Slot on Alisson, Bournemouth and schedule

Posted by Admin September 20, 2024 Football

Liverpool boss Arne Slot has been speaking to the media before Saturday’s Premier League game against Bournemouth (kick-off 15:00 BST).

Here are the key lines from his news conference:

On goalkeeper Alisson’s fitness: “Alisson is a doubt to see if he can train today and if he can’t, then he will probably not play as well. He has a slight issue with one of his muscles – we wonder if this game tomorrow is coming too early.”
Slot also confirmed that Harvey Elliott is his only other injury concern.
On facing Bournemouth: “They’ve started off quite well. A win away against the neighbours caught my eye the most because they were 2-0 down so late. [Andoni] Iraola has done a tremendous job: nice football to watch, he develops players [and] has a nice playing style. All credits for him, but hopefully, we can manage to do better against Bournemouth tomorrow than we did against Nottingham Forest last week.”
On managing Cherries duo Luis Sinisterra and Marco Senesi at Feyenoord when his side reached the Europa Conference League final: “Only positive memories, except for one moment. We had a great season. Luis is a winger that I like because he dominates one v one, can score a goal and he has always had a lot of impact.”
On the fixture schedule: “Until now, I haven’t seen anything different from what I was used to at my former clubs. This upcoming week is different when we play the League Cup and then there is playing during Christmas and New Year. Those moments are the biggest difference between this league and every other league.
On the strength of teams across the Premier League compared to in Europe: “The quality of the league and the likes of Bournemouth is much, much higher than if you play against a team that doesn’t play for the top-six positions.”
On what Darwin Nunez needs to get into contention: “Same like all of the others, work really hard and the goals will come. Attackers score goals or assist and that’s what happened with Cody [Gakpo] and before with Lucho (Diaz) and Mo (Salah) and with Diogo (Jota). If you play in a team like Liverpool, you will always score your goals or get your assists.”
On the main competition for Nunez: “He will get his chance in the near future – we play a lot of games and I think he is fitter and fitter now. He understands better day by day what we expect from him, but he’s in competition with Diogo, who in mine and our opinion, has done really well in the last games.”