Arne Slot Newcastle United press conference – Speaking ahead of Liverpool at St James’ Park | OneFootball

The Arne Slot Newcastle United press conference has taken place.

The Liverpool boss speaking ahead of Wednesday night.

A 7.30pm kick-off, as Newcastle United face the league leaders.

Liverpool couldn’t have more momentum or confidence, having defeated both Real Madrid and Manchester City in the past week.

Arne Slot Newcastle United press conference:

“We know we have a difficult week coming up again and as we thought, Real Madrid and Man City were difficult to face.

“I think it’s even harder to go to Newcastle away as well.

“We’re not even halfway through the season yet, but it’s a good position to be in.

“That’s definitely true.

“If Liverpool is [first, second, third or fourth], it is always a special game for the teams we face.

“If Liverpool fans come, the stadium is sold out, everybody wants to play us and everyone wants the best game against us, like they have against Arsenal, Man City and the others.

“The good thing is for me, it’s not only us who play that many games. For example, we face Everton next, they’ve had a game during the week as well so mostly, we are facing teams that are rested for a week because we played Champions League.

“I wasn’t aware that six of the [next] nine are away but now you tell me, it makes it even more difficult, but we’re ready for it.”

Arne Slot on Mohamed Salah’s future and whether Sunday was his last home game against Manchester City:

“Maybe Mo knows more about the 115 accusations for [Man City] not to be in the Premier League next season and I do expect them in the Premier League next season.

“The boring answer is always the same. This is not the place for me to talk about Salah’s contract and maybe already, I’ve said too much about the joke I just made. That will probably get the headlines.

“It was a joke. I repeat, it was a joke.”

Arne Slot on Liverpool team news and Alisson Becker, ahead of facing Newcastle United:

“I feel that I always have a big decision to make in every line-up I have to make. If you look at our last game against Man City, Darwin [Nunez] I didn’t play, Curtis [Jones] I didn’t play, Harvey Elliot I didn’t play, Jarrell Quansah and probably one or two others.

“It’s always big decisions you have to make as the manager of Liverpool because you always have so many quality players.

“I think I have been clear a few weeks ago about what my position is about our goalkeepers, but we are just waiting for Alisson to be completely fit because Caoimhin [Kelleher] is doing too well to put Alisson on goal if he’s only 50%. That would not be good for Alisson and it would not be good for the team.

“He’s getting there, it might take a few more extra days, but he’s getting closer. Like I’ve always said, the end phase of a rehab is always the period where you feel like ‘okay, is he really there or does he need extra days?’ But he will be in goal before the end of December if things continue like they are now.”

Arne Slot on Liverpool’s form:

“They all know how hard they had to work for it. If they had done this by just playing at 50% and it is so easy for us, then they might feel ‘ah, we’re just too good for this league’ but that’s definitely not what we feel.

“Against every team and no matter if it is Man City or Real Madrid or Wolverhampton Wanderers or Nottingham Forest, we had to work really, really hard to get a result and I think that keeps them with their feet on the ground.”

Arne Slot on his side’s main competitors:

“I think it is important. I think it’s also the culture of this club. For us, it’s not that special thing to be on top of the league or on top of the Champions League format, although that does feel special because we’ve never been before. Normally, we have different groups in the Champions League.

“This club, this team, these players are used to the fact that they are top of the league or they are competing for every trophy so that helps. Then, that experience helps us. They also have that experience that they’ve competed for a long time. Then, in the end, they came too short, they couldn’t manage to win it. They also know how to win the league against the likes of Chelsea, Arsenal and Man City, because I see those three as our main competitors at the moment.