Press conferenceArne Slot on Premier League run-in: "These games are very important for us"
Arne Slot is ready and raring to attack Liverpool's final nine Premier League games of the season, starting with Wednesday night's Merseyside derby fixture.
The Reds host Everton at Anfield in an 8pm BST kick-off, the clash between the two city rivals marking the beginning of the run-in to the 2024-25 campaign.
Following the March international window, Liverpool have been absent from match action since the Carabao Cup final more than two weeks ago.
Slot, though, believes the break from domestic matches has been a positive one for both his players and coaching staff after what he deemed a difficult week beforehand.
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Watch on YouTube"I definitely am," the boss told his pre-match press conference on Tuesday, regarding his eagerness to get back on the touchline. "It's been 15 or 16 days - or even longer - since I last managed a game, but many of our players played one week ago important games for their national teams.
"Everybody can understand the position we are in at the moment, that we are all looking so much forward to the upcoming nine games. Players are refreshed, in my opinion, but it wasn't all negative: we've played a final, so we've managed to play a final against a very good Newcastle team. And we had one great game and in the other game we defended really well against Paris Saint-Germain, which was the best game in the Champions League so far in my opinion.
"We got beaten by a very, very, very good team, but what a game we played as well. You can always look at the result, which was not the way we wanted in the two games, but I was proud of our performance against Paris Saint-Germain. It was maybe the best game we've played this season, but unfortunately we lost it on penalties."
On whether the short hiatus was a mental break more than a physical one for his squad, he added: "The mental break comes more from that you go to a different environment with different teammates.
"For that reason, it was maybe a good moment after you lose two games, [because] if you then stay at your club you have to win the next game, but if you go to your national team things are new again and it's the same if you go from the Premier League to the Champions League. It's a different league. Maybe that helped as well.
"I know, for example, the Dutch team, they played Spain [in] two great games. England had also two games, maybe not the nicest ones to play, but they won both of them. It's always nice if the players go to a different environment and then come back to us after a good experience. For example, Lucho Diaz had two goals [and] Cody Gakpo had a goal, so a few of our players showed themselves in a very good way again."
Ahead of the latest round of fixtures, Liverpool hold a 12-point advantage at the top of the standings entering the final stretch of the season.
However, Slot says his full focus remains on the Blues rather than his team's lead, with February's 2-2 draw in the reverse meeting at Goodison Park still fresh in the memory.
"I expect the same," he said of the Merseyside derby contest. "But with one difference: that every time the Everton players do something well, they don't get the cheers and the reactions from 50,000 people - I don't know how many can go in at Goodison Park.
"Our players will get that reaction after every tackle they make, after every pass they do and that is a different emotion. Football-wise I expect the same because this is what Everton have done in the last nine or 10 games since David Moyes is in charge.
"They didn't lose one football game in the last nine Premier League games, so it would be a surprise if they are going to do something different - and we are top of the league, so it would be strange if we were going to change something as well."
On the importance of having a strong start to April's schedule, Slot continued: "In the final stages of the season every game matters. If I now again say it's going to be nine finals it is for every team nine finals. But it was a bit because we played the final, I used the word [when] we played three finals in a row, because Paris Saint-Germain was also a knockout game.
"These games are very important for us, the upcoming nine, starting with the following one and that's Everton. Not only because it's the Merseyside derby, but also because we are in such a great position in the league."