Dutchman Arne Slot, the head coach of Liverpool, spoke during the press conference he held on Tuesday evening, before the match against Qarabag, as part of the eighth and final round of the league stage in the UEFA Champions League for the 2025/2026 season, which will be held at Anfield.

Slot pointed out that he caused disappointment for some of his players due to their lack of participation, explaining that the pressure of matches and the current circumstances of the team forced him to make those decisions, without referring to any specific player.

Slot opened his talk about the condition of Joe Gomez and Ibrahima Konate, saying: "There is no specific date for Gomez's return, but he will not be available tomorrow. I spoke with Konate, and we know he is going through difficult circumstances. I hope for his return soon, but not tomorrow."

Regarding Robertson and his future, he said: "Robertson will be part of the team tomorrow, and he has been part of this team for many years. I am happy to have him, and it's good that he is available. It's difficult to predict anything under the current circumstances, but I expect him to stay this month."

Concerning the media noise surrounding Liverpool, Slot explained: "It is extremely difficult to calm this noise in our current league position. Every disappointing result will bring the noise back again, and this is expected after a series of defeats at the start of the season, and it's impossible to silence the noise at a club like this if you are not competing for the title."

He added: "Between our penalty areas, we have a very excellent team. The way we move the ball and reach the penalty area is good, and in the Bournemouth match, we were in ideal positions many times, but we need to improve converting chances into goals. On the other hand, the opponent reaches our goal a lot and gets chances to score, there is a clear imbalance."

He continued: "Our situation is very bad, if we improve in both penalty areas we will achieve something special, and if we improve in just one penalty area, the season will be better, otherwise, we will face a lot of noise."

On the comparison between the team's performance in the Champions League and the English Premier League, he said: "It doesn't matter much if we finish the season in first or second place in the Champions League, as we saw last season."

He clarified: "There is not much difference between our level in the two competitions, the biggest challenge is participating in both, and that's what we want. We lost many matches after Champions League encounters, and even in the first six victories, we had to fight until the end."

Regarding the rotation policy, Slot said: "I couldn't change 11 players like Qarabag's coach did. The small size of the team is not a concern, but it represents a difficulty. I preferred to start Ekitike against Bournemouth, but with only one striker available for the coming months, it made sense to manage his participation."

He added: "It was risky to play Jeremie Frimpong for another 90 minutes. I have great respect for the players we have available, often the same players participate, and when we lose, we receive the criticism we deserve. Everyone is available except for those with long-term injuries."

He continued: "It's very difficult to achieve balance, especially with long-term injuries. If I started Isaac instead of Ekitike, no one would object, and if I took Jeremy out and put in a similar player, no one would object, but we ended the match with a defense line including players who are not defenders."

He added: "If I played Conor Bradley for two consecutive matches and then he got injured, it would have been different. There were situations where a player who contributed to a goal should have been substituted at the end of the match. If people knew the difficulties we face, they would be more understanding of our decisions."

He continued: "Even if we reconsider and made a different decision, can we change it? Can we increase the number of players with the available budget? Yes, we are missing one or two players compared to last season, and with three long-term injuries, the situation becomes exhausting."

He insisted: "This talk may not please many, but perhaps the reason we won the league last season was our exit against Paris Saint-Germain, and after every match, we had a whole week to prepare."

He added: "Arsenal had a busy schedule, and we lost points during that period. Every coach knows that increasing the number of players improves the chances of winning, and even today I had to let down some players due to their lack of participation."

Regarding the team's ambitions, he said: "At Liverpool, our goal is to win the league, but we have only achieved it twice in 30 years, I know what is acceptable this season."

About Qarabag, he explained: "They showed this season that they are a strong team and difficult to beat, they drew 2-2 with Chelsea, we faced strong teams in the Champions League and performed excellently, but that caused us problems in the league a few days later."

He concluded his talk about Endo, saying: "He was absent for a while and then returned, he has a match tomorrow and another on Saturday, certainly the center-back position will be occupied by a player who is not a defender except for Virgil van Dijk, and his ability to play 90 minutes should not be underestimated."