- 2 months ago
Slot previews Liverpool - Atleti and discusses Isak fitness
16/09/2025
Anfield, Liverpool, UK
16/09/2025
Anfield, Liverpool, UK
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Atletico comes tonight.
00:10Afternoon. If you'd like to ask a question, please raise your hand just so we can get a mic for the simultaneous translation.
00:16Vinny, do you want to go first?
00:18Arna, good afternoon. First of all, just wanted to check on Alexander Isek.
00:21What chance of him figuring and getting some game time at least in this game against Atletico Madrid?
00:26There's definitely a chance because he's in the squad, so then there's a chance to play.
00:32I would normally always say 99.9% sure, but I can say it's 100% sure that he will not play 90 minutes.
00:40He's part of the squad, so it's already a Champions League game to look forward to,
00:47but if people look forward to his playing time, that could mean that that could happen tomorrow as well.
00:53Even a chance to start then?
00:55The only thing that is sure is that he would not play 90, and all the rest you will see tomorrow.
01:01Obviously, we look at Florian Wurtz and the switch that he's made coming to Liverpool,
01:07and I think there's probably an argument to say that we've not seen the best of him just yet.
01:11I think there were flashes in the second half at least against Burnley once again.
01:14What do you put that down to though, the fact that we've not seen the best of Florian just yet,
01:18and what kind of adjustment is he having to make?
01:22I put that down to Bournemouth, I put that down to Newcastle, I put that down to Arsenal,
01:26I put that down to a team we faced this weekend that only conceded 14 goals last season.
01:32If it's correct I don't know, but someone told me today it's the first time in 18 months that Burnley lost a home game.
01:38So if I'm wrong, that's because of that person.
01:42But it tells you how hard it is to play these games, and we, which is normal,
01:49because there's so much focus on our new signings,
01:52because especially the pundits that favour not us but some other clubs in the country
01:58that cannot stop talking about 450 million, I repeat 450 million, I repeat 450 million,
02:04but they always forget the 300 million that we've sold for.
02:07And these players that we've brought in are indeed a lot of money,
02:12but they are playing now together with players that are worth the same amount of money.
02:17So yes, if we want to strengthen the squad we need almost to spend that much money,
02:22because then they are, if we sell Dominic Sobosla tomorrow he would be worth 100 million as well.
02:27So there's so much focus on Florian, but the ones that have stayed behind still in the team
02:33haven't scored four goals or 12 assists as well.
02:38So he's been part of a team, Florian, that is on top of the league, that won four games.
02:45He's part of the team that won against Newcastle, that won against Arsenal,
02:49where the team of last season didn't win away at Newcastle,
02:52didn't win at home against Arsenal.
02:54So it's the way you want to look at it.
02:56Yes, he hasn't scored four goals or 12 assists in the first four games,
03:01but for me that's down to the quality we've faced,
03:03and he's part of a team that's number one in the league at the moment.
03:06And you have said the best is still to come from the group as a whole,
03:10so how well-equipped do you feel you are to compete on all four fronts once again,
03:14even go further than what you were able to do last season?
03:17Yeah, I think we are far above my expectations during the summer,
03:22so we all know what happened this summer.
03:26We all knew when the programme on the schedule came out
03:29that we had to face Newcastle away, Arsenal at home and Bournemouth at home,
03:33and it turned out to be Burnley a difficult one as well,
03:36but that is maybe not what I expected, but not in the fashion as it happened on Sunday.
03:42So for us to be on 12 points now is so much more than I expected,
03:46especially after we've had so many changes in the group as well, in our squad, sorry.
03:52And yeah, I think we can do better,
03:57but we're not every time going to face Newcastle away and Arsenal at home.
04:02How does this test compare to what you've faced already in the Premier League?
04:09When I was at Feyenoord in the Eredivisie,
04:13you knew when you went from a Sunday to a Wednesday you had to make two steps up,
04:17unless you played Ajax or PSV in the weekend,
04:21but if you play Premier League it is either the same quality you face or a little step up.
