Liverpool boss Arne Slot on Trent Alexander Arnold announcing he will leave the club when his contract expires and the challenges of facing Mikel Arteta and Arsenal this weekend.
Melwood, Liverpool, UK
Melwood, Liverpool, UK
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00:00It's been a long time we've spoken to you since the announcement that Trent will be leaving
00:13and his contract. How do you now feel about his decision to go and what reception do you hope for him this weekend?
00:20I think, like everybody who likes Liverpool and who is a fan of Liverpool,
00:28we are disappointed for him leaving because not only a good human being is leaving the club,
00:34but a very, very good full-back is leaving us as well.
00:38But I also worked at clubs like Alkman and Feyenoord,
00:45where every season a very good or multiple very good players have left the club.
00:51So I'm a bit more used to it maybe that players leaving the club and the experience I have.
00:57By the way, this club as well.
00:59If a very good player is leaving, the next very good player will step up.
01:04That's probably what's going to happen now again as well.
01:09What about the situation about him possibly leaving the club ahead of his contract expiring,
01:14so he can play in the Club World Cup?
01:16Can you tell us what the club's thoughts are on that? Is that potentially likely to happen?
01:20Do you know where he's going then?
01:22We understand, but the direction of travel is around Madrid.
01:25OK, OK. No, he hasn't said anything about it himself,
01:28the only thing he said is that he's going to leave the club,
01:30so for me it's impossible to comment on where he's going.
01:34And if that is a club that is going to play in the Club World Cup,
01:38you see on my smile that we both know where he's going to,
01:43but it hasn't been said yet.
01:45So that's impossible for me to comment on.
01:48And team selection, as it's been last week,
01:51it's going to be the same thought process go through my mind for the Sunday game.
01:58I think if Conor would have been available for Chelsea,
02:01he would have started already against Chelsea.
02:04But he wasn't, so there's a fair chance that he will start Conor on Sunday.
02:11How important do you feel it is to round off the season now in the right fashion?
02:16Obviously you've got a chance now against Arsenal.
02:18In some ways people look at it as potentially an opportunity again
02:21to lay down another marker ahead of next season,
02:23but do you feel you need that momentum to carry into next season now as well?
02:27I think we want to win every game of football,
02:31so we were disappointed losing against Chelsea.
02:34And that's nothing different for Arsenal.
02:37These two clubs have the highest possible standards
02:41of what you can ask for both very good teams.
02:46So, yes, we both want to win,
02:49but it's a bit different than when the league would still not be finished yet,
02:55in a sense that we wouldn't have won the league title yet.
02:58But yes, we definitely want to win the game,
03:00but I don't think that's any different to Arsenal.
03:03Anna, did you watch Arsenal in the week,
03:06and how do you assess the shape that they're in heading into the weekend?
03:09Yes, of course, I've watched Inter against Barca as well.
03:13Sorry?
03:14That was better, it was a great game, wasn't it?
03:16It was, but a friend of mine said to me,
03:20was it that much more entertaining and that much better,
03:25or was it because every chance at Inter and Barcelona there was,
03:28it led to a goal, and then all of a sudden it's 3-3 or 4-3,
03:31and everyone was like, wow, but maybe the same amount of chances were there
03:35with Arsenal playing Paris Saint-Germain,
03:37but not every chance was a goal because of both goalkeepers.
03:41And I knew already how good Donnarumma was facing him here at Anfield,
03:49so that wasn't a surprise to me.
03:54Both games were, I think, a joy to watch,
03:57so there's been not so much said about the format,
04:01but I think the end stage of every tournament,
04:04no matter what the format is, is always nice,
04:07and the quality all four teams have shown in these four games
04:13has been extraordinary as well.
04:15So, a joy to watch both games, to be honest.
04:18I know you've spoken about Conor Bradley a fair amount in recent weeks,
04:22I just wonder now that there is certainty over Trent's situation,
04:27how highly do you rate Conor in terms of,
04:31I know there's a lot of potential in what he's shown so far,
04:34in Liverpool, sure, has been pretty impressive,
04:37but to be a potential first-choice right-back for the next few years,
04:41can he do what Trent's been able to do and come through the ranks
04:44and establish himself as one of the best right-backs that Liverpool have had?
04:48Yeah, let's not compare him with Trent.
04:50Now already they are also two different types, in my opinion.
04:55With Conor I think we all see the potential,
04:58but last week I walked onto the pitch together with him
05:03and I looked around, because for me it was the first time,
05:06and I was very surprised to hear from him
05:08that he had a comment about the stadium as well,
05:11and I looked at him like, didn't you know yet?
05:13He said, no, it's the first time that I'm here as well.
05:16And that was a bit of a surprise to me,
05:18because for me he's already further in his development
05:21than being for the first time in an away game like Chelsea.
05:26Very talented player, Conor.
05:28Unfortunately he hasn't been fit throughout the whole season,
05:32and to become a very good player you have to be available every single week as well,
05:39and that's the first step he has to make for next season.
