- 2 years ago
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp on Mo Salah staying, Jordan Henderson's interview, squad fitness and the challenge of facing Wolves
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00:00 OK?
00:02 Are you looking?
00:09 I was just looking at what it actually said, but it says Liverpool.
00:12 It's Liverpool FC, that's a football club.
00:14 LAUGHTER
00:16 Is that like this? I can read it better.
00:19 Sorry?
00:22 It's a new one, new hoodie.
00:24 Yeah, I got that because I shall wear that.
00:26 It's dry-fit, actually, it's really good.
00:28 Good material, feels well.
00:30 Martin, promotions aisle, do you want to go first?
00:33 Hi.
00:34 How are you doing?
00:35 OK so far.
00:36 Ever been on a trip to Wolves? Is there any concern over Trent Alexander-Arnold's hamstring injury?
00:40 No concern. He's not available, we knew that before.
00:44 That's OK, I didn't train with the team once yet, and it will take a little bit.
00:49 So it's not the worst hamstring injury you can have, but it's a hamstring injury,
00:54 and they barely healed in two weeks and this one didn't as well.
00:59 We hope he can start, as he's running already,
01:06 but start ball work maybe early next week, and then we will see, then we'll go from there.
01:12 And Ryan Brumman matched, opted not to play for the Netherlands on the 21 team this week
01:17 to focus on Liverpool, have you seen the benefit of that and will he feature in Wolves?
01:23 We will see that, but of course there's a benefit of it.
01:27 A player comes to a new club, he had training sessions here,
01:33 he could sort everything on a private basis, so if he would do that now this week...
01:38 We have games every three days, let me say it like that,
01:42 so he knows where he will live, he has a car, he has organised everything around,
01:47 so of course it's a benefit of that.
01:49 I understand that the Dutch, Mr Isinger or Ronald Koeman, was not happy,
01:56 I can get that, but the boy is a footballer through and through,
01:59 wants to play football all the time, and he used that break to fix a lot of things,
02:07 which we usually do in a proper rush, so he didn't have to do that.
02:11 That's from our point of view obviously good, but he loves playing for Holland,
02:15 which is our team, and, yeah, that's it.
02:19 I'm sure you're relieved now that the transfer window is closed
02:22 and we can stop talking about Mo Salah's future...
02:25 But you still do it! That's interesting.
02:28 Is there a fear that it will reignite...
02:30 You are kidding me, yeah?
02:33 A week after we close the transfer window you ask me about a January transfer window.
02:38 It's likely that a bid may come in again in January.
02:44 Obviously you can't wait until December to ask these questions,
02:48 so we will see what happens until then.
02:50 I'm not worried in this moment at all, I didn't even think about it
02:53 until you opened that wound again.
02:56 Yeah, no, I'm not worried.
03:01 Jurgen, when you consider the players that left over the summer
03:07 and now the players that have come in, the latest being Ryan of course,
03:10 and you consider your midfield options, are you happy with how that option looks now,
03:15 and you've got the ability to do everything you hopefully want to do?
03:19 Yeah, I'm happy. I was happy with our midfield, we had over the years fantastic players,
03:25 super characters, real men grew into fantastic,
03:30 from younger players into more experienced players,
03:34 and now into each different role the most successful players we had here at the club,
03:41 at least since I'm here.
03:43 It was a big task, and it is a big task to replace these guys,
03:48 but I'm happy with what we've got, that's true.
03:53 I really think we brought in good players, and we had already good players here,
03:58 with Curtis, Harvey, Thiago, obviously we had already...
04:03 Stefan, we had really good players here, and we brought a few on top of that,
04:08 and that's necessary, but...
04:12 ..not easy. So far I think it looks all right,
04:18 but we would have loved to carry on after the Aston Villa game,
04:22 which was a really good game, couldn't do that.
04:25 I think 30-odd hours ago, Makar played in Bolivia,
04:32 landed yesterday morning at 4 o'clock, so Lucio at 9am yesterday.
04:41 So let's see where we can pick up from there.
04:46 I didn't see them yet, I will see them today and then we make decisions about the game tomorrow.
