– I hear good things about Arne Slot, and like the football he stands for

New press conference

We must try to forget the painful loss against Everton and rather look ahead to what remains of the season.

At 12:30 p.m Jürgen Klopp will provide the latest news before Saturday’s early game against West Ham at the London Stadium.

We will update this matter with everything the manager says at the press conference. You can watch the entire press conference yourself in the video window at the top if you prefer.

It will be interesting to see if the manager gets questions about Arne Slot, after the major developments in Liverpool’s search for his successor in recent days.

We are still waiting for Klopp

The manager is not usually late, but today he is… We are still waiting for the manager to show up.

Now Klopp is in place

15 minutes late. But now he has come.

Updates to follow…

Gakpo is back

– According to him, everything is fine. Mother is fine, boy is fine, father is fine, and was back in training yesterday.

The title fight – and about finding motivation

– It’s part of the job, and I can’t remember being as disappointed and frustrated after a game as I was after the game against Everton.

– Unfortunately, I have lost many matches in my life, but this was special. We weren’t there. You see the other two teams playing, Arsenal and City, and they play very positive football and get very good results. We are where we are in the table because we were able to play positive football.

– In the crucial area, we don’t play positive football, and I blame myself for that. I don’t really know why it has happened, but I am responsible for the mood the team is in. Goodison Park is not the best place to play positive football. You have to be involved and we lost just about every defensive duel. It was really, really bad.

– But in general we’ve had a couple of weeks where we don’t play positive football. We have chances and all these things, but at the end of the day it feels like we have to catch up. It’s not the way it was. Now we have the shortest possible time until the next game, and we have to be positive. There is something wrong with that phrase, but I will do everything I can so that we can enjoy a bit of our own football again, because it was not possible at all in the last game.

– I can’t sit here and see that they know we’re hanging in there, I think both Arsenal and City feel that there are two teams between them. They may have to say otherwise publicly, but they don’t expect to lose two games from here on in, and neither do I. If they do, we will be very stupid if we are not nearby. I don’t think it will happen, but if it does, we should be there. That means we have to win our football games.

– It has to start with West Ham, against an opponent who is in a similar situation to us, since they lost their last game properly. They want, and must show a reaction. We want and must show a reaction. So let’s see who can make it the best.

If the team lacks routine

– We can mention many different things. Is it possible that we were a little exhausted? Yes of course. It is a tough, long season for various reasons.

– Not everyone has played all the games, but they are coming back from injuries. Trent Alexander-Arnold as an example. He was brilliant against Fulham, but was it a bit too much against Everton? Maybe. We obviously need him, so can he be at his best? Maybe not.

– Others play all the time, or very often, or have been injured, or been injured for the first time in their career with serious injuries. So there are a couple that have been out of shape. Tough matches, definitely. But also the lack of experience.

– But would anyone have expected us to become champions at the start of the season? No. But it developed in that direction. We are going to face Aston Villa away, they have a few points less than us so we have to take the points, and we are going to face Tottenham so we need the points to secure the Champions League place. It’s obviously a goal, but nobody here is happy.

– They may want to be happy, Aston Villa are probably happy with the situation they are in, with good reason. Just to explain how different it is – we can’t go back to the point where we say something is good enough. It is very good, but because we were so close, we are very disappointed now. It is the way it is and we cannot change it.

– Whether this group has less experience than the previous group? Yes of course. So that’s the good thing about it. The worst thing about a loss is if you don’t learn from it. So in the short term and in the long term, the boys have to learn from it, with a new manager next year and everything. They will come in similar situations and that is what they can use in these moments. You can’t buy experience, you can only go through it. We have gained a tough experience, and we can hope that we can use it in the short term for the next game. In the long run it will definitely help.

About Arne Slot

– I haven’t read anything, but I have been told that Arne has said some things from Tony (Barrett). I don’t know anything about that. I am not involved in the process, just to be clear.

