Another day, another Arne Slot press conference. With Liverpool still battling for four trophies this season, the Reds boss' meetings with the media are almost becoming a daily occurrence.

Slot took another big step toward earning his first piece of silverware in charge at Anfield after Liverpool booked its place in the Carabao Cup final on Thursday thanks to a resounding 4-0 win over Tottenham. Despite a 1-0 deficit from the first leg, goals from Cody Gakpo, Mohamed Salah, Dominik Szoboszlai and Virgil van Dijk saw the Reds ease to another Wembley showpiece, where they will take on Newcastle United next month.

The games keep coming, and Liverpool will be aiming to go another step closer to another cup final when they take on Plymouth Argyle on Sunday in the FA Cup. Slot will almost certainly make changes to his side for that trip south, with some huge Premier League games to come this month.

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Ahead of Sunday's cup tie, Slot spoke to the media at his pre-match press conference to give his thoughts on all things Liverpool. Here's everything he had to say...

On his celebrations after reaching the Carabao Cup final

"Not a lot. But after every game we go with a few people and drink a glass of wine, and then we go home because it was quite late already when all my media duties were done."

Will Trent Alexander-Arnold be fit for Plymouth?

“No, I don’t think so yet. That’s going to be too early for him.

“Difficult to say [about the derby]. Like I said before, it’s not going to take months and not even weeks but that’s only three days after the Plymouth Argyle game, so let’s wait and see if he is available.

“We also have to look at the long term, of course we don’t want to take any risks with so many games afterwards coming up. But if he’s fit then of course we will use him.”

On rotating his squad

"I think it's always a tricky tie no matter what team you play because it's an away game, it's their final probably – as is many times when Liverpool comes anywhere. But it is true that if you play with a team that hasn't played so much together that that is always for the players a bit more difficult.

"But I think we've seen already a few times when we played with a team that hasn't played already together – even in Eindhoven in the Champions League – these players were able to play a very good game.

"So, I think it's important in these moments for some players that don't get [much] playing time to have their playing time, so whenever we need them they are ready. If you never play them then it's so difficult for them to be ready if we do get some injuries or suspensions. Yeah, we will definitely use a few players that haven't played that much. But we will make that final call tomorrow."

On Virgil van Dijk

"I think Virgil deserves every compliment he gets. He's been outstanding for this club for so many years and since I'm working here he's been outstanding for me as well for the performances he brings in. Yesterday was, again, an example of that.

"He was also in a good manner aggressive, he led the team in a way. With the ball we all know what he can do. But also without the ball he was sharp and ready. It was not a coincidence that it took 80 minutes before they had their first shot on target.

"Virgil, like many others, has had a good season. But he wants, just like all the others, to make it a great season and, therefore, we still have to play many games."

On Conor Bradley's performance vs Spurs

"First of all, not lose the ball – that's the smartest thing you can do. He has to understand when he has to make the run. This – when it led to the 3-0 [against Tottenham] – was a very good choice because Macca [Alexis Mac Allister] had the ball and he had the ball quite open, so he was not under any threat, and if Macca has the ball I would make a run as a teammate as well because there's a fair chance that he will find you in the perfect moment with the perfect pass.

"First of all, it's about the timing, when do you make these runs? If the ball is under threat then maybe it's not a smart moment. But if the ball is completely open and we can change sides, it's a perfect moment for him to start his run. Of course we always have Ibou [Konate], Virgil and the other full-back behind the ball – including Ryan [Gravenberch] – so if for whatever reason we do lose the ball over there, it's not like there are no defenders left anymore."

On players having a more 'normal life' now

"I can't compare with how it was, but definitely I see them as human beings as well. We are working very hard if we are here at the AXA or playing a game. Yesterday was a great example again of how these players work. But if you want to just keep on going for such a long season because they never have a week or two weeks off, then I think at certain moments they have to be at home as well and being a father or a husband as well.

"If you are only a football player for 15, 16, 17 years with only three weeks off during the summer – and if you can only be a husband or a father for three weeks a year – that would not be human. Of course we take this into account but we do these things mainly because we think it benefits us for winning football games."

On staying at home the night before a game

"That's part of it, the other part that people tell me – people who have more knowledge about this than me – that you always sleep better in your own bed than in a hotel bed. Sleep is a very important part of getting the best possible performance.

"It's not only the argument you just gave for them to be at home with their families, but it is definitely also that they are better prepared for a game in the opinion of people that tell me. I have no reason not to believe them because if you use common sense, I think everyone can understand you sleep better in your own bed than in a hotel bed. So, if it's not necessary, we indeed sleep at home."

Are his side in a better place now to go for the quadruple?

"It's difficult for me to judge because I wasn't here last season, so I don't know. I can only tell you that, at this moment in time, we are in a very good place, and I'm not only talking about the result yesterday evening, but the players are fit already, not only the 11 that were on the pitch but the other ones that came in as well.

