Slot: Don't Expect This from Isaac, We Have Quality with New Signings

Liverpool's coach Arne Slot appeared at a press conference to discuss the match against Burnley on Sunday, in the fourth round of the Premier League, at Turf Moor.

He began his talk: "Yes [we have quality with new signings], but if the question is: Is this the first time? The answer is no. Last season I was able to change the course of matches with Diogo [Jota], Darwin [Nunez], and Luis [Diaz], those three are not available now. This is what distinguished a club like Liverpool in the past, and it's natural to have options to change the game if needed."

Regarding Harvey Elliott's move to Aston Villa: "There is another positive, not just Harvey [Elliott], but if you look at Luis Diaz and how he shone quickly at Bayern Munich, this is a big testament to the physical preparation staff and the people working here. Harvey is in a great position now moving to a big club like Aston Villa, and this is in everyone's interest because he hasn't received the playing time he perhaps deserved considering his quality. Nevertheless, he has always been very professional and acted perfectly even when he wasn't participating much. He has always done what is best for the club, and he deserves great praise for that."

He continued: "Everyone talks about Salah and Van Dijk when we win the league, but players like him are also the reason we were able to win, because he was always positive even if he played only five or ten minutes to help the team. This is part of the team's success, and I think he is ready now to show his quality at Aston Villa."

On the criticism faced by Alexander Isak: "In football, there are always criticisms. Sometimes people encourage you, and after he won the League Cup, everyone was happy for him, and at other times he faces criticism. This is part of his life, my life, and our job. And now he is a player with us, and I am very happy about that."

He added: "Sweden's coach John Dahl Tomasson deserves great praise because he perhaps had the best striker in the world, and he had to play two very important matches with his national team, but he understood that if he played him twice for 90 minutes, he would be injured for several weeks. It's not easy for any coach to put the player's interest first, but he did it."

He continued: "We will deal with Isak in the same way, so don't expect him to play 90 minutes in every match over the coming weeks; that will definitely not happen. He has missed almost a full pre-season and has been out of team training for three or four months, so we need to build his readiness gradually with this large number of matches. This will be a tough task, but we didn't sign him for two weeks, but for six years, and the fans should keep this in mind."

On signing Isak on the last day of the transfer window: "A lot happened on the last day of the transfer window, and this is not always usual, as last season we hardly did anything throughout the market. What makes me happiest is that we completed the Isak deal; everyone worked hard to finalize it, and this is great for the club, for the fans, for the players, and for me as well because all the efforts made resulted in signing him."

On failing to sign Marc Guéhi: "I think it would be silly for me to deny that we were close to signing him. These things happen in football, and it has happened before with some of our players who were close to moving to other clubs and then everything changed at the last moment. For me, we definitely wanted to sign him because we were looking to strengthen the team, and if we felt there was an opportunity in the market to strengthen the team, we wouldn't hesitate to do so, and that's what we tried to do."

He continued: "But we played against Arsenal and saw Konaté and Van Dijk putting in a great performance, then Joe Gomez came on 20 minutes before the end and performed well. With the signing of Giovanni Leoni who received his first international call-up, it can't be said that we lack options in this position. It's unfortunate, not just for us but for the player too in my opinion. But he is in a good position with Crystal Palace where he won the FA Cup and the Community Shield, and he has a great coach. Let's wait and see what the future holds for us and for him."

He concluded: "What I think about now more than anything else is the match against Burnley."