Slot looking to seal top UCL spot ahead of Liverpool - Lille
20/01/2025
Anfield, Liverpool, Uk
20/01/2025
Anfield, Liverpool, Uk
Category
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SportsTranscript
00:00Three to win. Three goals. Yeah, they were good. As usual, I have simultaneous translation
00:20for those who require it.
00:25Arne, Thomas Frank said after the weekend that you're a level above Manchester City,
00:30you're a level above Arsenal, and went on to say you're probably also the best team in the world,
00:34which I suppose is easy to say when you're six points clear at the top of the Premier League
00:38and three points clear at the top of the Champions League standings as well,
00:40but what do you think? Are you the best team in the world?
00:47His opinion means definitely something to me, because he's shown at Brentford how well he's
00:53done so many years for this club, and without spending a crazy amount of money, just every
01:01time he's able to perform with his teams very good in the Premier League and make it so hard
01:06for every top-five, top-six team to play against them. So his opinion definitely means something
01:12to me, but I think it's far too early for me to say these things. We have to face a lot of teams,
01:19Champions League format this season is also difficult, can we judge the league table in
01:24the Champions League? Because every team faced different teams, so you can be lucky or not
01:29with the draw you had. I don't think we were lucky though, so it's very difficult to judge
01:36the league table, but it's always nice to get compliments from a manager that has
01:40proven to be such a good manager here in the Premier League.
01:44Can I ask you again about Darwin as well, because everyone saw how happy the rest of the group was
01:48that he got those two goals at the weekend as well, but as you admitted on Saturday he could
01:53have been sent off as well. As a coach, do you quite know what you're going to get from Darwin
01:58all of the time and how do you manage that? I'm almost happy that you asked me this question,
02:03because he would have been sent off after the 2-0, so not everybody is saying that's why they won
02:10and they were lucky, I can come up with a few decisions that went against us where we didn't
02:16get the points maybe, but let's not get into that. So then your next question was, because I
02:24only want to focus on that... Do you quite know what you're going to get from Darwin all the time
02:28and how do you manage that? I think the most difficult thing in football is for a team,
02:35but also as an individual, to find consistency. Only a few players in the world are able to be
02:45at the same level every three days in a row, and then there's a big, big group of players
02:50that are able to play very good many times, but not every single time.
02:58I think he's one of the players that belongs to the group that is good many, many times,
03:05but the next step for him would be nice if he can go into the bracket of the five, six,
03:11seven or eight players in the world that are every three days outstanding, and I do know
03:17we have a few players that are every three days of a very high standard,
03:23and it's a nice challenge for him to go to that group of players as well.
03:28And you can pretty much secure top spot in the Champions League standings with victory,
03:33what importance do you put on finishing top of those Champions League standings
03:36before the knock-out phase?
03:38The most important thing every time we go out there,
03:42especially in front of our own fans, we want to win a game.
03:45And with this new set-up, you think that ending up number one is the best position to end up,
03:54but because it's such a strange league table, because, for example, I think I'm right,
04:01if I look at Paris Saint-Germain, every week I think they have the hardest team to face.
04:07So they are quite low on the table, which is not their quality, but they are low,
04:11so maybe if you end up number one you can face them, so that's a disadvantage.
04:15So I'm not looking at a league table in a way of,
04:17oh, if we are number one we probably have the easiest team to face,
04:21because that is impossible to say because of this weird format,
04:27or weird, I don't mean it in a negative way, but a strange format we are having now.
04:32So being on top maybe doesn't tell you that you are the best team,
04:37being number 24 doesn't tell you that you are number 24 in terms of quality.
04:41It has a lot to do with the teams you have faced.
04:45So, yeah, we want to win, but not from an idea about,
04:48yeah, that will probably give us the best lead-up for the rest of the campaign.
04:52What do you think of Liverpool's performances so far in this Champions League?
04:57Are you surprised by the way they play and the teams they have beaten?
05:03I'm impressed, not surprised, but impressed.
