Forward of an enormous conflict with Manchester Metropolis on Tremendous Sunday, Liverpool boss Arne Slot has praised his reverse quantity Pep Guardiola, mentioned the type of Virgil van Dijk and the Premier League title race.
Liverpool head to the Etihad having gained their final two video games in opposition to Aston Villa and Actual Madrid. Earlier than that, that they had misplaced six of their seven video games in all competitions.
Man Metropolis themselves have responded nicely to a defeat at Aston Villa two weeks in the past, with each groups aiming to shut the hole on Arsenal on the the highest of the desk, dwell on Sky Sports activities.
Slot lined this and extra as he sat down for an unique chat with Sky Sports activities’ Juliette Ferrington forward of the Tremendous Sunday showdown…
Slot praises Pep forward of 1,000th sport milestone
Guardiola will handle his 1,000th sport in soccer on Sunday, and Slot spoke of his long-time admiration for the way the Man Metropolis boss has coached his groups.
He stated: “You are at all times wanting ahead to watching his staff play. If you end up analysing each opponent, it is at all times good once you play in opposition to his groups as a result of then you’ve got the privilege to look at 5, six, seven video games of his staff and also you by no means get bored.
“A minimum of I by no means get bored as a result of his staff at all times have an excellent and clear thought in ball possession, they at all times attempt to make the folks glad.
“It’s a joy to watch where so many other game are not, in my opinion, a joy to watch anymore.
“It is turn out to be extra [about] time-wasting and issues I do not like that a lot concerning the sport, however that are superb instruments to make use of to make it troublesome for different groups in the event that they play in opposition to you. It is a new tactic in soccer, I’d say, however that is one thing Pep’s groups hardly do.
“And naturally, the Barcelona staff was unbelievable. That hoped they’d play on a Sunday night time at 8pm, so there was one factor to sit up for on 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.
“Lots of managers win, however within the model 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 a type of critics, Wayne Rooney, after Liverpool’s win in opposition to Actual Madrid on Tuesday.
The pair met on Amazon Prime after Rooney had questioned Van Dijk’s management after 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.
“Perhaps not utterly as a result of they had been already the chief of the staff, however I am hoping that might assist them to turn out to be a pacesetter of the staff.
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Jamie O’Hara provides his opinion, as each a participant and a pundit, on Wayne Rooney’s criticism of Virgil van Dijk and Van Dyke’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 is already been so vital for this membership for therefore a few years, however I do not suppose I’ve had many captains that had been so vocal, so loud as he’s. He is been an excellent captain for me and since he grew to become the captain of this membership.
“He sets the bar at ten out of ten 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 ten, but he gets criticised for that.
“He had related kind to final season, however there have been one or two moments this season the place he may have performed higher defensively and he received criticised by that straightaway. Perhaps 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 am centered on successful video games, not league desk’
Any sport between Man Metropolis and Liverpool is commonly billed as a title race conflict, however with Arsenal holding a commanding lead, Slot is targeted on successful 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 ten points, it didn’t feel completely safe to me yet.
“Perhaps additionally as a result of again then we had been within the second half of the season so already struggling a little bit bit. Not everybody seen, 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.
“However positively two superb groups are going to play in opposition to one another and what the long run will convey, we’ll see.”
