Ryan Gravenberch and Head coach Arne Slot on UCL form and Girona
09/12/2024
uefa24
09/12/2024
uefa24
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00:00Evening, we'll start with the player and then we'll have the head coach in.
00:04If you would like to ask a question, please raise your hand,
00:06and we'll also have simultaneous translation for anyone who requires it.
00:12First question, Richard.
00:19Hi, Ryan, you're top of the Champions League at the moment,
00:23how do you feel about that?
00:26Hi, Ryan, you're top of the Champions League at the moment,
00:30is it an incentive to finish top of the group?
00:34Whilst you obviously want a top-eight finish,
00:38what would finishing top of that group mean?
00:41Yeah, of course you want to win every game,
00:47so our aim is to win every group game,
00:53and then we'll see further, but if you win every game, it means a lot to us.
01:03Ryan, you played every minute of every Premier League and Champions League game
01:07before you came off at Newcastle, two questions for you.
01:10One is, physically, are you feeling the strain of all that workload, are you OK?
01:15And also, secondly, how much are you enjoying being such an integral part of this team
01:20after your first season at Liverpool, you were kind of in and out of the team?
01:26Yeah, your first question. I feel good, I feel fit.
01:30I think when you play a lot of minutes you get fitter and fitter,
01:34and for me that's the thing.
01:36And the second question was?
01:39Just in terms of how much you're enjoying being part of this successful team
01:45and being so integral to it after what must have been a frustrating first season,
01:49where it felt like you were in and out of the team, you had some injury issues?
01:52For me the first season was not that frustrating,
01:56my aim was to play a lot more minutes than I had before, and I did.
02:01And now, yeah, I'm just happy to play 90 minutes again
02:07and be every game on the pitch, and that I can show myself,
02:11so I'm really happy that I can be part of this team.
02:14So, Ryan, it was a surprise at the start of the season
02:17when you started in the number-six role, but you've excelled in it.
02:21Do you still think you're learning and getting better in the new position for yourself?
02:26Yeah, of course. I think everyone can...
02:31How do you say it?
02:36Improve.
02:37Improve, so as I.
02:39Yeah, it goes really well, but maybe I can do a bit more also in defending.
02:46But I'm really happy with the performance I now have, so I have to keep going.
02:56Hi, Ryan, did you hear after the Madrid game, a lot of people compared you to Tony Kroos?
03:00I just wanted to know how you felt about that, it must have been a big compliment to you.
03:03Oh, yeah!
03:05It's nice to hear that, of course, because Tony Kroos is a legend of the game,
03:10he did a lot of good things, so it's nice to hear.
03:14And to beat Leverkusen and then Madrid,
03:17did you feel like Liverpool were almost becoming the team in this Champions League?
03:21You must take so much confidence from big victories like that.
03:25Yeah, it's nice to beat them, because they are really good teams,
03:30but of course we look game by game and then we see further.
03:35Hi, Ryan, I think we asked you this at the start of the season
03:40when you were just moving into that number-six role,
03:42is there any players, aside from around the world, that you model yourself on in that role?
03:53No, not really, to be honest.
03:57Yeah, I just want to be myself.
04:06Just going back to what you were saying earlier about playing all the time,
04:10it's really refreshing, because at the moment lots of players are complaining about playing too much.
04:16It's clearly something that you're absolutely loving,
04:19do you think there will come a point where you might want to break
04:22or you just want to play every single game?
04:24Yeah, for now it's nice to play every single game,
04:28but maybe in the future when you play a lot of games...
04:32Yeah, now I think we've played 20 games in the Champions League and the competition,
04:38if you reach 60 or 70, that's really crazy, but for now it's OK.
04:58Good afternoon, Ryan, Sebastian Murcia for La Popular Sport.
05:01In the Liverpool line-up you have four Latin American players,
05:05what have you learned from them in the time you've spent with them?
05:16Just the willingness to give everything.
05:19They always give everything, if you see the power that they give,
05:25and the 100 per cent always being on,
05:32I think that's the most part of what I've learned from them.
05:39Any more?
05:43No, finish?
05:44Last one at the back.
05:52McAllister is out for tomorrow, how important is his absence for the way Liverpool want to play?
05:59We know Maka is a really good player, and we will miss him,
06:04because he's a top player, really good quality,
06:08but you have also other midfielders that are really good,
06:13and I think they will show tomorrow also.
06:22Hi, Ryan, Tatiana Perez from Diario de Girona.
06:25You matched Blin and Van de Beek at Ajax, have they told you anything about Girona?
06:35Sorry? So this was English, yeah?
06:37Yes, yes.
06:38Sorry.
