In the first round of the new season's Champions League, Liverpool beat Atletico Madrid 3-2 at home. After the game, Slott attended a press conference and talked about the situation of the game, as well as the performances of Isaac and Wilz.
Talking about the team winning on their birthday
This is my two consecutive years of celebration of my birthday on the Champions League night, and the players have also given the gift of victory again. I hope that UEFA will allow me to celebrate my birthday with my family and friends next year! I spent another wonderful night at Anfield tonight. I think this is the original intention of UEFA's design of this competition system. It will be a showdown that is comparable to the quarterfinals, semifinals and even the quarterfinals in the group stage. Today you also saw that we performed well and created many opportunities, but facing a team like Atletico Madrid, they can always find a way to get back into the game. Fortunately, we are equally resilient.
is happy for the final shot again, or is it more concerned about being tied by the lead two goals?
Perhaps I care more about the latter at this moment, although I think the game is very exciting, not only for Liverpool fans, but also for football fans around the world. It's also part of our work, allowing people to enjoy everything they see, and we're trying to do it every time, but a game like this shouldn't have ended with a win. Although Atletico's mentality makes them difficult to beat, I can list many of these opportunities we can score a third goal, and we are not sure about it. This is unlike games against Burnley, Arsenal or Newcastle, where we didn’t create as many opportunities as tonight.
Talking about Isaac's performance
I was very surprised by the physical condition he showed in 60 minutes, which may indicate that there is a difference between signing a 20-year-old player from different leagues and signing a 25- or 26-year-old player who has adapted to this league. Although Isaac has only been training with us for two weeks, he has gained a lot of game experience, so it is easier for him to adapt to the intensity of 60 minutes. However, it was not surprising, as everyone knows that you don’t need to be a coach to see how great he is. It is always a pleasure to see such a player start like this, just like Ekitic. Now we have to start from here to gradually improve his form, but I can tell you that he won't play for 90 minutes on Saturday's game.
Does the team always believe that they can finally find a way to win?
You can never be 100% sure. What I know is that we are physically in good health and can rush again at critical moments. But I believe that not every game needs to be decided in stoppage time. In some games, if we can lead 2-0 in the first six minutes and create many opportunities to score the third goal afterwards, we naturally don’t need to win the game by scoring goals in stoppage time. Of course, there may be a game where we need to score goals in the last few minutes but fail to do so, but I can guarantee that even if we don’t score, we will go all out to fight. This is the mentality of this team. It is not only about mentality, but also about our preparations in the past few weeks, and ultimately related to the players’ technical level, such as Sobosloy’s precise cross and Van Dijk’s header. These are not only issues of mentality or physical fitness, but also a reflection of technology.
Talking about where the team still needs to improve
I think that if you want to compete in the Premier League, Cup and Champions League, mentality and physical fitness are essential, and you also need to have strength, and I think this is what we see tonight. Maybe I was even a little disappointed, we scored the last minute, I knew it would be headlines, and it was really great to score the winning goal at the last moment of the game, but I would rather like people to talk about: ‘Did you see those few attacks in the first half of Wilz and Isaac? That time almost gave Flynnon a score. ’ Or a wonderful attack from Sobosloy, Werz and Salah in the second half, and the final shot hit the post. I can list many of our wonderful offensive performances today, but maybe no one will talk about them. Everyone may still focus on the last minute goals, and I understand this because this is not only the story of this game, but also the story of the past five games. But for me, this game is different from the previous ones. I saw a lot of good things, but it wasn't the first time we were tied with a 2-0 lead, this time it was different from the situation against Bournemouth, and this time the goal was lost and it wasn't our style last season. So, there are still many things that need improvement, but there are also many things that deserve recognition.
Talk Wilz
He has scored several times in the game and nearly assisted several times. I think he has created the most opportunities for us today. It can be seen that he is getting better and better and more adapting to our playing style. This is a normal adjustment process. Everyone knows how great he is, and sometimes people forget that he is only 22 years old and is playing football for the first time abroad. I am 47 years old and when I came last year, I was 46. It was my first time coaching overseas. In the first two or three months, your life will undergo a radical change, and everything you are accustomed to becomes unfamiliar and sometimes it will consume energy. Plus joining a new team and adapting to the new game style, he played 343 at Leverkusen and we played 433, so we have higher demands on him in terms of off-ball and defense. But I can see that he is growing, and this growth is becoming more and more obvious. I think this is the performance of a good player. He can always adapt to his needs. He and the team will get better and better. I really like his performance today.
source:7M cn Sports