05:05Not surprised because I think it was two or three years ago
05:09that I played the current manager when he was at Rennes with my former club,
05:13and I was not surprised, but I'm not surprised because I think it was two or three years ago
05:18that I played the current manager when he was at Rennes with my former club,
05:22and then I was impressed by the way his team played.
05:27Yes, of course, a few weeks ago when I didn't see them playing yet,
05:32I was like, ooh, they beat Atletico Madrid, surprise.
05:35They beat Real Madrid, surprise.
05:38But now, of course, I saw many games of them,
05:42and now I'm definitely not surprised anymore,
05:44but impressed because they've deserved every single point they got till now.
05:50I just said something about the league table.
05:53For them, it's definitely not because they faced easy competition.
05:59They faced Sporting Lisbon when Amorim was still there
06:02and it was impossible to beat Sporting Lisbon.
06:05OK, they lost that one, but they faced them, they faced Juve,
06:07they faced Atletico Madrid, they faced Real Madrid,
06:10and now they are facing us, and the next game is going to be difficult for them as well,
06:15because then they face Feyenoord, which is my former club, if you didn't know.
06:20So they haven't been lucky with the fixtures they had,
06:24so that's the reason why I'm so impressed with them in the Champions League,
06:28and an unbeaten run of 21 games probably tells you even more.
06:42Hi, Arno, you mentioned a few times about the strange league table in the Champions League,
06:48do you think this new format has been a success in terms of revamping the Champions League,
06:54and maybe does it show that there's a far more even spread of quality in Europe
07:00than perhaps we thought previously?
07:03I said many times already, because almost every game you play in the Champions League
07:07you get this question about what your experience is about the new format.
07:10It's difficult to judge as long as the season is still going.
07:15I think one of the positives is, especially for the teams that are in pot 3 and 4,
07:22that they also face teams from their own pot,
07:26and that gives them a bigger chance to win games.
07:32In the old format it was 1-2-3-4, and as a pot-4 team you always faced 3-2-1,
07:38so it was not always easy to win a game,
07:40and now they have two games against equal opposition as well.
07:44So, for those teams I'm 100 per cent sure they feel it's a step up.
07:50For the teams that were always in pot 1, I have to wait and see,
07:55to give you an honest opinion, what I would prefer.
07:58But what I've said, and that's what I mean, you cannot judge the league table and say,
08:03OK, this is the best team in Europe, this is the second best team, this is the third best team,
08:06because we haven't played against the same teams.
08:09In a draw, that's in the FA Cup, League Cup, that's in every draw,
08:13you can be lucky or you can be unlucky with the draw you have,
08:17and that's why it's easier to win a cup competition than to win a league,
08:22because you can have the advantage of a lucky draw.
08:25Paul Twiss.
08:30Arne, you've been very clear that performance levels have been improving,
08:34and certainly attacking output has increased, specifically over the last couple of months,
08:40what do you put that down to? Why is that?
08:47I think I said that our performance stats, in terms of running, have increased,
08:52especially in the Brentford game, because it was a tough game,
08:55because Brentford is a team that's really fit as well,
08:58one of the reasons why they were so successful.
09:01You tell me now that our attacking stats have gone up, probably true,
09:06I think we've scored more goals in the last five, six, seven, eight, nine games than we did before,
09:10but we've conceded a few as well, so we needed these goals,
09:15maybe more than in the beginning of the season.
09:18So I don't really see an argument where I can come up with why that has changed,
09:22the only thing I can say is that we are working longer together with the team,
09:28and we know even better what we want when we have the ball,
09:32but we also need to know better what we want without the ball.
09:36But we do concede more, so it's not always a straight line going up or going down,
09:40it's always a bit like this.
09:42And I just wondered, do you think the team's got a lot of confidence
09:46from the wins against Bayer Leverkusen and Real Madrid,
09:49because they were the German champions, the Spanish champions,
09:52and holders of the Champions League, do you think the team grew from those games?
10:02Yeah, my answer is always the same, you're here at a press conference from Liverpool,
10:08so these players are used to winning big games,
10:11so I don't think they need games like this to grow in self-confidence,
10:14from, OK, we can beat these teams now all of a sudden.