04:54 But with the quality of the players I'm really happy,
04:58 the potential is really good, and I love working with them,
05:04 because they are open, it's nice for a coach obviously as well,
05:08 for a manager as well, that you know they didn't hear it already 500 times before,
05:14 so some messages are new.
05:16 Yeah, so it's really exciting.
05:21 In terms of Wolves, you've had some tight games against them,
05:25 particularly on their home ground in recent years,
05:28 is it a particularly difficult place to go to to get a result?
05:31 Yeah, it is, it's like Premier League, if you ask me now,
05:35 is there any away ground where you like to go and think,
05:38 "Oh, my God, we have the point already"?
05:40 There is none, but it was for sure not as well.
05:43 I know they had now...
05:45 I must ensure the manager didn't want to lose Matthias Junyers late in the window.
05:51 They lost a few key players, and then you look at the line-up and think,
05:57 "Wow, that's real quality."
05:59 Players like Wang and Kadic don't even start,
06:04 so they have still Neto and other guys, so it's a really, really good football team.
06:11 And that's the team we prepare for.
06:15 We're unlucky, obviously, early in the season already with decisions,
06:19 which happens to all of us, but not all these decisions lead directly to a bad result.
06:25 In their case I think it was like that.
06:28 So, yeah, we expect a massive fight and that's what we have to be ready for.
06:37 Jürgen, Jordan gave quite a wide-ranging interview during the international break,
06:42 just on the element of Liverpool,
06:45 and one of the things he said was that if someone had asked me to stay I would have done.
06:50 Obviously it's difficult to leave a place that you love and clearly played so long for,
06:55 I just wondered if I could get your thoughts on what happened?
06:59 I really think it's important to...
07:02 I didn't read the interview, I only heard it first, then I read it.
07:06 Because Tony spoke about it and I thought, "Maybe before I have it all tinted by Tony,
07:12 "maybe I should make my own opinion."
07:15 And Hendo said the truth in all departments, that's how it was.
07:22 So we had our talks, I told Hendo I want him to stay,
07:26 but we had to talk in these conversations as well about the possibility of...
07:30 not playing regularly, I told him, "They bring players in and stuff like this."
07:34 You don't have this talk about the possibility, "I cannot have a talk before a season
07:39 "and tell a player he will have 50 games this season, 100 per cent."
07:42 I don't know that, it all depends on performance.
07:45 And if Hendo would have performed he would have had maybe 50 games, absolutely fine.
07:49 But in the specific situation with the relationship we had,
07:54 I thought it's important that we speak really about everything,
08:00 and that means what happens if.
08:03 Because Hendo is a fantastic player, I will love him forever, super guy,
08:07 but he's not great when he's not playing, let me say it like that.
08:11 Millie was like this when I arrived here, and Lucas Leiva was like this,
08:15 and you always thought, "OK, they're great guys."
08:17 In the moment I see the line-up, they turn into...
08:19 Jekyll and Hyde is a friendly game against that, it's unbelievable.
08:23 And that's with Hendo's problem, so you have to talk about that.
08:27 He was my captain for seven and a half, nearly eight years,
08:31 and I said, "I have to talk about that now, because I don't want to wake up one morning
08:36 "and we two knock horns with each other just because you thought you would start,
08:40 "and I tell you, you will not."
08:42 And that's what obviously in Hendo's ear and mind came on,
08:47 "OK, he doesn't want me here."
08:49 I understand it 100 per cent, but we clarified that,
08:52 but anyway, what he said is, "If I would have told him, 'Hendo, stay here,
08:56 "'you will be the main man in midfield,' Hendo would have stayed."
09:00 That's the truth, that's 100 per cent the truth, but I couldn't say that.
09:04 As much as I wanted him to stay, I couldn't say that.
09:07 And that's why it was better that Hendo moved on, so that's it.
09:12 There's nothing, not a bit of bad blood or whatever.
09:18 He is the captain of the most successful team this club saw in the Premier League era,
09:23 and rightly so, and he's a sensational player and I wish him only the best.
09:29 And when he comes here, from my point of view, he gets a real farewell everything,
09:34 so there's nothing to misunderstand from that point of view, 100 per cent.
09:38 - Thank you. - You're welcome.
