Arne Slot bristles at Everton suggestion and makes Liverpool prediction for next season

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Would they have thought they (PSG) are going to run over us and it’s going to be ridiculous?"Then they saw a team that competed as hard as it did and worked as hard as it did."I cannot change the height of my players, so that’s the first thing, but I think my players have shown throughout this season after all the setbacks we’ve had – and we have had a lot – that they were able to compete again."Liverpool's character has been called into question at times this season, not least when Virgil van Dijk claimed they had "given up" during their 4-0 FA Cup quarter-final humbling at Manchester City earlier this month.But Slot said: "Now maybe there is a complete focus on that 20 minutes against City who, by the way, did the same thing at Stamford Bridge a week later when scoring three goals in 15 minutes."But I look at it that I’ve seen my team work hard every single game. Can you expect a player of a certain height to win a header against a taller player?"But they will 100% work hard because they know what this game means to the fans and what it means to us."With Hugo Ekitike ruled out for the season and Joe Gomez also missing, Slot faces a number of major selection decisions with left-back Andy Robertson, forwards Mohamed Salah and Cody Gakpo and teenage winger Rio Ngumoha all pressing hard for a recall.Liverpool will finish the campaign without a trophy for the first time in three years and, with five of their remaining six Premier League games coming against teams immediately around them, face a genuine fight to maintain their Champions League berth.Slot, though, is convinced the Reds are already turning the corner and that the likes of £116million Florian Wirtz is showing he can cope with the hectic nature of English football."Compare the players we have signed with the start of the season and where we are now," he said.

"I see a difference, in a positive way."If you saw what Florian was able to do in his third game in seven days (against PSG on Tuesday) and you compare that to the start of the season and my first thought is then always Brentford (away) after we played Eintracht Frankfurt away. And I can factor in even more things to this season."The main thing is how we were able to compete against Paris Saint-Germain after only being two days off, with them being rested for a week, how we have been able to compete against the other quarter-finalists here at home."Then you see that with doing the right things in the summer and not being as unlucky as we were this season, we can have a better season."Slot added: "I think people only start to believe when they are seeing it.

That means results, for now, and for next season when they are seeing the team, although I think the belief was really there last summer when we signed a few players."That’s usually what comes with a few signings, people get very excited by that. People usually first want to see it, and that’s what we need to do after the summer."Sky Sports, HBO Max, Netflix and Disney+ with Ultimate TV packageThis article contains affiliate links, we will receive a commission on any sales we generate from it.