‘Trent didn’t play his best game’ says Slot before EFL Cup tie

Liverpool manager Arne Slot says Trent Alexander-Arnold is ready to face Tottenham in the EFL Cup semi-final first leg on Wednesday after his poor showing against Manchester United.

Alexander-Arnold has been linked with a move to Real Madrid this month and was out of sorts in Sunday’s thrilling 2-2 draw at Anfield.

But Slot says the whole squad are ready to respond against Tottenham and highlighted their excellent season so far.

He said: “I think we were all disappointed [about Sunday’s draw with Manchester United] not only Trent Alexander-Arnold, we were all disappointed.

“First of all about the result. Parts of our game we weren’t completely happy with. It wasn’t only Trent, there were more things we could have done better.

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“Trent didn’t play his best game, but some others also didn’t play their best.

“If you play 50, 60 games in a season, one of them won’t be your best performance. Maybe we should highlight that these players are playing so well despite playing two games in a week.

“I think it will benefit every player [not just Trent Alexander-Arnold – to play again tomorrow]. Everybody wants to play. Almost all of them are fit.”

Liverpool have lost just once all season in all competitions under Slot – to Nottingham Forest – and have won a remarkable 23 of 28 matches so far.

They won the EFL Cup for a record 10th time last season and go into Wednesday’s match at Tottenham as favourites to retain it.

Like Alexander-Arnold, Mo Salah and Virgil van Dijk are out of contract this summer but Slot says they remain focused on winning.

“If Mohamed Salah misses a penalty against Real Madrid he’s distracted by his ‘contract situation’”, Slot said.

“If Trent doesn’t play well he’s distracted by his ‘contract situation’.

“If everybody plays well, nobody is distracted by their ‘contract distraction’.

“I am not focused on social media posts or what people are saying. If you do that as Liverpool manager you will have no life, because people are always talking about us.”

Team news – Szoboszlai a doubt

Liverpool have been boosted by the return of defenders Ibrahima Konate and Conor Bradley, who both featured against United on Sunday.

Forward Federico Chiesa was on the bench for that game and is available but midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai remains unlikely to play because of illness.