10:17I do understand that last season in the Europa League we were not in the Champions League,
10:23so the club didn't face the same competition as you have in the Champions League,
10:28but the years before, and at their national team and playing in the Premier League,
10:34these players are not impressed by a win against Leverkusen or Real Madrid,
10:40that's not something special for them, they've done that so many times.
10:44They like it and they're happy with it, but I don't see anything five minutes after the game,
10:51I can see I'm at Liverpool here, because if we would have beaten Feyenoord, Real Madrid,
10:56then there was a big party in the dressing room,
10:58but here everybody's five minutes later already thinking about recovery
11:04and making sure they're ready for the next game.
11:06Jürgen, going back to Lille and their manager, what are their main strengths for you,
11:17and are you expecting a low block or maybe a more open game tomorrow?
11:26It is difficult for me to answer that question, because many managers have changed their game
11:32plan against us compared to the games they've played before in the last few months,
11:37but if I just look at how they've played in the last games and what their playing style is,
11:45I'm expecting an open game tomorrow, because they are pressing every team,
11:50if it's Olympique Marseille or Real Madrid or whatever team they face,
11:52they just press them high, they are not afraid to bring the ball out from the back,
11:57so for us it's going to be a change of styles compared to the recent teams we've faced,
12:03although Brentford also wanted to press us really high,
12:06but also afterwards went to a real low block,
12:09but many teams, the three or four teams we've faced before,
12:13didn't want to bring the ball out from the back.
12:16And that's what Lille is doing, that's what they're really good at,
12:20so that's what I expect, but I expected that from a few teams we've faced
12:25in the last three or four games as well, but they changed their game plan against us.
12:31You have to ask their manager if he's planning to play the same style
12:35or if he's planning to change it.
12:42Hi, Arne, I know it's not the most important thing to you,
12:45but having the only 100 per cent record in the Champions League now,
12:50is that a badge of honour for you and for the team,
12:53and a motivation to keep it going until the end as well?
12:57Yeah, definitely. Not that we've had them,
13:00but it is a motivation that we want to keep it going until the end.
13:03We want to win every single game we go out there.
13:09We just want to end top eight, and we know we need a point for that,
13:15but this team has never gone out playing for a point.
13:19There was just a second ago a question about what I expect from Lille.
13:23I expect something, and you guys know what you can expect from Liverpool,
13:27and that has been in every single game we've played.
13:30If we've been at Old Trafford or at Arsenal, wherever we've played,
13:34we've tried to play our own style, and we've never adapted the style.
13:39Sometimes in small details, but never the style of high-press,
13:42of bringing the ball out from the back and do the things we are good at.
13:46So, yeah, that's what we want to try to do tomorrow again.
13:51We always play for a win, and that's also what we're going to try to do tomorrow,
13:55but we know the difficult challenge it is because of the quality and the form Lille is in.
14:07Arnaut, do you know yet the situation with Diogo?
14:10Obviously he missed the weekend, how long do you expect it to be without him,
14:13and how close is Joe Gomez to coming back into the fold?
14:17Maybe just a bit earlier than Joe,
14:21and both of them are expected to be back with us in weeks, not in months.
14:26But I've said many times before that the last stage of rehab
14:32is the most difficult one, and the one that can sometimes add a few days or not.
14:38But it's clear that we are expecting him to be back with us in the upcoming weeks,
14:44but it's always difficult to say exactly how long it is,
14:47but both of them are not going to be out for months, that's for sure.
14:50As long as the rehab goes, as planned, of course.
14:52What has Diogo done?
14:54He overloaded a certain muscle a bit.
15:01Just to ask about Brian Grabenberg, he started every Champions League
15:04and Premier League game this season,
15:06the second half of the season, is managing his minutes going to be important,
15:09given that you haven't got someone like-for-like to come in and replace him?
15:13Maybe we don't have someone that is exactly similar to Ryan,
15:18but I think that is almost for all of them.
