Arne Slot Addresses Team Mentality Ahead Of Chelsea Match

Arne Slot met with the media to discuss the upcoming match with struggling Chelsea. The boss discussed the possibility of UCL qualification this weekend, finishing the season strong, and the club’s mentality heading into the offseason.

Wrapping It Up

Liverpool can wrap up a Champions League spot with a victory vs. Chelsea and a Bournemouth draw or loss vs. Fulham.

“If you have a good performance, that usually leads to a result,” Slot said. “So, that's why performances are very crucial and important. It's not always like that in football. Sometimes you can have a poor performance but still win. But over the long term, if your performance is good, then it helps you [in] picking up more points. But the first and main aim is [to] qualify for the Champions League. I think we've shown this season that we need a good performance to get results, because the opposite has been true a lot of times – that we had a good performance but the result was not there. But we did not have many times a poor performance and still had a result. It's not the type of team we are – we are not that well on set-pieces or holding on, defending with all we [have] got. So, we need to have a good performance usually to win a game of football.”

Eyeing Next Season 

With only 3 games left, thoughts of many, including to some degree Slot himself, have started to shift to next season.

“I am looking forward to it, so I have no worry at all,” Slot said of the upcoming season. “I am looking forward to it, as I looked forward to working with these players two years ago and one year ago, looking forward to working with the players I am working with now. I think if you are a manager, you are never worried – you just look forward to starting working with a group of players. Indeed, it will be another little transition, probably not as drastic as it was last summer, but we have to change a bit of personnel because of the two players that are leaving, which we have to replace, but one of them will probably be replaced with Kostas Tsimikas because he is coming back off a loan.”

Maintaining Mentality 

Slot says even though the team struggled at times, they have remained strong mentally, even the younger players.

“For me, mentality has nothing to do with age,” he said. I think you know, when Mo was 26, and these players were all in their prime, they were able to win the Champions League, to win the Premier League, to pick up 99 points, so you don't have to be 32 to know what standards mean. I think recently, we have quite a good example of players that are not that old – the ones of Paris Saint-Germain – but definitely have the standards for what it takes to win a game of football in terms of attacking with 11 and defending with 11. For me, mentality has absolutely nothing to do with age, but more with personal character of a player or the personality of the player. Of course, you can inject this in the transfer market, but we also have a lot of players – maybe all of them – that have the right mentality to play for this club.”

LFC Globe Verdict 

This was a pretty straightforward presser by Slot. Nothing earthshattering and all business. I get the feeling that he is ready to wrap up a UCL spot, put this season behind him, and move to the next one.

Have Your Say

Are you ready for this turbulent season to be over, or are you looking forward to the last three games? Drop a comment below.

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