09:40 Jürgen, can I just ask, what are the qualities in Ryan Gravenberg
09:45 that made you want to bring him to Liverpool?
09:48 Because he's a player you've been linked with for a fairly lengthy period of time.
09:52 I wouldn't want to choose one, to be honest.
09:56 The package is really interesting.
09:59 He's good in small spaces, and that's especially good in big spaces now,
10:06 so he can accelerate with the ball, he can really drive the ball,
10:10 he has a really good overview, a good pass, a good shooter.
10:13 The full-week training now, everybody said before, and he knows that,
10:21 he's a really skilled boy, he always was.
10:23 When he moved to Bayern he had already won more than 100 games at Ajax,
10:27 so that's not a usual career until then.
10:30 But everybody would have said, "Nah, defensively he can make the next step 100 per cent."
10:36 But I see that he wants that, he got that 100 per cent,
10:39 so he's really in that.
10:41 He's working extremely hard, it's obviously really nice for him,
10:44 having Virg and Cody around,
10:50 but it's the same age group like most of the boys now,
10:54 and it's really cool having him.
10:56 So he's a good guy, and a player with massive potential.
11:01 And I don't know where it will end up, he has to fit in what we are doing,
11:06 but we will. How long it will take, I don't know, we will see.
11:10 But to get closer to the peak,
11:17 but we will work on that, he's here for a long time,
11:22 and I'm really happy that he's here and that we can start that.
11:25 This picture last season, Wolves at Molineux,
11:29 it may have represented a real low point in last season.
11:34 We had a lot of low points.
11:36 Yeah, but you spoke after the game about the players lacking confidence,
11:40 and that Liverpool in, I think it was February,
11:44 is so different to this Liverpool seven months later.
11:49 How have you been able to bring about that change?
11:52 I didn't remember that I said that.
11:55 I thought I said that after Brighton, but maybe I said it after Brighton as well.
11:59 And after other games!
12:02 So, I'm not sure we proved already that we made a change or whatever,
12:09 I think we showed a few really nice signs, I liked it as well.
12:13 I really like the Aston Villa game, I know how difficult this game usually is,
12:18 and that day we were really good, and that's cool.
12:23 Early in the season, three days or two days after the transfer window closed,
12:28 when everybody was like, "We should have, we should have,"
12:31 and then this team plays that kind of... It was a really good one.
12:35 But are we stable already? I don't know.
12:38 Let's see, we will miss players for the game tomorrow,
12:42 key players for us obviously, do we have to prove that we can replace them,
12:45 that we still can play football?
12:47 So we built a team, not...
12:50 It's not that we have built a team, or did it during the pre-season,
12:55 or whenever we started with a slightly different system.
12:58 We are in that process.
13:00 Yes, we had key moments going in our direction,
13:03 will all key moments go in our direction?
13:05 Unfortunately, probably not.
13:07 But winning with ten men helps to create a spirit and a mentality.
13:13 But only if you use it, because even these opportunities,
13:17 you can slip through your fingers and then...
13:19 "How was it again? I forgot what we had to do."
13:22 So, it's still early days and we have to build a team,
13:25 and I'm really happy with the bases we can work from.
13:28 I said before the Aston Villa game, when I stand in the dressing room and look at the team,
13:33 I really, really love this team, and it's early days,
13:36 but I really think it's easy for people to love this team as well,
13:39 so that's all we need, because we cannot...
13:41 And Liverpool never could.
13:43 We cannot start loving a team when we won something,
13:46 we have to do it before, because that's the only chance we can win something.
13:50 So, let's go for it and then we will see.
13:52 But what we did is, we changed a few things, we brought in new players,
13:56 and maybe for me a big difference is...
13:59 And I said it to the players, obviously,
14:03 this is not year eight, because I think in October I'm here eight years,
14:08 this is year one of the new team, and that's exactly how we approach everything.
14:13 Changed a lot of things, brought in a few guys to give interesting insights into their lives,
14:22 and we want to become a new team and not the replica of the other team,
14:30 and that's what we are working on.
14:33 So I'm fully in, this is year one of whatever, and not year eight of the good old past.
14:39 Thank you.
