Arne Slot shared his thoughts on a dramatic derby day duel against Everton. Liverpool landed a late 2-1 triumph on enemy turf, taking a step towards achieving the minimum requirement for the club.
‘Big compliment to the mentality of this team’
The Toffees started more brightly in the first half hour of the fixture. Beto broke the backline with a deep run down the left side of the attack, but he screwed a shot wide of the mark. Then came a breakthrough from Iliman Ndiaye, but Jake O’Brien had been offside when he received a long ball to assist his teammate from right back. Not long later, Cody Gakpo split the lines in transition, and Mohamed Salah sprinted onto some excellent service, slotting the ball beyond Jordan Pickford.
At the start of the second half, Everton bounced back: a classic channel ball turned the backline, and Ibrahima Konate could not keep up with Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, whose cutback found Beto. The scramble in the box left Giorgi Mamardashvili injured, and Freddie Woodman would replace him.
The Reds rallied through the pain, walking away with all three points at the death: Virgil van Dijk dunked on the defence with a header in the 10th minute of injury time to take bragging rights back to the red half of the city.
“It's been a while since we conceded in extra time. So, at this moment of time, when I see the board going up for extra time, that's not my first thought. And when I looked at my players it was definitely not my first thought, because I think in that spell we were getting closer and closer to scoring a goal.
*“That is an unbelievable compliment towards these players because we've played five games in 15 days with mainly the same players. We had to finish the game without a right full-back and started it without a right full-back. By the way, he did really well [there], Curtis Jones. With our third goalkeeper, with a No.9 that has played there in the past but is usually known as a right winger.*
“And then to show what they showed is a big, big, big compliment to the mentality of this team.
“Is there anything that surprises you when it comes to injuries with us this season? Maybe I already envisaged it: I had two goalkeepers on the bench today, which I usually normally don't have, but of course has everything to do with the availability of all the other positions. Freddie did a great job.
“Giorgi Mamardashvili* had to go to hospital, big wound, so let's see how he will be. But Freddie deserves a lot of credit because if you have to come in just after conceding the 1-1 and the fans were ready for it, but he did his job really well. Kept his calm in a difficult moment where he was doubting if he should catch the ball, yes or no, and he kept his nerves and worked so hard to have this moment.*
“Usually, third goalkeepers don't play a lot, but in a season like ours, I think if you are playing at the moment in the U8s of Liverpool you should be ready for making your debut because it's unbelievable what's happening to us.”
‘We haven't felt a lot of joy this season’
Slot spoke about the season at large after appraising the performance at the Hill Dickinson Stadium.
His players have pushed even further clear of Chelsea, who lost 1-0 against Manchester United on Saturday evening, in the race for the top five positions and qualification for the Champions League.
It is still a campaign that comes up short of the targets required for the Reds. They were defeated 4-0 on aggregate in the Champions League quarter-final against Paris Saint-Germain after losing by the same scoreline to Manchester City in the FA Cup, conceding all four strikes in a mere 20 minutes.
The Premier League title defence fell flat in autumn, so there will be no trophies to reward the summer spending spree from the title holders. Success in this derby is the least that they can do to give the supporters something to smile about.
*“[Going seven points clear of **Chelsea**] very important because we are, as everyone can understand, focused on qualifying for the Champions League. But I think in the lead-up to this game it was not as much about the league table.*
“It is also about representing Liverpool and four days ago we paid our respect for the enormous tragedy that happened in Hillsborough. But we also use this for the game because it's a privilege to represent this club and today, they showed what it means to the players to represent this club.
*“And the fans were, as they've been throughout the whole season, a big, big, big support for us. And to beat them then in the first game in their new stadium after what I just said, the week we had, is an enormous compliment to everybody involved in Liverpool.*
“I don't think we've had a lot of big moments yet this season – and when we had these big moments, because we scored earlier in extra time of extra time, but then we were able to concede afterwards.
“So, we haven't felt a lot of joy this season, yet. I agree with Virgil van Dijk this season has not been of our standards. Going out in the quarter-final of the FA Cup and the Champions League against, from open play, the two best teams in the world, with two great managers, with unlimited resources.
“But in the league, of course, we are far from where we want to be, but we have to accept that situation because we've dropped so many points after playing in Europe. That's why it's also nice now, after a game in Europe, not to concede in the last minute but to score, after a game in Europe, the winner in extra time from a set-piece, which you maybe would expect them to score from, but we did.”