"We're in a good place, but we also know how long the season still is, and how many difficult challenges there will still be for us. There's only one downside of beating Tottenham 4-0, because the last time we beat them 6-3, it was a week later that we beat West Ham 5-0, and all of a sudden that was the bar, so when we just started winning 1-0 everybody was saying 'pfft, they don't have the same form anymore'.

"We are in a good place, but I'm not expecting us to win every single game in the manner we won yesterday, but that's not what I ask of them. We just try to do everything to win every single football match, and if it can happen like yesterday in such a good and dominant performance, that's perfect. If not, we have to find another way to win the game."

On James McConnell and Tyler Morton's injury

"I think it was the PSV game as well, so that's what you've seen. What I see is him on the training pitch competing with our other midfielders, always gives everything he has, and Tyler Morton is out with an injury for a while. I think maybe he was our fifth or sixth midfielder, and James is taking that position for the upcoming weeks as well.

"It's a combination of both, it's him doing really well and the injury of Tyler Morton. It's a shoulder injury, he'll be out for weeks, or maybe longer."

On Alisson Becker's absence

"I think I said before the game that almost every time we played the second goalkeeper in the League Cup. So, at Brighton it was Vit [Jaros] because at that moment of time Caoimh [Kelleher] was the No.1 because Alisson was injured at that moment. There was only one exception and that was Tottenham away, where Alisson came back from an injury and I thought and felt that he needed some extra playing time. Because if you come back from an injury – you see this with many players – they sometimes need a bit of time to be at their best again. They're still good, but for them to be at their best again.

"And then three days later we played the Accrington Stanley game, and then three days later we played [Nottingham] Forest and with him being just back from an injury, for me it felt better for him to play, then have a week's rest and then have Nottingham Forest. So that was more with the idea of being best possible prepared for the league. Yesterday was a League Cup game so that meant Caoimh was in goal, and he absolutely deserved to be in goal for everything he did this season until now.

"We never know what the situation around the final is. How fit is everyone? Do they need a game, yes or no? So, I cannot guarantee anything. I never guarantee anything to players so far in advance and that's not what I'm going to do now as well."

On selection

"I don't discuss this. If I have to discuss this now, I didn't do my work properly for the first six, seven or eight months. I think I tried to convince them every single day that only the individual performance can be of a high level if the team performance is of a high level. If they now think they need to do individual things to get playing time with me, then I did something wrong in the past seven or eight months.

"They don't get playing time because they scored three goals or have a great attacking performance, they first of all have to work hard for the team, as for example the players did yesterday. If you cannot bring this, then you have hardly any chance to come into the team. If you do bring this, then I'm not judging them on quality, because I know all of them have quality.

"Then sometimes you have a good game, sometimes you have an okay game, but the standard is that you work incredibly hard, and that's the only chance you have to come into this team."

On the Aston Villa game being moved

"We want to be competing for every trophy, we want to be in every competition, so you must not complain about the amount of games you have to play. I don't see an advantage or disadvantage, so we probably play Sunday-Wednesday-Sunday or something like this, and Aston Villa will probably do the same.

"It is what it is. I said two or three days ago that if you are a club that has to play so many games, even clubs that don't have to play so many games have 22 or 23 players, and then to go to a game with 20 players, that's not a problem because you can only make five substitutions, but you want to create something, and you want to give academy players a chance once in a while as well. If you can only bring 20 players, that is the biggest problem for the academy players.

"If I would have had 23 players yesterday, then James McConnell, and maybe Rio [Ngumoha] or Trey [Nyoni] were in the squad, and it was an ideal moment for them to get a bit of playing time. But I can only bring 20, so I think if you look at the long-term future for England, for their players and the academy players, it would be a smart decision to go to 23, and don't tell me that is the disadvantage of the smaller clubs, because I have nine fantastic substitutes if I have 20, so it's not that I all of a sudden have 12 great substitutes. Nine is already enough, but it's more giving chances to younger players as well that would be beneficial if we went to 23 like every other league in Europe."

On having a nearly fully fit squad

"It's something you want if you have to play so many games, and the importance of the games are only growing and growing, you want to have as many players available as you can.

"I have to give big compliments not only to the performance staff, but also the players because they put a lot of effort in to stay as fit as they are. It's not only what they do on the training ground and what they do during the game, if you look at them, how professional they are around the training sessions, before and after, then it's not a surprise to me that they stay as fit as they are at the moment."

On Darwin Nunez's recent performances

"Yeah, better indeed. I think in general we used the No.9 better and better than we maybe did in the beginning of the season. That is the positive thing of playing more games, training more together and having more meetings together – that you can highlight that a bit more as well. I think in the beginning of the season we were quite dependent on our wingers but I see that we are starting to use our nine more and more in situations that we have to use him.

"And as a result of that, these players come in promising positions and they have just as much quality as our wingers. So, if you put [Diogo] Jota in a promising position or if Lucho [Diaz] plays there or Darwin, they will give you what we are all hoping for and that's goals and assists."