Interview'I'll always be very grateful' - Arne Slot's tribute to Andy Robertson and Mo Salah

Sunday’s game against Brentford at Anfield will see Robertson and Salah say farewell ahead of departing Liverpool.

The duo were legendary figures over the course of nine years at the club that featured eight major honours – including two Premier League titles and the Champions League.

Sitting down with Liverpoolfc.com, head coach Slot reflected on his time working with the pair and detailed his admiration for them as players and people.

Read the Q&A below…

Firstly, on Robbo, what were your impressions and your knowledge of him before you came to Liverpool?

A lot. A lot of knowledge because I watched Liverpool a lot in Jürgen [Klopp]’s time. Because I love to watch football, and if you love to watch football you love to watch Liverpool because they played great football. So I knew a lot about him, his energy, his work-rate, the amount of times he was making overlaps. Then, starting to work with him, straight away you see and feel the same because he has that energy also off the pitch.

He’s a very likeable person. But on the pitch, I think the longer it took, the better he also became in bringing the ball out from the back and being calmer in doing that. Where maybe five, six, seven or eight years ago he was mainly the one that went up and down. But still he’s able to do that. Great character, great human being, but definitely also a great football player.

We’re obviously very biased and we’re in the Liverpool bubble. We thought he was the best left-back in Europe at his peak. Is that something you felt as well from the outside?

Yeah, definitely. If you are the best full-back in England, in the Premier League, it’s almost safe to say you’re the best in the world because this league is incredibly strong. If you add to that the amount of success Liverpool at that time had in Europe, winning the Champions League, playing finals, then I think it’s fair and safe to say, even though I wasn’t in that bubble, that he was in his time, in his prime, the best left full-back in the world.

I know you’ve said you actually used Robbo’s famous press against Manchester City in your own coaching in the past. How did you use that?

To have a player that’s pressing all the way over, I say a lot to the players, the fans usually react on two things: that’s either us creating a chance or a great press/counter-press. So, if you want something to be happening in the stadium, either create a chance, which is not always that simple, but much more simple is find the moment to have a great press. This is what you hear there as well, the fans are getting more and more loud in every sprint he makes.

I think I used this to say to my players – I think I was at Feyenoord back then, not 100 per cent sure but I think was – to tell them actually what I just said: if the best left full-back in the world is willing to make sprints like this then the least I can ask from you guys is doing the same. Because I’m not showing a moment of [Lionel] Messi or Mo Salah where he is outplaying five, six, seven or eight players and then scoring. It’s just the work-rate that stands out, the intensity he presses with. And that’s normally not the most complicated thing to copy. Although, that being said, it’s maybe a bit too simple because you need to have that energy, that fitness to be able to do so. But I used it mainly to tell them if even the best left full-back in the world does this then it’s not too much to ask from you guys to try to replicate this.

Speaking of asking, what was it that you asked of Andy when you first came in? He was obviously a massive figure in us winning the Premier League last season. What were the responsibilities you gave him?

I think it stayed mainly the same as the responsibility he already had under Jürgen. He wasn’t the vice-captain because Trent [Alexander-Arnold] was the vice-captain, he was the third. So after Trent left he became the vice-captain. So that comes with obligations, with things you expect from a player, but if he was the second or the vice-captain or the third captain, he would always give the best Andy Robertson to the team, to the staff, to everyone of Liverpool.

Of course, what I also asked from him is to play to his strength, which most managers try to do. And I think what I’ve maybe tried to add, if you can say it like this, like I said, he was probably a full-back that constantly went up and down and I’ve asked maybe a bit more of him – but he was the one who should answer that question – also in a lower build-up so that he was more involved in making triangles towards midfielders, understanding which player would be free in which moment. But definitely I wanted to keep his quality, which was making overlaps and underlaps and making sure players like Luis Diaz and Cody Gakpo were either in a one-v-one or he was able to help them with overlapping or underlapping runs. So play to his strength, but definitely also be the character he was before I arrived and he still was when I was here.

• Reds squad present framed mementos to Andy Robertson and Mo Salah

And how would you sum him up?

Funny is probably one of the first things that comes to my mind. Always in a good mood… unless I don’t play him! But even then, I think a player should never be in a good mood when you don’t play him, but he was always there to help the team. And I think there’s a reason why his teammates love him, why the staff love him and I’m not only talking about my staff but also the medical staff, performance staff, because he’s just a great human being that always wants the best for the people around him and always wants the best for the club. And I think our fans also feel this

I think his mum and dad can be really proud of what kind of person he became. And they can also definitely be really proud about the football player he became, but maybe that’s a bit more down to talent, where becoming such a great human being also has a lot to do with your upbringing, the work and the job his parents did. I don’t think you can find any teammate that plays with him now or in the past or any staff member that would not be positive about Andy Robertson.

Mo Salah, an incredible nine years at Liverpool. These are things we don’t really see all that often in football…

No, we don’t see it that often. That’s what makes him, of course, special because if everybody could do what he’s done, that would not make him special. And the numbers he produced for this club, year in, year out. Having this one season is already unbelievable. Having this eight or nine seasons is unbelievable. And what stands even more out for me with him is that he didn’t produce these numbers in moments when it was 3-0 or 4-0 up, he was also the one where you looked at when things were tough, when things were difficult.

