Slot on reaching first Liverpool cup final after Spurs win
06/02/2025
Anfield Stadium, Liverpool, UK
06/02/2025
Anfield Stadium, Liverpool, UK
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00All Class 10s tomorrow?
00:02Yeah.
00:03Let's get through this one quick, then.
00:04Jürgen?
00:06Arnold, congratulations, finally the first time of asking none of the tail.
00:09Pleasant. Although if you know me a little bit,
00:14my thoughts are more on Sunday already than thinking about the final in a month.
00:20But our performance today was something that pleased me most,
00:24reaching a final should always be special, even for this club,
00:28because this club is used to playing finals,
00:31but still we are working very hard every single day to try to improve players,
00:36and the players want to improve themselves every single day.
00:38But we are also in this business to play finals,
00:42although we already know how difficult the final is going to be,
00:45because we faced Newcastle already, and they were very impressive yesterday as well.
00:50But many games to be played before that final, and this is where our focus should be.
00:55Just how impressive were your players this evening,
00:59given the control where you went about it, training, what it was like?
01:03Yeah, very impressive.
01:05I'm not saying anything strange that Tottenham is conceding goals,
01:14because they have so many injury problems,
01:16that's probably the main reason why they are conceding goals,
01:19but they are always able to score goals as well and create a lot.
01:23And for us to be so aggressive without the ball,
01:26that it took them 18 minutes before they had their first shot on target,
01:29doesn't tell you anything about Tottenham,
01:31that should tell you a lot about our work rate without the ball.
01:37I think that's what stood out for me, to play against a team that is so good at creating chances,
01:45not conceding hardly, only one shot, is in the end a good accomplishment.
01:58There was a moment after Kobe scored the first goal,
02:01the players were celebrating, and Virgil very quickly was urging them to get back to the centre circle.
02:07How important is that mentality and that relentlessness as well,
02:10as obviously the quality you've got to how successful you are?
02:14Yeah, I saw the same thing.
02:16I think there was a moment where you could see how we played for the whole game.
02:22It was so intense, the players were ready for it, the fans were ready for it,
02:25and we all simply wanted one thing, and that's going through to the final.
02:31And that mentality we showed from the first to the last second,
02:36but it was probably well shown in that moment as well.
02:39What honestly did you think of the recap when you came here today?
02:43The second domestic cup competition, it's 2-0 to 75,
02:47it's more games than currencies, is that something you registered or something you could have done without?
02:54No, definitely not gone without.
02:59It has been, most of the times, games where players that haven't played that much
03:06played a lot of minutes, and I think that has been important for us as well,
03:10because every time we need one of these players they are ready to play as well.
03:14And I think if you come to this country you know the history of the FA Cup and the League Cup,
03:22I know as well, I think I said the correct thing,
03:25that the FA Cup is a bit higher than the League Cup,
03:29but still it's a cup and a trophy to win, and it is the one we won last season.
03:34And I think if you win a trophy in the season before,
03:38you always have to take the challenge of trying to win it again.
03:43Hi, just a word on Kody Gatt, you get a lot of questions about Mo and his numbers of goals,
03:50Kody's up to 15 now this season, firstly, how well is he playing,
03:56but also, can he get to 25 or something like that?
04:00I have no clue, I'm not so much into how much goals they score,
04:05I know if they work as hard as they do and they bring the ball out of the back as well as they do,
04:09then we will always score goals because of the quality players we have,
04:13but these goals don't come from itself.
04:16If you look at the third goal, the effort Conor Bradley puts in as a full-back
04:21to sprint all over the pitch and then assist towards Dom,
04:25that is just as important as the one that scores goals,
04:29and I think it was Curtis, I think it was Mo, who crossed it in,
04:35who went for it, and that's why their full-back got a little bit of doubt
04:39and the ball falls down to Kody.
04:41And if it's Kody or Lucio or Diogo or Darwin or Mo or Federico,
04:47they can all score goals, but we have to make sure they come in those positions a lot.
04:52Therefore, you need to run a lot, and that's what they are all doing.
04:57Kody has a special season, but the second half of last season he was special.
05:00During the Euros he was special for Holland, so it doesn't come falling out of the sky.
05:07Is that English? It's something he did before.
05:12Chris?
05:14What does it mean to you to be stronger and better?
05:18What does it mean to you when you start to see you have that goal?
05:26For me there are two reasons why we become stronger.
05:29First of all, if you play more often together you know better what is expected,
05:36so the first time I tell them how to bring the ball out from the back
05:39against the 7-9-11 press, they were maybe like,
05:43OK, this should be done, but the more times you face them,
05:46the more it just becomes natural for you, so that helps.
05:51The more games you play, the more team meetings you have,
05:53the more training sessions you have,
05:55the better they know what we expect from them and what they have to expect from each other.
05:59Second of all, I believe in the fact that the more games you play,
06:03the stronger you become, the physically stronger you become.
06:06Some people think you get tired, but as long as you manage it well,
06:11I think players will get stronger by playing a lot of games instead of getting tired.
06:18See you in a moment? Yeah, see you tomorrow.