Matchweek 21 of the Premier League saw Arsenal play out a 0-0 home draw with Liverpool. Liverpool manager Arne Slot attended the post-match press conference following the 0-0 draw with Arsenal.
Q: Given that Liverpool failed to score in their previous game, and you put in a solid second-half display—Liverpool were clearly the better side early in the second half. Are you satisfied with the result and the team’s performance?
A: Absolutely, I’m pleased with the team’s performance, and to some extent satisfied with the result too, because Arsenal have been outstanding both domestically and in Europe this season.
You know, even just taking points off them is tough, let alone winning. So, in that sense, you’re happy with the outcome.
I think they dominated possession far more than us in the first half, though at times you could also see our ability to build from the back and how we broke through their defensive line on several occasions. But they were on top, and Timber and Saka caused significant threats down the right a few times. Those threats didn’t translate into goals beyond crosses, though.
In the second half, I think we did a better job of defending their initial build-up play, which made it hard for them to be as dominant as they were in the first half.
We had better possession, or rather we controlled the game like we aimed to in the first half. But, given the time we had the ball, for anyone who follows Liverpool, this isn’t new—naturally, you’d hope we create more chances. We had a lot of shots that were very close, and in the end, the right decisions need to be made. Yeah, we hit the crossbar in the first half, but it wasn’t enough to score.
Q: Do you think Gabriel Martinelli’s act of shoving Bradley is acceptable?
A: I was asked the same question just now. I don’t know Gabriel Martinelli personally, but he comes across as a nice guy.
I think his issue—this is a general problem in football—is that many players feign injury and waste time late in games or during matches. If you’re trying to score, those time-wasting players are annoying.
I can’t expect Martinelli, in the 94th minute, in such a heated moment, to realise he’s up against Liverpool—a team that was hounded when we played Leeds, and we don’t even go down against West Ham; Paqueta tried everything to get a second yellow card, and even my players tried to drag him off.
You can’t expect Martinelli to have a clear head in the 94th minute.
So I’m 100% sure that if he knew the opponent might be seriously injured, he’d never do that. Of course, if Bradley is injured as we fear, it’s not good. But football, time-wasting, diving—these things have gotten to the point where players in the 94th minute think “here we go again,” because I’ve seen it happen to us firsthand.
It’s happened so many times this season, so I can understand Martinelli might have thought it was time-wasting and didn’t think twice. That’s Liverpool. We don’t do that.
I don’t know the details yet, but if he needs a stretcher, it’s definitely not good. I think we’ll share the same view after seeing the video, but we’ll have to wait for the scan results. Whether it’s that bad, or he’s fit by Monday—we’ll see.
