“I can’t make sense of it” – Presenter baffled by one thing Arne Slot said in public this week | OneFootball

A radio presenter has said that he’s ‘baffled’ by one comment made by Arne Slot in his pre-match press conference on Tuesday.

The Liverpool head coach was addressing the media ahead of his team’s match against Qarabag tonight when he spoke out strongly about the challenges of managing an injury-hit squad and a heavy fixture schedule.

The 47-year-old has raised eyebrows with his suggestion that the Champions League round-of-16 exit to Paris Saint-Germain last March was instrumental in his team going on to win the Premier League, with LFC having no commitments outside the top flight from the beginning of April (Liverpool Echo).

Durham ‘baffled’ by Slot’s press conference remarks

Speaking on talkSPORT Breakfast on Wednesday, Adrian Durham was perplexed by that observation from Slot and fears that it might’ve gone down badly among the fan base and even his own players.

The presenter said: “I just think it’s a really odd one. I can’t make sense of it. I’ve actually got to watch it back because I just need to understand exactly what he was trying to say.”

(Photo by Jan Kruger/Getty Images)

Durham added: “I really think that they will get the result tonight. It’s just what impact Arne Slot’s press conference might or might not have, not just on the players, but on the fans at Anfield this evening.

“I was listening to the Sports Bar last night and there were one or two calls about Arne Slot. They’re baffled by it and I am as well. Let’s see what happens because I think there might be fallout from what he said.”

Slot was mistaken with peculiar press conference remark

Whilst we can empathise with Slot’s concerns about navigating a hectic fixture schedule with an injury-hit squad, his comments about the PSG defeat helping towards our Premier League title triumph don’t add up to scrutiny.

At the time that Liverpool exited the Champions League last season, they were 14 points ahead of Arsenal at the summit of the top-flight table. Their eventual winning margin was 10, having not won any of the four games after mathematically clinching the title.

In truth, the heavy lifting domestically had already been done by the middle of March, even if professionalism dictated that the Reds still needed to apply themselves 100% until such time that they were officially champions.

When Slot took on the job at Anfield two summers ago, he’ll have known that he’d have been competing on four fronts in every season (barring a failure to qualify for Europe), and the history of this club obliges managers/head coaches to aspire towards winning every trophy available.

To comment publicly with such a frivolous attitude towards the subject isn’t a good look at all, and certainly won’t do him any favours at a time when he’s already under intense scrutiny outside of Anfield due to Liverpool’s litany of underwhelming results.

If the Dutchman is to get his dissenters back onside, the only way he’ll accomplish it is to mastermind a consistent string of victories on the pitch, and it’d also help if he chose his press conference remarks more carefully.