05:42But we have a lot of confidence in Conor as a very good full-back for Liverpool,
05:49and that's already what he's shown, I think, in the past two seasons.
05:54Arnie, you made six changes last weekend.
05:57Given the result, is the plan still to use some of the squad players
06:02for the remaining games of the season,
06:04or does that result change your planning in any way?
06:07I think there are a lot of influences on the decisions I make,
06:12and one of them is also definitely losing the game of football,
06:15so I'm not looking forward to losing all four of them.
06:18But there are more things going into a line-up than only losing
06:24or only rotating, giving the chance to other players.
06:30So, yeah, we will wait and see how we play on Sunday,
06:33but I already said that Conor is going to start,
06:35because I think he needs playing time as well to get some games under his belt,
06:40to be better prepared for next season.
06:43And even though the title is now won, I guess you'll expect a really edgy, competitive game against Arsenal,
06:49given they've been the closest team to you for most of the season.
06:53Yeah, it's difficult to predict, but I think both teams look forward to play this game.
07:00But it's difficult to predict if...
07:03OK, maybe there's a little bit at stake for Arsenal,
07:07because they will qualify for Champions League,
07:10but I assume they prefer to end up second than end up three or four.
07:15For us, we can only end as a number one.
07:19So it's difficult to predict if it will be edgy, yes or no,
07:24but it will be a game of football where there are 22 players on the pitch
07:28that are from a real high quality,
07:31with players that can come off the bench that have the same quality.
07:34So it's a game to look forward to, as many,
07:37because there's Real Madrid Barcelona during the weekend,
07:39there's Benfica spotting in the weekend,
07:43and you guys don't know because you're not interested in Holland,
07:46but it's a final PSV as well.
07:49So a lot of nice games to look forward to during the weekend.
07:52Unfortunately, all on Sunday.
07:55So I miss out on almost all of them,
07:57except for Liverpool Arsenal.
08:00Karl?
08:01Just to go back to Trent,
08:04everyone seems to have an opinion on him,
08:06and certainly since he made his announcement this week,
08:09journalists, media, fans, everyone had their own opinion on him.
08:14How has he handled that sort of fall,
08:16and how do you think, what sort of reactions should he get?
08:21Are you concerned about the reactions that he might get when he does play?
08:25Now that people have an opinion about us,
08:27if it's Trent or me or someone else who works in this industry,
08:30that's not new for anyone.
08:31Probably it's a bit more for him now than he's used to,
08:36and maybe a bit more negative than he's used to.
08:39But I don't follow all of this.
08:41I'm not here to tell the fans how they should react,
08:45and I will see Trent in a bit.
08:50The boys had a few days off as well,
08:52so I will wait and see how he feels about him announcing that he's going to leave the club.
09:00I did speak to him on WhatsApp.
09:04Let's wait and see, but I'm not here to tell the fans how they should react.
09:10I think we're all disappointed, but Trent is the first one also who said that he would prefer us as a team and us as a club
09:19not to be too much distracted by this announcement.
09:23So I'm hoping that all the energy on Sunday goes to the players and to the support of our fans,
09:31and as less as possible to Trent.
09:36Unless it's positive, then they can do whatever they want.
09:41This departure would leave you a little bit of light in the right-back area,
09:45so is that another area you've got to look at?
09:47Is that true?
09:50Well, you've played Kwanzaa there, but he's probably not a right-back.
09:54Joe Gomez has played there, but he's probably not as comfortable as a centre-back.
10:00So, is it an area you look at these strengths?
10:03We've got Conor Bradley and I've played Curtis Jones over there,
10:06so four players that can play that position.
10:09With, I agree with you, one of them that is the ideal position,
10:15and Joe Gomez can play there really well in my opinion,
10:19but maybe his favourite position would be centre-back, I agree with you,
10:22and for Jarrell it's the same.
10:24So, yeah, I think it would be a surprise to you if I would tell you now,
10:31yes, we are looking at this or we're looking at that,
10:33we don't talk about contracts over here, so we don't talk about the positions,
10:38or if we want to improve the team in certain areas.
10:43First of all, and that's the most difficult thing for a club like Liverpool,
10:47if you just won the league and we were so competitive against Paris Saint-Germain,
10:51because they needed penalties to knock us out,
10:55then it's not easy to find better players than we already have.
11:00And if they are there, they still need to be affordable
11:03and they need to want to come to our club.
11:06That last thing is mostly not a problem, by the way,
11:09but sometimes transfer fees are.
11:12Hi Arne, taking over from a successful manager isn't always easy.
11:19Can you talk about the approach you took to replacing Jürgen Klopp,
11:23and what do you think Liverpool did well to give you that plan for all to succeed?
11:29First of all, what Liverpool did well and what Jürgen did well
11:32is leave the team in a good place, so there was a lot of quality.