06:39You matched with Blin and Van de Beek at Ajax,
06:43I don't know if you told them about Girona, or they told you something?
06:50I haven't spoken with them, but it's really nice to see them again,
06:57because I played a few years with them, I played longer with Daley than with Donny,
07:01but it's nice to see them again tomorrow.
07:07Well done, thank you.
07:09Thank you, guys.
07:20Tatiana.
08:27It's actually the same process, turn off the microphone.
08:30First question?
08:32Yes, here.
08:37In Spanish.
08:38Good afternoon, Mr Slot, welcome to Girona.
08:41I wanted to ask you about tomorrow's opponent,
08:44you are a footballer, you come from a team that has been in the Champions League for a long time,
08:52like PSV, and now you come to train at Liverpool,
08:56and a project like Girona's, so ambitious, and seeing what you're doing now,
09:01what does it mean to you? Thank you.
09:05Or the translator made a mistake, or you made a mistake,
09:09but I work for Feyenoord and not for PSV.
09:12What Girona means for me, I think that was the question.
09:17I think it's really special what they've done here,
09:21particularly last season, but even this season still.
09:25I just made the comparison, they were coming close to becoming Leicester City,
09:30for a few years ago, they were competing for the league title.
09:34With this budget, it probably means how good of a manager Michel is.
09:40Is that the way to pronounce it?
09:43And even this season, I think they do better than the results might look,
09:49especially in the Champions League.
09:51I've seen almost every game, and apart from the PSV game,
09:54where I wasn't the manager.
09:56They were in every game unlucky against Paris Saint-Germain,
09:59I think they were a bit lucky against my former club Feyenoord here at home,
10:03where they conceded two own goals, missed a penalty,
10:06although Feyenoord missed one as well.
10:08So they were in every game apart from the PSV Eindhoven one,
10:12and that's why we have to be on top of our game tomorrow to get a result over here.
10:18Sorry for the mistake, it was mine.
10:20Oh, it was yours, OK.
10:22Sorry for the mistake, it was mine.
10:24Oh, it was yours, OK.
10:27Yeah.
10:31In Spanish.
10:51It is a healthy competition between Luis Diaz and Cody Kakpo,
10:55where our fans saw already a few times Luis Diaz playing as a nine as well
11:01in one or two games this season.
11:04We've got, for the last five, six, seven or eight weeks,
11:08four players available for three positions.
11:11So we've rotated once in a while mostly the left wing and the nine position,
11:18where our right winger has always been Mo Salah until now.
11:21So they've both had a lot of stars, they've both been excellent for us,
11:26Luis Diaz and Cody, but the other two have done very well also.
11:31So I'm happy with all four of them, but you were asking me about the Colombian,
11:36and I'm really happy with Luis Diaz for as long as I've been here.
11:41Excellent work rate, big threat, great footwork, can score goals,
11:47so a very special player for us.
11:50Gracias.
11:52You're welcome.
11:56Hi, Arnaud.
11:58You're top of the...
12:01You're top of the group at the moment.
12:04Would finishing top have a significance either in terms of the seeding
12:09or in terms of just the prestige of finishing top
12:12when the whole of Europe's in this group?
12:15Yeah.
12:17Yeah, it's so difficult to say anything about this.
12:20I've said it many times, at the end of the season you can judge it in the best possible way.
12:25If it's helpful to end up first eight, is it helpful to end up number one?
12:30Of course it seems to be really helpful to end up first eight,
12:34but if you every time play your starters, which we have done until now almost every time,
12:38then you also need the results, because we also try to do this,
12:43first of all to win the highest possible position, but also to skip the next round.
12:48If in the end it means by playing your starters always
12:52and skipping that round and still have a very difficult draw,
12:57then we maybe are going to think about it differently next season,
13:05what we're going to do in the group stage.
13:07But that is something we have to wait and see at the end of the season,
13:10where this will lead us.
13:12First of all, we want to stay in the top eight,
13:16and therefore we think we still need a win,
13:18and the first chance we have is tomorrow night.
13:22Obviously Alisson has travelled, so is he fit to start tomorrow night?
13:26Yes, he is.
13:28And what kind of difference does that make for you having him back available
13:31after it's been just over two months out?
13:34I think it speaks for itself.
13:37If you can play with Alisson,
13:42who has been so outstanding for this club for so many years
13:45and for the Brazil national team,
13:47that is definitely nice to have him back and to have him available.
13:51But if you then look at how his replacement did,
13:55it's not going to be easy to do it even better.
13:58So we expect definitely the same,
14:01and maybe on margins a bit better,
14:04but he did it also so well that we can say
14:08that we have two very good goalkeepers like our left-wingers
14:12that can do the job for us.
