Liverpool manager Arne Slot expects his team to showcase a healthy dose of aggression to go with their usual calm and composed brand of football when the league leaders take on Everton in the Merseyside Derby on Wednesday.
“Every time you play against a team that wants to fight with you, and that’s almost every time we play against any opponent, but maybe this one even more, you have to be ready for that. [You have to keep] a cool head but not cool legs,” said the Liverpool boss.
“So you have to run just as much, you have to be just as intense in tackles. Not going across the line, but be cool enough to play a good and firm tackle. That’s where it starts and then nine out of 10 times, after 10, 15, 20 minutes, the game settles down a bit, and then you can start to think even more about playing football,” He added.
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Arne Slot
Liverpool are six points clear of second-placed Arsenal at the top of the English Premier League with a game in hand but their push for an unprecedented quadruple was ended by defeat to Championship strugglers Plymouth in the FA Cup on Sunday.
“There was a wise man that once said to me ‘Nothing good comes from losing a football game’, and I completely agree,” said Slot.
The Liverpool boss, who made wholesale changes for the match, described the loss as ‘unacceptable.’
“We have to show a different side of us [v Everton], because it wasn’t only the result, the performance was far from what Liverpool standards are,” he said. Trent Alexander-Arnold could return from injury against Everton but Liverpool will definitely be without fellow defender Joe Gomez.
The clash with Everton will also be the final Merseyside Derby to be played at the Toffees’ home ground, Goodison Park. David Moyes’ relegation-battling side will be leaving their historic home at the end of this season to play in their new 52,888-capacity Bramley-Moore Dock stadium on Liverpool’s waterfront.
As such, emotions amongst the often raucous crowd at Goodison Park will be at an all-time high. However, Slot is confident that his side will not wilt under the pressure.
“It’s probably going to be a fantastic atmosphere and that’s never easy to play against because every single time they cross the half-way line or they get a corner kick or whatever, the fans will cheer for that. [But] our players are ready for another battle, for the simple reason that they’ve been ready for the whole season,” the Dutchman said.
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