The Reds travel to the south coast on Wednesday evening to face Fabian Hurzeler’s side in the fourth round at the Amex Stadium.

Slot covered a wide range of topics during his session with reporters – read on for a recap of what he had to say…

About Wataru Endo and the satisfaction of players who don’t play regularly…

The latter isn’t always easy because they all want to play – and it would be strange to me if they were all happy (when) they weren’t playing. But they are professionals, they know that something like this can happen and they also see that the players who play in their positions perform really well. This applies above all to Wata, but also to Joe Gomez and Jarell Quansah, who are in competition with Ryan (Gravenberch), Virgil (van Dijk) and Ibou (Konate). You understand and see how well these players play and that they stay fit until the last minute of the game. But I think Wata is one of the players who could be in the squad (tomorrow) because the season will be so long and we will need him during the season. That’s why he needs this playing time every now and then.

Luckily he has this playing time with the national team, but it helps if he gets a game with us every now and then. I really liked him against West Ham and what I admire about him, what I respect about him is his personality because twice he had to come with five minutes left and in my career as a manager I have sometimes seen players who, when … They come with five minutes to go, they come with a face like this and play like that. But every time we need him – even if it’s just for five minutes – he’s there for the team, for his teammates and for himself. That’s another reason why he deserves to play tomorrow.

On options for the No. 9 role and Darwin Nunez’s recent performances…

I think of Darwin. I gave him credit for working so hard in the last few weeks when he didn’t play much to be able to play three games in a row. I think it was three games in eight days, so that says a lot about him – but it also says a lot about the quality of our performance staff and our medical staff that we were able to give him the right sessions to prepare him the right way . The player always has to buy in because you can give him the right sessions, but if he doesn’t give it his all, it’s very difficult for him to do what he did.

It was good for him too that his ban for the Uruguayan team was lifted so he was able to play two games there, which probably helped him play the way he did – and I’m not talking about the quality, with who he played, but by the quality with which he played, the intensity with which he played. The quality was good too, so that was a positive. It’s a shame that Diogo Jota and Federico Chiesa aren’t available as they were the most logical No.9s in my opinion, but we still have some other options.