The amount of times last season – now I’m focusing on the time I’ve worked with him – when we needed a goal or we needed a moment of magic to win the game and he stepped up, that has been numerous times the situation. And before I was there, this happened also constantly. But apart from that, I think also one of the things that stands out is his commitment. His commitment to be the best player he can be every three days is something that was always and still needs to be a big example for everyone that played with him.

Talking about moments, I believe you consider his goal against Brighton at Anfield to be one of the most important moments of last season?

This is a signature Mo Salah goal, I would say – going inside, hitting the far corner. This is something he did a lot, a lot in my time. Longer ago, I also saw a lot of goals when he went around on the outside and then came inside. Last season, it was mainly the threat of an overlapping run or whatever happened and he could go inside and score his goal.

Big moment, because everybody thinks when we think about last season that we outplayed the league and we were every single time 10 times better than the other team, which was not true. There were more than enough games where the game was even. This was one of them, but then Mo stepped up. That is one of the things why our season last season was so successful, because every time when a game was equal and when I was wondering, ‘Come on, Mo, now we need a moment from you’ then he produced a moment like that.

He said last season was his best season, he feels it was his best. He’s obviously got plenty to choose from but that’s his one. From a coach’s point of view, describe to us how impressive it was, because players can do it for one game, they can do it for two or three games in a row, but to produce those numbers that he did is rare…

Yeah, because I think even for his standards, that season was special. So the amount of goals, the amount of assists that he had in that season was even more than he had in the other seasons where his standards were already incredibly high. And to do that in a time where the league has become stronger and stronger and stronger. Because five, six years ago, I’ve said this recently many times, we saw results like a 3-0 win, 4-0 win, 5-0 win, I even think they beat Bournemouth once with nine, but this particular season and this season you don’t see these results anymore. Not from [Manchester] City, not from Arsenal, not from us. So then these goals matter even more. So if you make the 5-0, the 6-0 or the 7-0, it’s also nice. But making the 2-1 or making the 1-0 is something he did a lot last season, and I think that makes his numbers of last season even more special if almost all the goals he scored and almost all of the assists he had mattered to the result of the game.

We saw his emotions and everyone’s emotions after that Tottenham game when the league was won. It felt right and important that the likes of Mo, Robbo, Ali, Virgil got another title for their consistency and their quality. It felt like one wouldn’t be enough for that…

For everything they did for this club, they’ve earned the right to win the league more than only once. I think they’ve been, when I wasn’t there, a few times so close. They had an unbelievable team back then, that was so unfortunate that there was one other team that could win just as much. As I said, that was the way the league was at that moment of time. If you had one draw, you probably had a problem because City or Liverpool would win almost every game. That has completely changed in the last two seasons.

But for them, for the impact they made on Liverpool, but also I think in football in general, in Europe, everybody would describe that era where Liverpool, Jürgen’s team, was at its best, four or five years ago, those three or four years everybody was talking about City and Liverpool. And to come away with ‘only’ – which is not only, because it’s still a lot – one league title and one Champions League would not do justice to what they’ve achieved, all of them here at this club, making so many great memories. I’m really pleased for them.

They deserve to win the league more than once. Because winning it once is already special, winning it twice sets you in a different category. And that’s what they did and I’m really happy for them and also for myself because I could be part in one of the two. I will always be very grateful to Robbo and Mo and to the whole team that I could be part of a team that has won the Premier League for Liverpool, which is for me and I think for these players even more special than winning it somewhere else because of how, if we win it, we are able to make it such a great party.

How can you sum up Mo?

Summing Mo up, the first thing that comes to my mind, to everyone’s mind, is his goals, his assists and especially scoring in the big moments. And I think this is what makes a great player, an excellent player, or one of the few that has ever played for a club, is that these players always show up in the big moments. So, to have these numbers, those amount of goals is special, but when you can produce in the big moments for a club when they absolutely need you, that is what I think where a top, top, top player stands out. And this is what Mo has been. He’s right up there with one or two others to be one of the greatest that has ever played for Liverpool.

As a human being, I think everybody expects maybe from a superstar, like he is, certain behaviour. But I’ve experienced him completely different to that. He’s very calm, he thinks really good about everything and when he’s sitting in front of you, you don’t feel you are sitting across a superstar. Normal human being. He’s having a lovely family, two daughters and a wife. He’s always interested in helping others as well. I think mainly this season he put quite a lot of attention into Rio Ngumoha and other players, helping them out.

Yes, he’s a star when you see him play – he’s an absolute superstar. But when he’s here in the building, when he is around his teammates, when he is around staff members, he is just a normal human being. And that is probably a compliment, because I don’t think it’s always easy for a superstar like that to stay as normal as he still is. I’ve enjoyed working with him. Maybe once or twice was a bit more difficult, but over the long term it was a joy to work with him and we’ve been successful together by winning the league and that will always stay in my mind, as well as how he’s been to me and my staff for the two years we’ve worked together.