The Japan Times - Slot thanks Everton for solidarity after Jota tragedy

Jota died at the age of 28 in a car accident in Spain, plunging Liverpool into mourning just weeks after they celebrated winning the Premier League title.

The Portuguese's final goal came in the last Merseyside derby in a 1-0 Liverpool win in April.

Everton make the trip back to Anfield on Saturday and on Friday Slot took the opportunity to praise the respect between the clubs despite their intense rivalry.

"They are a good team and there is rivalry but what I also liked and what I want to emphasise is - what they did when Diogo passed away," he told reporters on Friday.

"They showed their respect and in these moments of time, it is so nice to see that in tragedies that the rivalry is still there but the respect to both is still there."

Despite cruising to the title last season, Liverpool transformed their squad with a record spend of nearly £450 million ($612 million) for an English club in one transfer window.

The scale of change has shown in some disjointed performances from Slot's men, but they have still managed to win all five of their Premier League and Champions League games so far thanks to late winners in every match.

"I prefer the situation of winning the games and pointing out that we can still improve things, compared to losing games," added Slot.

The Dutch coach is confident that his new signings will have no problem adjusting to the intensity of the Merseyside derby thanks to their previous experience of big games at club and international level.

"For the new ones it is not for the first time that they play in circumstances where there are a lot of rivalries and intensity in the game," he said.

"The focus should be on the rivalry but it should also be on what we need to do to win the game and that is being intense, that is winning the duels and that is also playing good on the ball and when we don't have the ball."

Alexander Isak made his Liverpool debut in Wednesday's 3-2 win over Atletico Madrid after his British transfer record £125 million move from Newcastle.

Slot said the Swede "felt his body more than ever" afterwards having missed most of pre-season attempting to force through his exit from St James' Park, with Hugo Ekitike expected to come back in for Isak on Saturday.

H.Nakamura--JT