– If it is him, I like that he wants to take on the job. If he is desperate for it, “let’s go for it”, excited. I like the way his teams play football, definitely,

– All the things I hear about him are that he is a great guy. Someone I know knows him, but I don’t know him yet. I’ve been told he’s a really nice guy, so I like that. Good coach, nice guy, looking forward to taking the job if he is the solution. I’m more than happy that it’s not up to me to decide, but it all sounds good.

– It’s the best job in the world, the best club in the world, and now it also helps that it doesn’t look like we’re going to end with a big upswing as it looks, so there’s room for improvement. It’s a great job, a great team with wonderful people. It will be a very interesting job.

The end of the season

– Match by match, why should we do it differently?

– We played the other day, and play tomorrow at 12.30 then in a day’s time, so that’s all. That’s the first match we think of. Then we have the first time off in the middle of the week in forever.

– Don’t get me wrong, nobody has given up here, but we have to be realistic. We need both Arsenal and Manchester City to lose two games each. We have to win four games. They haven’t lost two games since when? So why does it have to start now… But if it happens, we have to be there. I’m not one to shout let’s take them and everyone thinks I’m stupid. Maybe I am, but not in that way. That’s it.

– I have not liked football, and I hope that I can help the boys to play better and more positive football again.

About facing West Ham

– I’m not saying that they need to show a reaction, I’m saying that they will want to. It’s not up to me to tell them what to show. I can wish for a lot, but not for them to show any reaction.

He then talks about David Moyes.

– David is one of the best colleagues. We don’t have time to spend together, but over the years we’ve talked a lot before games. I like him a lot, respect him a lot, and think he does an incredible job. I like the team they have, offensively very talented, good buy, Bowen I have said several times is one of my favorite players and the way he has developed since coming from Hull.

– Kudus is super talented, Paqueta, Michail Antonio… When Bowen plays at his best, they find another solution. Ward-Prowse, super smart signing for West Ham. The others are established. I once heard a press conference with David where he asked what they wanted him to achieve. So there are six teams in the league that have to be ahead of West Ham. Not all of them are, but I would say they have to be there. So seventh place is about the best you can achieve. They have managed that, and better than that for some years.

– I think he does a ridiculously good job.

About assessing his own season

– I don’t want to consider it now. I have no idea, and am in no mood to give up, wave the white flag or these things.

– I think we have to think about ourselves and make sure we play better. I said after the game: Why should a team that plays like us become champions? The football we played earlier, there was a lot of good, surprisingly good, and at times we looked unbeatable where we could create problems for everyone. Everyone went in the same direction, and we were very painful to face for everyone.

– Everything was a mix of many different things, so we deserve to be where we are, but we have to use it. I want us to use the situation, not feel the pressure for whatever reason. All the performances have not been so good, but the players are incredible footballers and I see it as my job to create an atmosphere where they can be the best version of themselves. That’s where I failed, I don’t know how or when it happened – and have now had 40 hours to think about it – I don’t know when it happened. I saw nothing of what we want to be in the Everton game.

– Now we have some new hours, and have to try to find ourselves again.

How Darwin and Salah can get going again

– It’s always difficult, with strikers who don’t score. No matter what I say, it’s hard. You have to go through these periods, and that’s the life of a striker.

– For a goalkeeper, life is for you to make 500 saves, then one mistake, then everyone is talking about it. If a striker scores all the time, but goes for a period without scoring, then the questions are asked as to why. It can be the hardest thing in the world and it can be the easiest thing in the world, depending on what chances you have.

– We obviously had good chances against Everton. I also saw that we were stressing at the closing moment. We just have to try again and try again, and finish in the right situation. If there had been one solution to arrange for Darwin to return to his best, then the person who could write that book would have been a very rich person.

– You have to go through it. I’m trying to help them get up to speed on it. It says nothing about the quality of the boys, it’s just the moment. In general, our timing isn’t great and we haven’t been so good in parts of it in recent weeks. I’m very sorry for that, but it is what it is. Now we have to start again. We have four games left, 12 points at stake.