It didn't take long for Arne Slot to work out why Wembley has, from time to time over the years, become informally known as 'Anfield South' by people associated with Liverpool.

Letting out the sort of the laugh that was usually reserved for his predecessor in the corridors of the club's AXA Training Centre on Wednesday morning, Slot, when informed of the nickname, immediately grasped why many supporters still refer to the national stadium as a home away from home.

"Ah! Anfield South! It's because the club has been there so often?" Slot laughed as he concluded the final part of his media dealings for Thursday night's game with Tottenham. For the Dutchman, the chance to play at a venue he refers to as "iconic" is now laid out in front of him just months into his career on Merseyside.

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It's something of a rite of passage for a Liverpool manager to lead their teams out at Wembley and since the days of Bill Shankly, only three have not achieved it, with two of them able to caveat it with a considerable excuse.

Gerard Houllier and then Rafa Benitez took charge of cup finals at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium between the years of 2001 and 2006, when Wembley was being rebuilt into its modern guise, leaving just Roy Hodgson's ill-fated stint in 2010 as the only time when a coach didn't walk out with a Liverpool team at the London venue. Brendan Rodgers oversaw an FA Cup semi-final loss to Aston Villa there 10 years ago.

"It cannot be underestimated," Slot argues as a motivating factor on the eve of his side's Carabao Cup semi-final second leg with Tottenham, where they trail 1-0. "Maybe some of these players are already used to Wembley, but it would be my first time to go to Wembley.

"If you go to England people are talking about Wembley as an iconic stadium, especially if it's a final. So you can be sure that we as a team want to win that game tomorrow to go to Wembley.”

Passage to the final will mark Slot's first visit as a player, coach or spectator but in order to experience what might reasonably be claimed as a career high in March, the Reds must first overturn a deficit against a Spurs side who, while in general freefall this season, have put together back-to-back wins over Elfsborg and Brentford in the last week.

The visitors also have new signings Mathys Tel and Kevin Danso available to them but will be without centre-backs Cristiano Romero and Micky van de Ven, whose recent return to action is still being handled with care.

In contrast to Slot's vast array of options, Postecoglou arrives on Merseyside with an unrelenting injury list with Dominic Solanke, James Maddison, Guglielmo Viacrio, Brenndan Johnson, Destiny Odogie, Timo Werner, Wilson Odobert and Radu Dragusin also absent.

"It's already quite nice that we've already come to the situation that it's only success if we win a trophy," Slot argues. "I think when I started off over here, people were like: 'Okay, if we end up number 10 (in the Premier League) we're already happy!'

"That's a bit exaggerated, but I think people were a bit worried about what will happen after Jurgen [left]. So now we're already in the situation where if we win the league cup it is not enough anymore? Is that what you are saying?

"For me, the only thing that is important is that every time the players go out they work very hard and try to win every single game. And do this in a certain playing style. That is where my main focus is on and I have been long enough in this job that if you focus on trophies or results, that's not gonna be very successful. We have to focus on how we play."

Trent Alexander-Arnold and his thigh problem aside, Slot has the luxury of a full-strength squad to choose from for the second leg tie and with an FA Cup fourth-round game at struggling Championship side Plymouth Argyle on Sunday, there is less of a need to overthink the selection dilemmas than there might be had the leaders been involved in Premier League action this weekend.

With that long-awaited game in hand to be played at Everton next week offering the Reds the chance to go nine clear of Arsenal in the Premier League, there's an argument that the schedule has fallen kindly for Slot and a virtually fully-fit complement of players.

That being said, the head coach is only focusing on turning around the 1-0 deficit to Ange Postecoglou's men on Thursday evening and avenging that controversial winner by Lucas Bergvall to set up another trip to 'Anfield South'.

"It sounds so simple, but to work as hard as this team does every three days is far from simple," he says. "That is where my main focus is on and not on how many trophies or even if we win a trophy. But I do want to win the League Cup. Maybe for you it is not important?

"In life, it's not only about winning trophies. I have to steal something Jurgen said. It is also very important that the fans leave the stadium thinking [excitedly]: ‘When do they play again?

"I like that sentence a lot because I would love us as managers being judged more on that than only on trophies. How do they play? Is it nice to watch them? Are the fans looking forward to the next game already?

"I agree that we are more mostly judged on the trophies we win, but I judge myself and the players on work rate and the quality they bring during every single game. Jurgen was so unlucky that he played against Manchester City and over 90 points was not enough. How can that happen?!"