Slot: “It’s not just an important week, but also an important year ahead”
Arne Slot says his team is not only preparing for the weekend's premier league opener but for the whole season
Liverpool head coach, Arne Slot insists his team is not only preparing for this weekend’s premier league opener at Ipswich Town, but they are preparing a team to last the whole year. The Reds travel to Portman Road Stadium to face the newcomers in what would be Slot’s first competitive and league match as Liverpool boss.
The team brought their preseason friendlies to an end yesterday in a double-header which saw them initially beat Sevilla 4-1 in front of a packed Anfield crowd, before playing out a 0-0 against Las Palmas later the same day without Audience in the same stadium.
Liverpool and Slot can look back on a good preseason of work after beating Real Betis by a goal to nil, and then edging our Arsenal 2-1 in an entertaining match at the Lincoln Financial Stadium in Philadelphia before ending the tour of the US by defeating archrivals Manchester United by 3-0 in South Carolina. There was also a little matter of a behind-closed-doors preparatory match at the AXA Training Center in the first week of preseason which the Reds lost 0-1.
Slot answered questions from reporters following Sunday’s matches about his side’s preparation for this week. Asked if he was getting ready for an important week for his team, Slot said, “Yeah, but not only an important week but an important year to come. We have to improve day by day and I think we saw 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. Some of them with short and new ideas only been with us for a week so they have to adjust on that. So it’s normal that we’re far from perfect, and even with being far from perfect we can score four so that’s a good start.”
“Ideally, we would have loved to have all of them from the start [preseason]. Players like Virgil and all the others who went off after 67 minutes [in yesterday’s match] could have played the whole game. But I’m pleased if you look at the situation, so these players had to go on holiday, a lot of them came back really strong. And the ones I had from the start have stayed fit all of the time, so I’m pleased with the fitness levels the team has and also without injuries which is an important thing in preseason.”
The Dutchman was full of praise for the Anfield crowd during his first taste of football in the home dugout. The cameras captured him with smiles while the “You’ll never walk alone” anthem was sung by the supporters present. Speaking about the reception he received on his first day on home turf, Slot remarked; “That’s always nice. Normally which ever team you lead when you play a home game it’s nice. If you lead a team with 15,000 fans it’s nice, if you lead a team with 50,000 it’s even nicer, if you lead a team with 60,000 that are also constantly behind the team similar to my former club at Feyenoord, there’s always games to look forward to. I got a taste of it today and look forward to more in the Premier League, Arne Slot ended.
The boss also confirmed there was an agreement in place for the sale of Fabio Carvalho although he didn’t give further details stating his focus was on the two friendlies on Sunday.
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