Arne Slot has sent a warning to Liverpool’s rivals that his side are only getting stronger after they booked their place in next month’s Carabao Cup final with a thumping 4-0 victory against Tottenham Hotspur.
Liverpool, the current holders, will return to Wembley to face Newcastle United after goals from Cody Gakpo, Mohamed Salah, Dominik Szoboszlai and Virgil van Dijk saw off Ange Postecoglou’s beleaguered, injury-hit side.
After securing a first final at his new club at the first opportunity, Slot, whose side are top of the Premier League, into the last 16 of the Champions League and face Plymouth Argyle in the FA Cup fourth round this weekend, said that they are growing stronger as the season develops.
Slot: we are getting stronger
“For me there are two reasons we are becoming stronger [this season],” he said. “When you play more together, the more meetings and training sessions [this helps us].
“The more games you play the stronger you become physically. Some people think you get tired but as long as you manage it well some players will get stronger.”
On reaching his first final in English football, Slot added: “It’s pleasant, although if you know me a little bit, my thoughts are more on Sunday already [rather] than thinking about the final in a month.
“Our performance was something that pleased me. Reaching a final should always be special, even for this club, because this club is used to playing finals, but still we are working very hard every single day to try to improve players and the players want to improve themselves every single day.
“But we’re also in this business to play finals, although we know how difficult the final is going to be because we faced Newcastle already and they were very impressive yesterday as well. But there are many games to be played before that final and this is where our focus should be at.”
Van Dijk hails the occasion
Van Dijk, the Liverpool captain, was equally delighted and hailed the special occasion. He said: “Nights like this where there’s a lot at stake, getting to a final again, we don’t take that for granted, we all wanted to go there again with the fans.”
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'It's disappointing to let opportunity slip'
Postecoglou rues missed opportunity
Tottenham travelled to Anfield holding a 1-0 lead from the first leg but put in a lacklustre display that didn’t feature a single shot on target and left Postecoglou bemoaning a disappointing evening.
“Look, it’s fair to say we didn’t really get to the levels we needed to,” the Tottenham head coach said. “It was always going to be a big challenge for us, they’re obviously a very good side and in a great moment with all their players in very good form, very settled.
“But for us to give ourselves an opportunity, we had to be a lot more aggressive with and without the ball and we weren’t. We allowed them to control the game. It was a great opportunity for us to get to a final and to let it slip was disappointing.”
Although Tottenham are still in the FA Cup, with a tricky fourth round tie away to Aston Villa on Sunday, and into the last 16 of the Europa League, they are in the bottom half of the Premier League and this result increases the pressure on Postecoglou.
Although he could point to a lengthy list of absentees in mitigation — Spurs were without ten senior players for this game — he says it is ultimately his responsibility to get his players to perform at their best.
“I don’t worry about being judged or who’s judging,” he said. “I think ultimately my responsibility is that I try and get the players I have to perform to the best of their abilities and to tackle the challenges we’ve got at the moment.”
