I totally forgot this was on. Anyway, nicked from the BBC again:
Here are the key lines from his news conference:
On captain Virgil van Dijk signing a new contract, six days after Mohamed Salah extended his stay at Anfield: “It tells you that we want to keep our best players - the players who have played great seasons for so many years in a row.”
Slot continued: “Virgil has been so important for us - defensively, offensively, around the dressing room. He’s a great personality and a great football player.”
Asked about Trent Alexander-Arnold’s future: “We don’t talk about these things as long as things are not done yet - and they aren’t, so that’s why we don’t talk in public about that situation.”
He added: “Every time he trains or plays with us, he shows his commitment. The moment he’s on the pitch, he shows me what a great player he is and how much he’s involved in us trying to achieve our goals this season. Everyone who has watched football over the past six or seven years knows he is an incredible full-back. Let’s see what the future brings.”
Alexander-Arnold returned to training earlier this week and, although he will not be fit to start, he could be on the bench if he comes through training with no adverse reaction to his injury before Sunday’s game.
Liverpool will be confirmed as Premier League champions if they win and Arsenal lose to Ipswich on Sunday. “My thoughts aren’t on that at all. As always, my thoughts are on Leicester and our team - how to improve and what we can do better,” Slot said.
He continued: “My whole life, I’ve lived in the moment. I don’t look backwards a lot and I don’t look forwards a lot. It’s the type of person I am. It’s difficult in football - people tell you to try to enjoy the journey, but the only thing you think of as a manager is the game coming up. Maybe because I’ve been in football so long, you get used to living day by day and trying to influence day by day.”
As ever, very little in the presser about the actual game!
I’m looking forward to this one. When we last won the league, the game against Leicester on Boxing Day was the best we played all season. A 0:4 away victory against the team who were arguably the most in form team in the country.
It’s a very different opposition this time, but winning that game in 2019 asserted our dominance that season. Winning on Sunday sets us up for the home straight at Anfield.
To be fair he couldn’t think two sentences ahead, so he was right that he doesn’t look forward a lot (that’s proven by the sentence itself). And he is also right that the only think he can do is think of the game coming up (proven by the fact we are winning the league). So it’s a paradox, not a contradiction. You went VAR mode there (and to save time when you reply it was a joke, so is VAR).
Just watched the training video and they are practising freekicks with a the wall dummies, however, they are set at a normal head height, when most walls actually jump.
Surely they should be set higher to achieve more realism?
Another long absence from me, but I’ve still managed to follow the reds. I can’t believe what Arne Slot and the team are deservedly about to bring the title back to Anfield. It feels like a dream.
That Wout Faes makes it. He’s usually pretty good for us.