14:15But for so many years Alisson has been so outstanding for this club
14:20that we are expecting and hoping him to do the same
14:23in the upcoming weeks and months.
14:26You said there about playing all your starters all the way through
14:29and you're in such a strong position,
14:31does that lead to the temptation to maybe make some changes
14:34and keep people fresh,
14:36or did the game getting called off at the weekend
14:39mean that you don't have to do that?
14:41Yeah, the last thing is for sure.
14:44If we would have played that game
14:46then maybe we would have still played the same team
14:49as we are playing tomorrow night with,
14:51but then you never know how that fixture,
14:53what people told me can be quite intense,
14:56would have led to.
14:59I think it was a very good decision to cancel the game
15:02for the safety of all the people,
15:04and if you play such a special game,
15:06the last game at Goodison Park,
15:08it needs to be, in my opinion, also in good circumstances,
15:11but that had nothing to do with the game being cancelled.
15:13But that's the good end result of it as well,
15:16that we can now play this game in good circumstances.
15:19But it was a very good choice coming from safety,
15:22not to play that game.
15:24So, yeah, now everybody is really fit
15:27because we skipped the game on Saturday,
15:29so there's no reason to rotate from the last match.
15:32Maybe there's a reason for the upcoming match,
15:34but there's also three days in between that one.
15:37We will start like all the other games we've started with,
15:41we have a very good team tomorrow.
15:47Good evening, Arnott.
15:49Tomorrow you've got an opportunity to equal
15:51the European club record of five successive clean sheets.
15:54If my maths is correct, you haven't conceded
15:56for seven hours and 27 minutes in European football this season.
16:00What have you done, what have you tweaked
16:02to make such a positive change?
16:06Maybe this is something to do with the new set-up as well,
16:09I don't know, but it definitely has to do
16:12with the quality our players have.
16:14We were just talking about our goalkeepers,
16:16how good they've done for us till now,
16:18because Alisson was a few times in goal
16:20in the Champions League and we have a very good last line.
16:23But it's not only our last line in the goalkeeper
16:26that keep a clean sheet,
16:28it's also all the others that work so hard for it.
16:30What have we done? I don't think we've changed that much.
16:33The players are getting very good performances in,
16:37and as a result of that we've won games,
16:41and I didn't even know, but kept a lot of clean sheets as well.
16:50Hello, good evening.
16:54I'd like to know, as you watch Girona,
16:56what's the main strength you observe in them
16:59watching the Champions League games?
17:01And if someone in the squad impressed you the most
17:04among the players, has someone impressed you
17:07more than the rest of Girona's players?
17:10I think their game model is what stands out,
17:13their idea about football.
17:15Last season I watched quite a lot of them
17:18because I found it interesting what he did,
17:20especially with the left full-back,
17:22and he's still doing that this season as well.
17:24Playing so inverted, having such a free roll from that position,
17:28at that moment of time you didn't see that that often yet.
17:32Now you see some other teams doing it as well,
17:35but that was interesting to see.
17:38They have a very good idea about football,
17:40always want to bring out the ball from the back.
17:44Yeah, they have many good players,
17:48but since I'm a Dutchman, especially last season,
17:52I liked a lot Daley Blind, how he did over here.
17:55He got some criticism in the Netherlands
17:58at his former club Ajax in the end,
18:00so for a long time people were very positive about him,
18:03but in the end he got some criticism.
18:05And if you saw him playing here last season,
18:08it was Daley Blind style, so comfortable on the ball,
18:12playing balls through the lines, really helping his team.
18:16So, yeah, they have many good players,
18:19but since he's a Dutchman I will come up with him.
18:25Chris?
18:26Finishing in the top eight, obviously you don't know where the draw will take you,
18:30but in terms of missing that knockout round,
18:33that could be a big advantage surely in the Premier League as well?
18:36Because if City or Arsenal have to play that extra round,
18:40that could impact on them.
18:42Good, but if we end up in the top eight,
18:47I assume that these clubs you were just mentioning end up in the top eight as well.
18:51So Arsenal, I think 95 per cent sure.
18:55City have to do a bit more maybe,
18:57but they are able to win three times in a row as well,
19:00so then they will be in the top eight.
19:03But you never know if it's an advantage.
19:05Till now we've played almost every three days,
19:08and we haven't done that bad,
19:10so maybe we should implement some friendly games then,
19:13if we finish top eight.
19:15No, it's a joke, of course,
19:17but it hasn't been bad for us that we've played so many games.
19:24But, yeah, we are pushing really hard to end up in the top eight,
19:28to have the best possible seeding,
19:31but definitely also to skip that round.
19:34Well done, thank you.