Slot bristles at question over defensive Liverpool ‘approach’; gives Wirtz ‘best-case scenario’ | OneFootball

Arne Slot was “almost annoyed” as a reporter questioned whether Liverpool should be taking a more attacking approach to games before revealing the “best-case scenario” for Florian Wirtz as he returns from injury.

Slot hit out at the lack of “joy” in the Premier League before his Reds side produced a horribly limp display in defeat to rock-bottom Wolves on Wednesday.

Liverpool head to Molineux again on Friday, this time in the FA Cup fifth round, and bristled when asked by a reporter whether he might consider taking a less defensive approach in his pre-match press conference.

“It’s not the perfect word to use because it’s not what I feel, but I’m almost annoyed if you say ‘that approach’ because the approach is no different,” the Liverpool boss said.

“The approach is we want to have the ball as much as possible and want to have it back as soon as possible.

“We always press high and when we have the ball we try to attack. In the final part when we have the ball in the same position, it leads to chances that didn’t happen in the first half or first 80 minutes.

“That’s not down to approach, we don’t approach the game by saying in the first 70 minutes we don’t want the ball and we don’t want to attack.

“We do. That it doesn’t lead to anything, that we can agree on. That might also be due to the fact the opponent is fitter at the start of the game compared to the end. They maybe became a bit more defensive because they were 1-0 up and gave us even more space, or there is more urgency from us.”

Slot added: “But it’s never the approach. We always start the game in the same way and we play it in the same way. That there’s a difference in the last 10 minutes in terms of chance creation compared to the first 80, that is clear. There’s no difference in the approach.

“If you mean I approach it like ‘let’s stay calm and let’s wait, wait’. No, no. Attack as much as you can. That’s what you see in the game.

“We bring enough players forward but that we’re not able to create a lot of chances with all the ball possession is not something new to me. That has happened throughout the whole season.”

Florian Wirtz has looked like a massive miss for the Reds having sat out the last two games through injury and Slot revealed he might be able to play “a few minutes” on Friday night.

“He trained half-and-half yesterday (Wednesday) with the team,” Slot revealed. “What I mean by that is he was a ‘joker’. He made the next step in his rehab.

“Let’s see where he is today and if he then could be available for a few, a few minutes tomorrow in the best-case scenario.”