15:21So Dom is unique in his own way, Mo is unique in his own way,
15:25and we have, of course, Cody Cacpo, but I don't see him similar to Lucio.
15:29Similar position, but not similar style of player.
15:31So every player we have is unique in his own way,
15:34and for Ryan it's the same thing.
15:36And we have players like Wata who can play,
15:38and Maka can play, he played there against Forrest in the last game,
15:42and even Curtis Jones can play there.
15:45But there's always a balance.
15:47If you play them a lot and all of a sudden you drop points, you play them too much.
15:50And if they keep doing well, everybody is saying,
15:53yeah, the secret to success is that they always play with the same.
15:56And I've said many times already, it's not about playing at 12, 15,
15:59it's not about these things, it's about the competition you face,
16:02and do we play to our standards?
16:05But I understand that to make it a bit more simple for everyone to understand,
16:10it's about if they play too much or too little.
16:13That is something we accept.
16:20With Djoko being out for a few weeks, is this the opportunity Darwin needs
16:27for a bit longer running the team on the back of the confidence he got from the weekend?
16:32I don't think it's the first time that he's in a situation like this,
16:38even this season he's been in a situation like this.
16:39Jot has been out when in the Chelsea game someone hit him so hard
16:45that he was out for five, six, seven, eight weeks, I think.
16:49So that was a similar moment, and I know from the past
16:52that he's had long run-off games with Jurgen as well.
16:57But he is probably, as you guys say, in a good place now because he scored two.
17:02So, yeah, of course it's simple.
17:06At the moment we've got four attackers that are top fit and able to start the game,
17:12and Darwin is one of them, and then the fifth one is Federico,
17:15and the sixth one is... he's not ready to start 90 yet, in my opinion,
17:19but he's coming closer and closer to be able to do so.
17:23The reason why he isn't is because he hasn't had many minutes yet,
17:26so it's not about him, it's about me not giving him so many minutes.
17:29So it's difficult for him then all of a sudden to go from five minutes to 90 minutes.
17:35So, yeah, that increases the chance for Darwin, of course, to get more playing time
17:39if one of the six is injured, and especially if it's a number nine.
17:49Hi, Arna. Yeah, you mentioned there that Kies is still not quite at his level
17:53to be able to start 90 minutes, and obviously Liverpool are very cautious,
17:57with Diego Jota and trying to make sure he didn't come back too soon,
18:02and yet he still managed to break down.
18:04Does that situation mean you're more likely to be even more cautious with Federico,
18:09or do you think it's not necessarily one affecting the other?
18:13No, not one affecting the other, every player is unique in its own way
18:16and everyone has his own background, which I mean Jota had a normal pre-season,
18:22not normal, because he was at Euros, I think they were, in the summer?
18:25Yeah, so he did have a long pre-season, but he had a normal start with us where Federico didn't.
18:30Federico was a few times unlucky when moments were there for him to play that he was ill or sick,
18:37and then I think we also saw how difficult it is, and Jota is a great example of that,
18:42if a player has been out for five, six or seven weeks,
18:45to bring him back to that load of playing every single game, 60 to 90 minutes,
18:50you have to be really careful with that if you don't want to go into another injury,
18:55especially because there's no winter break, there's no time to give them during the week a game,
19:00unless I have to play them with the under-21s,
19:02but I don't think a player like Federico Chiesa or Diego Jota should play in those games.
19:06So that makes it hard if a player is injured to bring them back,
19:11and some players are so clear starters for me, I can just give them their first minutes in the first team,
19:18one of them is coming immediately after me, Ivo Kondoté,
19:21he played five weeks out against United, because he's such a vital part of our team,
19:28but unfortunately for Federico he has Mo Salah in front of him,
19:32so he doesn't have the similar status or hierarchy as Ivo Kondoté has,
19:38so that makes it hard for us to build him up in the right way,
19:42but I'm happy that he had a good 30 to 45 minutes against Akron and Sunday,
19:49and although it was five minutes, he was part of the team that scored two goals,
19:54and he was really happy with what I saw as well.
19:58Well done. Thank you.