Liverpool head coach Arne Slot spoke to the press ahead of the side’s first trip to Everton’s new ground, and the boss echoed expectations by stressing that the new ground makes an already “special game” all the more special:
It’s always a very special game, [it] doesn’t matter if it’s the 60th game being played in the stadium, but if it is the last one being played at the stadium and the first one that always makes it probably even more special if that’s even possible. Of course, they are in a very good place at the moment. It’s always special, but maybe you can add one or two per cent to it, because it’s now the first and last season it was the last [at Goodison Park]. But it will always be a very special game for them, but definitely also for us.
Slot refused to make any specific claims about the atmosphere as the Reds travel to a ground that’s a bit more open than Goodison Park was:
No, I don’t know, because last season was my first Merseyside derby in that stadium [Goodison Park] so if we would have played in the same stadium I probably could know what to expect. But I don’t think a stadium is loud, it’s usually the fans that are loud, so how much of a difference it will be I can tell you after the weekend. I think their fans will be loud, as our fans will be loud as well. I think it’s not the stadium itself that makes the difference usually, it’s always the players that make the difference and the fans can have an impact to help the players out, that’s for sure.
Though Liverpool lost once again against PSG on Wednesday, Slot gave his players credit for the performance levels they managed and tipped them to continue this into Sunday’s challenge. Asked if this is the “perfect game” to follow the disappointment of going out of Europe, Slot answered in the affirmative:
Yeah. But they’ve showed a lot of character against Paris Saint-Germain as well because being the better team against Paris Saint-Germain is very, very, very complicated, let alone if you have to play three games in seven days and you face an opponent that only had to play two. They were very well rested… a lot of my players broke records in terms of physical output. That tells you how strong they are and how ready they are and that will now be no different for the game on Sunday.
Slot had mentioned rest as a positive for PSG’s performance ability, but refused to suggest that the Reds will be tired against Everton this weekend after a lot of games in a two week period:
I don’t think it can affect that because there are more than a few days in between and it did not even affect us, the Fulham game affected us by being as intense as we were against Paris Saint-Germain. Of course, I have to factor the Anfield factor in because there might be people who think, ‘Why didn’t you play like this away from home?’ Now that’s a bit more complicated than people might think.
The fans play a big part if you want to go as aggressive as we were and taking the risk as we did. We took the same risk in Paris but then they were five or six times in front of our goalkeeper and now we could keep them away from our goal in large parts of the game. So no, being tired has no influence on the game on Sunday.
Although this is rather mixed messaging, you do see his point: Liverpool in rhythm might well be a bit better than Liverpool rested in some key areas, and if the Reds manage to play at all like they managed in the period prior to the rescinded penalty it’s hard to see how this Everton side could live with them. As ever, it’s never about the potential of this side this season, and forever about what they manage to show us on the pitch.