Arne Slot On "Quality and Cohesion" in Liverpool Squad Ahead of Bologna
Today at 08:32 AM
Liverpool's quality depth means some players haven't seen the pitch as often as they might have liked so far but with a busy fixture list their time will come.
After a win in the Premier League ensured Arne Slot's Reds ended matchweek six top of the table, Liverpool are back in mid-week European action as Bologna visit Anfield for what will be the new manager's first Champions League home game at the club.
Having won their first Champions League match 3-1 over AC Milan on the road, a win in game two of the new-look league phase would see the Reds well positioned heading into a very busy October and November that will test his side's quality and depth.
"One of the reasons we can compete is because we have a lot of quality and I also see a lot of team cohesion in the team," Slot noted ahead of the match. "But I also see things we have to improve if we want to stay where we are with the fixture list coming up.
"Every fixture is difficult, so we have to do things better, but one of the reasons why we can stay up there is we have a lot of players with a lot of individual quality and also we have a lot of players that can help us—every time we need a player that he shows up."
Last week's mid-week tie was in the League Cup and saw a wholly changed side dispatch West Ham comfortably. The changes against Bologna likely won't be quite as wholesale, but there will be at least a few different faces from Wolves on the weekend.
"It's hard because they train hard and work really hard and are really involved in the team process," Slot added when asked about his players who haven't seen as many minutes as they might have liked yet and the chance for changes against Bologna.
"That makes it hard then sometimes to make the decision to say, okay, I choose these eleven and not the other ones. Because they have quality. If they didn't have quality they would not play here. So if they work really hard they make my life difficult.
"But it is part of my job and part of their lives as well. You know if you join a top club there's competition so I think they are used to this—playing at a top club it can happen. There's a lot of team cohesion, a lot of good energy. That's the most important thing."
