Arne Slot’s Liverpool find themselves chasing a one-goal deficit ahead of the second leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final, which sees them host Tottenham Hotspur at Anfield on Thursday.
Slot told reporters in his pre-match press conference that joining Newcastle United at Wembley on March 16 will be “difficult, but I think we’ll be better than the last time [against Tottenham].”
Almost a month has passed since Liverpool headed to N17 for the first leg of this tie, and Slot revealed that “if you play one week later, then normally you face exactly the same team again. Now with all the injuries Tottenham had the last time we played them, it would have been a bit more to our advantage if we played them one week later again – although we lost against the ones that were fit that time!”
But Spurs have been buoyed in recent weeks by players returning from injury and new acquisitions throughout the January transfer window, which “might change the quality we face tomorrow compared to last time,” Slot accepted.
“It’s going to be a difficult one, we know. If you reach the semi-final against Tottenham, you know it’s going to be a difficult one. But I think we will be better than the last time.”
Despite trailing on aggregate, the Dutchman insisted: “I don’t think I have to prepare them differently than in any other game. Because from now until the end of the season, it’s been already the whole season, and I think as long as Liverpool exists, if you play in this shirt, you need to win the game. That’s for tomorrow, that’s for Sunday, that’s for Wednesday afterwards and the game after that.”
“Even if we go 1-0 down in the league or whatever tournament we are in, we try and want to win the game. That’s also what we tried in the away game against Tottenham – I think we were quite close to getting a result over there until the last few seconds, we were down to 10 and conceded a goal.”
“Nothing changes for this game compared to others. If you wear this shirt, if you go out at Anfield, there is only one thing that is expected of you – and that’s winning the game,” he confirmed.