Nuno responds to Liverpool boss Arne Slot after Nottingham Forest insult
Liverpool take on high-flying Nottingham Forest at the City Ground on Tuesday night with Nuno Espirito Santo's side having won at Anfield this season and now able to move to within three points of the Premier League leaders
by Neil Moxley · The MirrorNuno Espirito Santo told Liverpool boss Arne Slot “money doesn’t play football” after he suggested Nottingham Forest have spent their way to success this season.
The Portuguese boss responded to his opposite number at Anfield after the Dutchman suggested Nottingham Forest’s lofty Premier League position was not unexpected given the investment in their playing squad. Nuno has guided his side to six-successive victories in the league and they would move to within three points of Liverpool with victory on Tuesday night.
Slot was complimentary about Nuno and Forest ahead of the game, with his comments on their spending, declaring: “Nuno is doing an incredible job, but if you look at the amount of money they (have) spent it is not a complete surprise that they do well this season.”
Asked about Slot’s comments, Nuno replied: “I don’t know the spending, the value. It doesn’t matter. I look at the player as a human being and ask: ‘How can I make you better?’
“Money doesn’t play football. People do. I’m not concerned about the price tag of things.”
Nuno also said the suggestion his side were involved in a Premier League title race was based on “if, if, if, if”.
“We have to play the games. We are here to compete against all the teams, I think we are doing well and nothing changes in our approach,” he said. “It’s the same, more important than anything is we know what we can do, we know each other, our strengths, our weaknesses, let’s play the game.
“If we start thinking about ifs…it’s if, if, if, if, that’s why we always try to approach how we are going to prepare ourselves, how we are going to play the game. At the end of the game, there will be no ifs….I’m so sorry, I apologise."
And Nuno says there is more to come from his group in the second part of the campaign.
He said: “No one could have predicted what’s happening now. It’s the ambition, the desire to do things well, hard work and commitment of the players that have made it possible.
“And I see a group committed to doing things well. The proof of that is that we did it before. We’re improving through the competition. We are better now. We do things better and control the momentum of games better. We are progressing. I truly believe in the habits, routines and knowledge of these players.
“We have a bond, and that bond has to do with knowledge and realising how a team-mate does things so you can help him and do things together. And that is getting stronger.”
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