Merseyside derby preview: Every word from Arne Slot ahead of Everton v Liverpool
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By James Carroll, Joe Urquhart and Sam Williams at the AXA Training Centre
Read every word from Arne Slot's pre-Merseyside derby press conference ahead of Liverpool's visit to face Everton in the Premier League.
It should have an impact because if you're working at a club like this you should compete for every trophy. We said this from the start. To go out in the second occasion, so we beat Accrington Stanley, but to lose against Plymouth is of course not acceptable as a team. Our fans as well are disappointed by that result, now we have to show a different side of us tomorrow, because it wasn't only the result, the performance was far from what Liverpool standards are as well.
I think it's an extra reason why the atmosphere will probably be even better than all the occasions before. I haven't been to one but people tell me at Goodison Park, as at Anfield, it's always a fantastic atmosphere. Home supporters are there to support their team and the away fans are mostly loud as well. It's probably going to be a fantastic atmosphere and that's never easy to play against because every single time they cross the halfway line, or they get a corner kick, or whatever happens, the fans will cheer for that.
Then you have to be mentally really strong as an away team to resist all that, the complete atmosphere, and you still have to be focused on what you have to do; defending the corner kick, defending the set-piece. When you have the ball, be as calm as you can in this fantastic atmosphere. But it's not the first time for these players that they are playing in atmospheres like this. I hope they can focus on what they have to do, but it's not only tactical, you also have to stand up to those emotions because I've noticed also in the Plymouth game that the intensity of the tackles and how aggressive they were, that was a quality of their players but it was definitely also because of the emotions in the stadium, so we have to be up for that.
I've seen the game of last season, for example, I think we were quite ready because after 10 minutes the referee blew his whistle 11 times and 10 times in favour of Everton! The Liverpool players were ready to compete, but every time they touched them it was a freekick. I assume our players are ready for another battle tomorrow for the simple reason that they have been ready for the whole season and many of them are experienced for this tie.
Yeah, cool head. But not cool legs. Every time you play against a team that wants to fight with you, and that's almost every time we play against any opponent, but maybe this one even more, you have to be ready for that. You have to run just as much, you have to be just as intense in tackles, not going across the line, but be cool enough to play a good and firm tackle. That's where it starts with, and then nine out of 10 times after 20 minutes the game settles down a bit and then you can start to think even more about playing football. Like I said, last season in the first 10 minutes there were 10 free-kicks in favour of Everton, and I think you know what they did with those, they brought them in [the box] every single time and it led in the end I think after about 10 or 15 minutes to their 1-0. So, yeah, cool head, but not cool legs.
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Watch on YouTubeThey were to a certain extent [struggling]. I think they picked up some good results as well away at [Manchester] City and I think away at Arsenal as well; some clean sheets, some draws. I think those were very good results from an Everton perspective as well, if you have to play away games like that. I'm aware of the fact that David took over for four games and they've won three. That is definitely a great accomplishment from him. They are definitely maybe now in a better place now than they were a few weeks or months ago. The weather circumstances are a bit better maybe as well!
That definitely tells you how difficult it is for both teams to win [against] each other. When David Moyes went there in 2002, he took a team that was fighting against relegation and he made it a club that was in the end playing [for the] top four. He did incredibly well, but the last few seasons Everton were more not competing for [the] top four anymore. A team like that, normally Liverpool would get more points and more wins against teams that are around Everton than the ones they did over here [against Everton].
It tells you how difficult the away game is for Liverpool if they play Everton away. That we all know because for as long as I've been in football, I know derbies are always more difficult than facing the same team that is somewhere around the same position in the table but then it isn't a derby. That's clear. Fans bring the best out of players. I have experienced this a few times already here at Anfield, I have experienced it many times at my former club - and I hope I'm not going to experience that tomorrow, but I think the fans will bring the best out of the Everton players again.
No, because this period - five games in 15 days - is what we've done for seven months now. Every phase of the season is crucial if you play in the Premier League. This is the hardest league to win because there are so many teams that can win this league and there are so many teams that are able to win 10 to 15 games in a row. You cannot slow down or cannot have a few games where you're not on top of your game because then all of a sudden another team catches you up. That's what the Premier League is, that's why it's such an exciting league and such a beautiful league to work in.
For the fans, that's why the whole world is looking at us. For that reason, in my opinion, Arsenal last season after they went to Dubai, I think they won the first eight games and only lost two of the last 15 or 17, but still City were able to win the league because they probably won every single game, I don't know exactly. That's the league we are in, so the upcoming five are important but the nine afterwards are important - and the first 23 have been just as important.
There was a wise man that once said to me, 'Nothing good comes from losing a football game,' and I completely agree. So, we definitely would have preferred to play six games in 18 days or seven in 21 or eight in 24, because that's the schedule we are in. Now with us losing this game there's one moment where we have a 'normal' week, but that's definitely not what we wanted when we went to Plymouth. So, it was difficult because the plan was, of course, to play with Joe [Gomez] for 60 minutes or longer. The plan was to start Curtis [Jones] but he came out on Sunday saying that he didn't feel well enough to play so then all of a sudden we missed two important players. I think people know Darwin [Nunez]'s situation, that he became a dad one or two days before the game and that happened in Spain, so he came in a bit later.
So, there were some circumstances that weren't perfect - the idea was to play with an even stronger team than we did now, but still this team should have been able to win that game. And the fact that we didn't, and we didn't against PSV as well, also tells us that these players definitely need these games to get the best out of them because it's so difficult to get the best out of them if they play hardly any games. And that's why, again, it's disappointing that we don't have this extra game for them in 18 days.
I think 90 minutes of the game are very important and in the first 10 minutes or the first 15 minutes in an away game, it's even more important not to go behind because if you are a goal behind then the fans are having even more emotions and then they cheer for everything. If you kick a ball outside the stadium they still cheer but if you are 1-0 down and you do the same they are booing you. So, it's definitely in an away game not to go behind. The reasons why we dropped points [in previous away games this season] is probably more because these teams have a lot of quality, and for that reason we went a goal behind, than it has to do with us starting not-so-well. Because, I said it before, but at [Nottingham] Forest in the first four or five minutes we started really well but one counter-attack led to a goal.
So, yes, in an away game it's important to control the emotions of the crowd and the worst thing you can do is come a goal behind because then the emotions will be there until the moment you have a two-goal lead. But until then the emotions will be very positive for the home team, so that's why being focused and concentrated in an away game is even more important than in a home game.
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