Brighton travel north for this match as they are hosted at Anfield for the second leg of this double header following a defeat to Arne Slot’s Reds on Wednesday night with a 3-2 result seeing the Seagulls eliminated from the competition.

Arne Slot held his scheduled pre-match press conference today and had this to say:

Slot was asked what he has learned about his team so far this season:

“I think you learn every day, especially if you don’t stay in the team for long – like me – so I think you learn new situations every day. I’ve said it before, the Chelsea game was something I had learned from, they could sit deep and defend their lead. The way they came back against Arsenal was really strong and the number of games we have to play for them to be. still available and playing good football, that’s also something you see Then we also saw during the week that players who haven’t played a lot can maybe also have an impact on our team. “We’ll need them throughout the season, so it’s good to see they’re already at the level they need to be playing for us.”

When asked, does it “feel strange” to play the same team again so soon:

“No, it’s not that strange for us in football. In the old world of the Champions League or the Europa League, if it happened (knockout), you played a team again after a week So in football we are used to playing the same team after a few days. So it’s not weird, especially since both teams didn’t start with the team. with which they will start on Saturday I think for both managers it is a positive thing because we know even more about the opponent However, it is the players who make the game and that of course makes a difference if one. another player is playing. The style of play may be the same, but the quality of the players makes the difference nine times out of ten. This changes the situation on Saturday compared to that of Wednesday.

Arne was then asked about his options at the No.9 position, where Curtis Jones and Dominik Szoboszlai played against Brighton:

“The good thing is that when you look at our front line, we were able to play with two of our regular starters, with Cody Gakpo and Lucho Diaz. They obviously had a big impact on the scoresheet. The way we occupied the No.9 position (Wednesday) was interesting to see because I think it worked very well, but in the end I prefer to play with a real No.9 – but maybe that’s now a additional possibility that we have if we have injuries Although maybe with Diogo Jota, who is also a little nine and a half, we have already implemented this style, but to play with Curtis (Jones). and Dom (Szoboszlai), they are definitely midfielders and Diogo is a striker. So it was good to see that we could score three goals, even without playing with an old-fashioned No.9.

Slot was asked about how the leadership group helped maintain trust within the team:

“They are important, just like every teammate is important to every player, but I don’t agree with everything you said. I think Jarell played a very good game (Wednesday), the only problem he has at the moment is that if he has a moment that is not perfect, it immediately leads to a goal. That’s what happened in this game. He was unlucky, in my opinion. I know you can’t judge a player by leaving these two moments (aside), because they are so vital to a result. But he’s getting better and better, and he was already very good. So for him maybe this is the last step to take, which he has already shown in the past that he can play a match without making these little mistakes.

“So he’s in a bit of an unlucky period, if he makes a little mistake it immediately leads to a goal. But if I look at his overall performance, I really liked what I saw. He was confident Moreover, when we admitted that it was not by “I’m afraid to make a decision”, it was simply by taking initiative and these things can happen, in my opinion. liked the way he played He also had no luck with the second goal, but for me it wasn’t his game. So I wouldn’t say he won’t be able to play in the days or so. the coming weeks. He is definitely competing with two central defenders who are hardly making any mistakes at the moment. But apart from the mistakes, I think he played the same as Virgil (van Dijk) and Ibou (. Konate), with a lot of confidence, playing the ball from the back and defending very well. So for me it was a good performance but a bit of bad luck in the end.

Alexis Mac Alliser has played almost a thousand minutes this season in fourteen appearances. When asked about the best position for the Argentine, the Liverpool head coach had this to say:

“He’s a player I would play maybe in all three midfield positions because he’s very comfortable in all three positions. I think I saw him a lot at Brighton because he There was a manager that I was very interested in at the time, it was (Roberto) De Zerbi of course. He also played a double-six there and at times he also played as a number 10. He can. play both.

“I think he’s our midfielder right now who plays a little bit in between. So Ryan (Gravenberch) is almost always the deepest, Dom or Curtis plays a little bit higher up and then he’s in between. That depends on our domination if he is the second no. 10 or if he has to be the second no. 6 But he is comfortable in both phases of play, he can help us a lot to get the ball out through there. ‘back and he is also capable of making a difference in and around the penalty area. We like to see him in both situations as much as possible.

The left-back position has been a controversial position this season, with serious concerns surrounding it. Arne Slot spoke about this during today’s press conference:

”No, I wouldn’t say a ‘dilemma’. We rotated into more positions; you may be a bit focused on the left full-back position but the left winger has been rotating, in midfield we have been rotating, at the no.9 position we have been rotating. It probably also has to do with Robbo’s (Andy Robertson) pre-season. What does this mean? He didn’t have a pre-season because he came back injured from the Euros, so he missed almost a full pre-season. Which for most of them was only two weeks, but for him it was only a few days. Kostas (Tsimikas) did very well during this period.

“It has to do with the quality that Kostas brings to that position, but it certainly also has to do with the lack of Robbo in pre-season, which is why we started rotating from the start – because if a player didn’t have, Before the preseason, he didn’t have time to get him to a situation where he could play three games in a row. Because we tried to train our players for this program and. for him it was difficult because he missed the pre-season, where others were there. It’s his situation and I think it was good for him to play (against) Arsenal and now the match again. against Brighton during the week, it ensures he gets into that rhythm of playing twice a week.

Liverpool are set to host Brighton at Anfield this weekend with kick-off scheduled for 3pm.