VVD Vital, Set-Piece Struggles & More From Brighton Pre-Match Presser

Arne Slot met with the media ahead of the club’s FA Cup Clash with Brighton. The boss praised the consistency of captain Virgil van Dijk, spoke about striking the right balance between resting players and competing for a trophy and provided a somewhat surprising reason why the Reds are not as competitive in the EPL this season.

VVD: A Model Of Consistency

In a season marred by injuries and ever-shuffling lineups, Virgil van Dijk has been a rock on the backline. He has started in all of Liverpool’s EPL matches and 26 total in all competitions for a total of 2,349 minutes. Slot describes Van Dijk’s presence on the back line as “vital.”

“[Virgil] has been fit every single time - and I’ve said this before, how big of an accomplishment that is for a player of his ‘age’ because he’s not the youngest anymore, [but he] plays every three days,” Slot said. “That’s not a coincidence because if I look at how much work he puts in on a daily basis to recover, to be ready for the next [game] immediately when the game finishes until the moment the next game starts. I’ve said before, it’s always harder to stay fit in this season where you [as a] team and he as well have had so many setbacks. It tells you a lot about what he does off the pitch in recovery, but definitely also about his mental strength that he’s able to stay with the team - and not only stay with the team, but also bring in bringing in very good performances and leading the team, as he always does on and off the pitch, by example. That is what he did on Wednesday night in Sunderland.”

Walking A Fine Line 

Slot has said many times that Liverpool are a club that wants to lift trophies, but how much does he push to get this FA Cup win with so many tired legs among the big-time players? 

"I am looking always at the younger players,” Slot said. “A few of them come closer and closer to first-team football. A few already had it, like Rio Ngumoha and Trey Nyoni. Games like this could be an option for them as well. It's finding the right balance because we play against a very good and strong team. Finding the right balance is something we will think about even more today. The load management is important as well because the last thing we could use right now is another injury. That is always a difficult balance for a manager, including his performance staff and medical staff: what is the best decision to make every single time? And it is also true that it wouldn’t be for the first time that a player could get injured if he has to play three games in seven days.”

Set Piece Struggles = EPL Struggles?

Slot says there is a direct correlation between Liverpool’s set-piece struggles in the EPL and their position on the table.

"I always thought it's impossible to win a big game of football with a negative set-piece balance,” he said. “You have asked me a lot about the difference between our Champions League and Premier League performances, and the most obvious is set-pieces. At Champions League, we are top for set-pieces and Premier League bottom. I found it very, very important, but it has now gone through the roof. It is actually impossible to win the league if you have a set-piece balance like ours, no matter what you do in open play."

LFC Globe Verdict

Slot spoke about finding a balance in his Starting XI vs Brighton, which is why our Predicted Lineup has a mixture of veteran and young players. As always, the captain Virgil van Dijk will play a vital role play a vital role and Slot praised both his fitness and leadership. Unfortunately, Slot could not deliver good news on the Endo injury, saying the club needed more time to evaluate it, but that it was serious. Finally, the boss surprisingly linked Liverpool’s struggles in the EPL to set pieces. LFC Globe will take a deeper dive into the numbers in a future article to see if Slot’s assessment is backed up by the numbers.

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