14:40 Welcome.
14:41 Karl?
14:42 It's nice not to be able to shout.
14:46 Oh, it's great! It's like in these movies!
14:48 You touched on Trent's fitness, just generally what's the state of the rest of the squad?
14:54 Sorry? The rest of the squad?
14:57 Thiago is running, but that's it.
15:01 Ibu trained since two days.
15:08 Two days?
15:09 Yeah, two days with the team.
15:11 Who else?
15:17 Daniel.
15:20 I didn't see him yet, but we had contact and they said, "Thiago is fine."
15:26 But we will see that now, we have to make a couple of decisions,
15:32 but he should be fine.
15:34 It's Ponce who are playing, right?
15:35 Sorry?
15:36 Ponce, Jorel Ponce.
15:37 What did he have? I didn't see any.
15:39 He gets an international break.
15:41 Oh, OK. No, he trains the full week with us, so that was obviously enough time to rest.
15:47 Stefan had a good camp with the U21s, played only a few minutes,
15:54 but it helped him anyway.
15:57 I think that's it, I hope we didn't forget anybody, that would be really bad.
16:03 Goalie... No, all good.
16:07 And just on Trent, considering the role he's performed for this side in the last six months,
16:13 how much has him not being there changed the dynamic in the team?
16:18 Dynamic, not so much. We have to be there flexible, even with Trent.
16:22 I think if you watch the game against Willa, in detail you will see
16:28 that he was not fixed in any midfield role, inside role.
16:33 We have to be flexible there, and that's exactly how we will do it.
16:38 Yeah, but if you know another passer like Trent, tell me.
16:44 We can play this position, it would be really cool, but it must be fine, it will be fine,
16:49 we have to adapt to the different skill sets of the player.
16:52 But the most important thing in this game again is defensive stability,
16:57 that's all about, then we can play.
17:00 If you are not stable, you don't have to think about that,
17:03 and that's why the last game against Aston Villa I think a lot of people...
17:08 ..were maybe not convinced about our last line,
17:14 and you saw Joe Gomez and Joel Matip performing on that level,
17:18 because they have that quality and it's really cool.
17:22 So that was the key for the game, plus Alexis in front of them did really well.
17:26 So we need defensive stability and then we can play football from there.
17:32 James, last one for the break.
17:34 Jürgen, just to ask you about playing at 12.30 on a Saturday,
17:37 you had six games of that swap last season,
17:40 it was Drew, three, lost three.
17:42 Is there something about playing at that time that is problematic,
17:45 or is it more about preparation time if you play midweek?
17:49 Obviously this time around it's a different dynamic with players
17:52 coming back from international duty.
17:54 Are you serious with that question?
17:56 Yeah.
17:57 What do you mean, what is the difference when you play 30 hours ago in Bolivia?
18:01 What do you think is the reason?
18:04 I don't understand, is that something about the time,
18:08 or is it the lack of time between?
18:11 Is it specifically playing at that time on a Saturday?
18:15 That's not a problem if you're a normal week, we always said that.
18:18 If you're a normal week it's not a problem,
18:20 at 12.30 it's easy to adapt, the only problem is the lack of recovery time.
18:23 So we have four international breaks until March,
18:27 two of them we have already the 12.30 kick-off.
18:30 If I say a word about it then the whole world goes again,
18:34 we start moaning again.
18:37 This is a joke.
18:39 We have players in South America, I didn't see them yet in 24 hours we play.
18:44 But it's like it is, we cannot change that, we will never change that.
18:49 Whoever we will talk to, obviously the TV channel has a different name now,
18:55 but that doesn't change anything at all.
18:58 So they just don't give a...
19:01 ...bub about that.
19:04 I shouldn't talk about it, we didn't think about it.
19:07 But in the moment somebody like you now gives me this feeling that he's sitting there,
19:13 and what's exactly the problem?
19:15 Is it 12.30 because it's lunchtime, or could it be the lack of time between the games
19:20 and the intensity of the travel?
19:22 Make your own opinion about it, maybe this time without a source.
19:26 - Thank you, everyone. - You're welcome.
19:30 - Thank you. - Thank you.
19:32 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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