.
The next big transfer question is whether Liverpool will sign another center-back. Slot actually tackled this question a little more head-on, defending the current options:
"What you just said, they [Ryan Gravenberch, Andy Robertson and Wataru Endo] can definitely play there as well. You forget to mention Joe Gomez – unfortunately, he has a minor injury at the moment but he will be back with the team very soon.
"We still have numerous options that can play there. But what I always say, it's the same boring answer as with players that we might bring in or not, I'm really happy with the players we are having and we have numerous players that can play in that position."
At this point, attentions turned to the Community Shield. Slot expressed excitement at the chance to win a first trophy of the season:
"It's nice if you can start the season with the chance of winning something. Normally you have to play numerous games before you can win something.
"If it's the League Cup, FA Cup, let alone [the] Premier League or Champions League, normally you win something in the end of the season. Now we have a chance to win something in the beginning of the season.
"Unfortunately, we face a very good Crystal Palace that have been very difficult to win against for us, because we played 1-1 against them in the last game of the season. They showed in the last final — and even in the semi-final, by the way, as well — how difficult it is to win a one-off game [against] them.
"I think most of the players that they have are still there, so even more reason to know what a difficult team it is to play against."
Slot was also asked to preview the threat posed by Crystal Palace:
"Counter-attacks, set pieces, long ball to Mateta, so they have also indivdual quality of their forwards who can create something out of nothing. So it indeed gives us [a good test].
"But I think that's what Bilbao and Milan already did as well, and the Japanese team [Yokohama FM] by the way also gave us a lot of competition. That's definitely what Palace is going to do; they kept their team together, so they'll hit the ground running again."
Moving away from the match, Slot was asked about Rio Ngumoha's development. The teenager has been a star of preseason.
"That is sometimes also difficult, and you never know how an individual handles that situation," Slot said, when asked about Ngumoha's ability to handle the increased attention. "It was a year ago when Trey Nyoni scored a goal, I think against Sevilla, when he was also maybe 17 — very young.
"They have an incredible chance to work and be every day around players like Virgil van Dijk, Mo Salah and all these others to see what they do to be ready to perform every three days. That is a step these players definitely have to make, which is completely normal if you're 16 or 17.
"It's already nice if they can play once a week at a good level. We just try to develop them in the best way we can.
"We also have to take care of them because new players that come in that are 24, 23, 22 already experienced that the intensity levels are quite high either during the games or in training sessions, let alone for players that are 16 and coming through the Academy. We are aware of that but it's been a promising start from him, like for Trey Nyoni as well because I think Trey also played a very good game at Anfield [against Athletic Club] three days ago."
There was also a mention for Ngumoha in a second question about attacking depth and transfers. Slot questioned the label of "senior players" needed for the campaign ahead:
"I don't know what senior players exactly means," he admitted. "Does that mean that you play for your country or you have a certain age?
"Because a player like Rio showed in the last few games he played for us that at senior level he can have an impact as well. I think, we think, we already have a lot of attacking power in our team when I think about Cody Gakpo, Federico Chiesa, Hugo Ekitike, Mo Salah, Jeremie Frimpong, who can play as a right-winger, and Florian Wirtz, who can play as a left-winger.
"I already feel I have a lot of attacking options in my current squad. But as always, as a club we are always looking at the chances in the market – but that can also be in the midfield or in the last line."
Finally, Slot spoke about the impact of the African Cup of Nations this season. He revealed that he has been building his squad with that in mind.
"Yes, we definitely thought about that," Slot said. "We brought in Jeremie Frimpong because we think he can play as a right full-back but I also think and feel he can play as a right-winger.
"I, we, did think about the fact that we're going to miss Mo, I think as a maximum for six games — but that's quite a lot in the Premier League, especially if you see how well he did last season. Signing Jeremie Frimpong was for multiple reasons but one of them was also that he could replace Mo if Mo is not there.
"There are other options for me to replace Mo with as well — but Jeremie is definitely one of them."
That was interesting, especially as we've only seen Frimpong at full-back in preseason. His potential to play further forward was talked up when Liverpool signed him, but this was the first real confirmation that it was in Slot's thinking as well.
But there will soon be more to go on than a deep dive into Slot's every word. Whether you count the Community Shield or not, the proper football is starting soon, and it will be a great joy to have Liverpool back.
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