Slot’s side narrowly beat Wolverhampton Wanderers at the weekend in a 2-1 victory which was full of nerves right until the final seconds. The Dutch manager said that these types of games are common in the final stage of the season even for teams like Barcelona who scraped a 1-0 win against Rayo Vallecano on Monday night.
“I think it always helps if you have experienced it already – and that's not only for me, that's also for the players. But it's difficult to take things from that period of time towards this period of time – different players, different opponents, different league. But it tells you – what I've said so many times – that in the end phase of the season, a lot, a lot of games are really, really tight – it's not only ours.
“I even saw yesterday Barcelona, which is a team I admire a lot and play really good football this season, but in the end they were close to conceding the 1-1. It is the end phase of the season where results like this are quite common, like in our title-winning season with Feyenoord as well. It tells you that you have a team that fights until the end and these games you have to win if you want to achieve something.
One player who has developed well under Slot is Endo who often comes on to lock down a game when Liverpool are in the lead. The Japanese international is versatile and can cover in defense as well as in midfield if needed. Slot praised the 32-year-old and revealed what makes him so special in this Liverpool side.
“I think Wata has been really useful for us this season. It's not always a matter of how many minutes you play, you can be very important in two minutes and less important in 90 minutes. What makes Wata special, in my opinion, is every time we have to rely on him – if it's five, 10, 20 or 25 minutes – he shows up.
“That sounds much more simple than it is because if a player has hardly had a lot of playing time then to be mentally so strong that if the team needs you, you can bring your best performance in – that is not always easy. Because mostly you see players that don't play a lot find it difficult to get their rhythm or their quality in the less playing time they get.
“The only thing is defending is always more easy than creating. So if a player who hasn't played for a long time and he has to create something, it is always more difficult than defending. He's been important for us and he will be important for us in the upcoming weeks as well.”