11:36What about myself is not emphasise too much on the fact
11:40that you replace someone who did so well,
11:43because there are so many general opinions in football,
11:50so for example if there is a bit of trouble in the hierarchy of a club above you,
11:56so in sports directors or general managers or ownership,
12:00then it's impossible to play good football on the pitch,
12:02that has nothing to do with Liverpool,
12:04but that's what they said, that's what people always say,
12:06and I experienced that at Feyenoord where there were a lot of problems above me,
12:10but it didn't lead to us not performing on the pitch,
12:13and it's the same like this, then all of a sudden it's impossible
12:16because Arsene Wenger left and Asura Ekklodiksen left to do well afterwards.
12:21That is not something that always should happen.
12:25I don't believe in these things, let's put it that way.
12:28So if you have a good squad of players and that's what we had,
12:32just start to work with them and try to get the best out of them.
12:35And I haven't thought that much about replacing Jürgen
12:41and that it was impossible at Arsenal or United multiple years ago.
12:46Life has changed, the world has changed,
12:48so you cannot compare these situations.
12:51But if I wouldn't have said it anymore,
12:54a new manager would have already been sitting here because I was sacked,
12:57people have said, yeah, it's impossible to replace.
13:00But now this probably changed.
13:02If now, I don't know which manager has been at the club,
13:05if Pepe is going to leave maybe now in one, two or three years,
13:08people will say, ah, it is possible to do well after he's leaving.
13:13I wanted to ask you a little bit more about Jürgen.
13:17Sunday was only his second start of the season in the league at centre-back,
13:21and there's been a lot more focused post-match on the mistake he made for the penalty
13:25as opposed to a lot of the good work he did in that game.
13:28It's not the first time this season that the mistake he's made has overshadowed
13:32some of the good work earlier in the game.
13:34Does that really illustrate how difficult and how rare it is
13:37for a young player to come through at centre-back for such a big club at Liverpool?
13:42I like it that you are mentioning that he played a good game,
13:45because I completely agree on that.
13:47He played a really good game.
13:49I think maybe the last step he has to make, and he already made that,
13:55but then on a consistent level, is not to be involved in that moment
14:01what happened in the last minute.
14:03Because he has all the qualities, and he's already shown that to me,
14:08but I think also to you, to play for this club.
14:11But the biggest part of us winning the league is, of course, consistency.
14:17And that is the most difficult part for a younger player,
14:21to get that as well.
14:25Some of them, like Lamine Jamal,
14:27it's not a really big problem for him to find consistency in it.
14:31But Jarrell has developed really well throughout the whole season,
14:39and the next step is for him not to be involved in a moment like this
14:45in the last minutes, which had no impact on the result.
14:48But it would have been nice for him if it wouldn't have happened,
14:51because then probably everyone would have been much more positive
14:54about his performance.
14:56But Jarrell is fast, he's strong, he's comfortable on the ball,
15:00he has every ingredient a centre-back for this club should have.
15:04And now the last part should be consistency in his performances.
15:09Is that really hard as well?
15:11Because obviously the one thing he probably needs is the hardest thing to give him,
15:15which is consistent game-time,
15:17because obviously you've got Virgil, Kanate, Raleigh at the club,
15:21and obviously you mentioned Joe Gomez,
15:23he's going to be in the mix as well.
15:25Yeah, that's why it's so hard to play for Liverpool.
15:27For everyone, not only for a player that comes from the academy,
15:31but also the players we bring in.
15:33To play in this team you need to be really, really, really good,
15:36and he is competitive to the other ones,
15:40but he was maybe a bit unlucky that the other ones stayed fit
15:43throughout the whole season,
15:45and they had so much consistency in their levels.
15:48And Jarrell has had consistency as well,
15:50but one moment can change the perception of a game,
15:54but one moment can also lead to us losing or winning a game of football.
15:58One moment he had the ball at the post against Paris Saint-Germain,
16:03I think 10 minutes before the end.
16:05So these small details can make a big difference in a season,
16:11and that's why to play at Liverpool, to play at Arsenal,
16:15to play at Paris Saint-Germain,
16:16you need to do so many things well at the highest level.
16:19But the moment you do so,
16:21he can play here for so many years to come.
16:25The last one.
16:27Earlier this week asked when Wenger said
16:29he could see more big players leaving on free transfers going forwards.
16:34Is that a trend that you could see happening, I suppose,
16:37but that changes Liverpool's stance going forwards,
16:39trying to get fees of players out,
16:42running the contracts down rather than letting them go on free transfers?
16:45You cannot deny that it happens a bit more than it did in the past,
16:49but it's not that it happens a lot.
16:53If my memory is correct,
16:57I think it happens mostly with a certain club that brings free agents in,
17:02and you don't see it that much at other big clubs yet,
17:07but I cannot predict the future,
17:09so I don't know what's going to happen.
17:11It happened a few times now,
17:14but I also see a lot of players moving for big transfer fees
17:21in every single window of the last three, four or five years.
17:25So it could be a trend.
17:27Funny word, by the way.
17:29You understand it, trend?
17:31Yes.
17:32We did nothing, so it's probably not funny.
17:34But let's wait and see if that's going to happen, yes or no.
17:40I don't know, I can't predict the future.
17:43The break over next time, it's an honour.
17:45Thank you, son.
17:51Thank you, John.