Nottingham Forest boss Nuno Espirito Santo says "money doesn't play football" after Liverpool boss Arne Slot suggested they had spent their way to success this season.
Forest welcome Slot’s Premier League leaders to the City Ground on Tuesday for a crunch match which could determine whether they are in a title race.
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, but negated it by saying: "If you look at the money they spent, it’s not a complete surprise."
But Nuno said it was about the players rather than the money spent.
"I don’t know the spending, I don’t know the value. That doesn’t happen," he said.
"I look at the player as a human being and how I can make them better. How can I make you better?
"Money doesn’t play football, people do. It’s not my issue, we are 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, 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."
Slot was glowing about Nuno and his side in his pre-match press conference, reflecting on the reverse fixture in August where Liverpool were surprisingly beaten.
And even Nuno is surprised by the turnaround from last season where Forest stayed up on the last day of the campaign.
"When we do things good we should be pleased, but too much compliments can distract us, so we don’t want to pay too much attention," he said.
"It was the beginning of the season, maybe it was a surprise, but it was a long time ago, many things have changed.
"No one in this room could ever predict what is happening. It is the ambition and desire to do things well and the hard work of the players and commitment.
"It’s continuing and we have to enjoy together what is happening, but no one can predict what is happening.
"I see a group of players really committed to doing well. What can happen in the future we don’t know, but the proof is we have done it before.
"We are improving through the competition, I truly believe the more time the players spend together the better they can play together.
"I see a good group of people, more than players, that want to do things together. This is important, the togetherness, this is what I really value."
Forest announced the signing of veteran goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey on a short-term deal until the end of the season.
The 37-year-old, whose previous deal ran out at the end of last season, stayed at the club while recovering from injury and will now compete with Matz Sels and Carlos Miguel.
