Ahead of an enormous conflict with Manchester City on Super Sunday, Liverpool boss Arne Slot has praised his reverse quantity Pep Guardiola, mentioned the form of Virgil van Dijk and the Premier League title race.
Liverpool head to the Etihad having gained their final two video games towards Aston Villa and Real Madrid. Before that, they’d misplaced six of their earlier seven video games in all competitions.
Man City have responded effectively to a defeat at Aston Villa two weeks in the past, with each groups aiming to shut the hole on Arsenal at the the prime of the desk, stay on Sky Sports.
Slot lined this and extra as he sat down for an unique chat with Sky Sports’ Juliette Ferrington ahead of the Super Sunday showdown…
Slot praises Pep ahead of 1,000th sport
Guardiola will handle his 1,000th sport in soccer on Sunday, and Slot spoke of his long-time admiration for a way the Man City boss has coached his groups.
He stated: “You’re all the time wanting ahead to watching his staff play. When you’re analysing each opponent, it is all the time good whenever you play towards his groups as a result of then you could have the privilege to observe 5, six, seven video games of his staff and you by no means get bored.
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Liverpool head coach Arne Slot says his most important focus is consistency from his gamers relatively than paying an excessive amount of consideration to the Premier League desk
“At least I by no means get bored as a result of his staff all the time have an excellent and clear concept in ball possession, they all the time attempt to make the folks completely satisfied.
“It’s a joy to watch where so many other games are not, in my opinion, a joy to watch anymore.
“It’s turn into extra [about] time-wasting and issues I do not like that a lot about the sport, however that are superb instruments to make use of to make it troublesome for different groups in the event that they play towards you. It’s a brand new tactic in soccer, I’d say, however that is one thing Pep’s groups hardly do.
“And of course, the Barcelona staff was unbelievable. Hoping they might play on a Sunday night time at 8pm, so there was one factor to stay up for at the finish of the weekend.
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FREE TO WATCH: Highlights of the Premier League match between Liverpool and Aston Villa
“Then when he went to his other teams, he also invented new things like the inverted full-back. It’s always something special if you watch a game on one of his teams.
“So much of managers win, however in the fashion he has gained his trophies, that’s the reason he stands out in comparison with many others.
“I wonder if there are many managers that start their career now that will reach 1,000 [games], especially at the level he’s worked at, because it was probably already very hard to achieve that and there’s a lot of sacrifices coming with that.”
‘Van Dijk ought to take criticism as a praise’
Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk
Slot additionally touched on his captain Virgil van Dijk, with the defender coming in for criticism this season. He confronted one of these critics, Wayne Rooney, after Liverpool’s win against Real Madrid on Tuesday.
The pair met on Amazon Prime after Rooney had questioned Van Dijk’s management as soon as he signed a brand new deal, which the Netherlands worldwide described as “lazy”.
When requested about Van Dijk, Slot stated: “I’ve picked captains at my former clubs where the age of the players were much younger.
“Maybe not fully as a result of they have been already the chief of the staff, however I’m hoping that would assist them to turn into a pacesetter of the staff.
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Jamie O’Hara offers his opinion, as each a participant and a pundit, on Wayne Rooney’s criticism of Virgil van Dijk – and Van Dijk’s response
“But with Virgil, it’s so clear that he’s the leader of this team. When you walk through the AXA [training centre], when we start the training session, you can hear him, you can feel he’s our leader.
“He’s already been so necessary for this membership for thus a few years, however I do not suppose I’ve had many captains that have been so vocal, so loud as he’s. He’s been an excellent captain for me and since he grew to become the captain of this membership.
“He sets the bar at 10 out of 10 and when he has a nine out of 10 [performance], he sometimes gets criticised as well… I think other players will get compliments for a nine out of 10, but he gets criticised for that.
“He had related form to final season, however there have been one or two moments this season the place he might have finished higher defensively and he obtained criticised by that straightaway. Maybe he ought to it see as a praise, as a result of that is the place he set the bar from.”
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‘I’m centered on profitable video games, not league desk’
Any sport between Man City and Liverpool is commonly billed as a title-race conflict, however with Arsenal holding a commanding lead, Slot is concentrated on profitable as many video games as doable relatively than the league desk.
“If you look at the current league table, it’s clear,” he added. “Arsenal are six points ahead of City, seven points ahead of us, but when there were 10 games to go [last season] and we were leading by eight or 10 points, it didn’t feel completely safe to me yet.
“Maybe additionally as a result of again then we have been in the second half of the season so already struggling a bit of bit. Not everybody observed, however I felt it and it was tougher and tougher for us to win a sport of soccer.
“Arsenal have only conceded three goals and lost once against us so at this moment, it’s not about looking at the league table. It’s just trying to win as many games as you can and give yourself the best position you can.
“But positively two superb groups are going to play towards one another and what the future will carry, we’ll see.”
Watch Man City vs Liverpool on Super Sunday live on Sky Sports from 4pm; kick-off 4.30pm.