04:31Yes, it's again a very difficult one because Atletico Madrid has done so well in La Liga
04:37over so many years with Diego Simeone,
04:40they were even able to win the league twice when you face Real Madrid and Barcelona,
04:46and they've been twice in the final of the Champions League.
04:50So this again is a team that is a difficult one to play against
04:56because of their mentality, because of their team performance,
04:59because of their individual quality.
05:01The last time I faced them I still wake up sometimes,
05:05that's not true, but at night thinking about Griezmann,
05:08how good he was in that game.
05:10I think we lost 3-1, I'm not exactly sure, but he was outstanding in that game.
05:14So the good thing now is that in my team I have players that can do similar things
05:22than Griezmann can do,
05:24and although I loved my players at Feyenoord a lot as well,
05:28but at that moment of time in their career they were not able to compete with Griezmann on that night.
05:35Thanks, Anna.
05:37You talk about the new players coming in,
05:41but you have won those four games in the Premier League.
05:43What does that say about the squad?
05:45And also that strong mentality has stayed there, hasn't it?
05:49Because you've won those games late on.
05:51Yeah, everybody is very focused on us winning the game late on.
05:55But that again has a lot to do with the teams we faced as well.
06:02Of course it has a bit to do with how fit we are,
06:05that we can always keep on going and make the difference in the last part of the game.
06:10But if you face maybe teams that are not as strong as that,
06:13you were able to win the game a bit earlier.
06:16So it probably also tells you how difficult our schedule has been in the first few games,
06:21that we need to win it in the end.
06:25Then people will tell me,
06:27yeah, what are you talking about, you've played Burnley as well.
06:29But again, this team only conceded 14 goals last season in the whole season.
06:34So yeah, very happy with where we are,
06:38especially because I don't know if everyone knows what I mean with that,
06:42but I think everyone does, what a summer we've been through.
06:45And I'm not talking about selling players or bringing players in,
06:50I think we all know what I'm talking about.
06:52And then to be here with 12 points after such a difficult start
06:56in terms of the teams we faced is more than expected.
06:59But still we know as well and we want to do better,
07:03but I also wanted to do better than last season,
07:05so we would have kept that team together.
07:07We needed to do better as well.
07:09And that's why we are every day on the training pitch to try
07:12and in meetings to try and make the team better.
07:15You talk about the new players,
07:16but one of the older players, Andy Robertson,
07:18came off the bench on Sunday, played brilliantly well against Burnley.
07:21How much can he help, like Milos Kerkes for example?
07:25Brilliantly well.
07:28I think he played well.
07:31We agree.
07:32If he would have played brilliantly well,
07:34he would have hit that left foot outside shot into the top corner.
07:38No, he had a very good impact.
07:40Milos started the game, not brilliantly well, but he started the game well.
07:45But we had to take him off and then it's such a nice thing
07:49that you have Andy Robertson to replace him
07:52and he just came in the team as if he had never been doing anything else
07:56and started to play with his teammates.
07:58But it was a difficult game for us,
08:00so I don't think anyone played brilliantly well.
08:03But he definitely played well,
08:06so it's good to have him in the squad, that's for sure.
08:11Karl?
08:13Hi, Jan.
08:15I just wondered what you learned from last season's Champions League,
08:19particularly in terms of the format.
08:21You finished top of the group
08:23and then didn't get a particularly favourable draw,
08:27and whether that will influence how you approach this Champions League.
08:33I got that question just a second ago as well.
08:36I think it's not a smart thing to do is judge something on one event,
08:42because if I judge it on one event I would say it's of no interest
08:47if you end up number one or number seven or number eight,
08:50because we had a very difficult draw
08:52and the number 11 Real Madrid had to play at number 22,
08:55which was Man City.
08:56So what I like about this draw is tonight I go home,
09:01I go a little bit earlier home after this press conference,
09:03but tonight I'm in front of the television
09:05and I'm looking at which game is going to come up,
09:07because it's always going to be a nice game,
09:09because there can be a pot one team that plays a pot one team.
09:12In the past it was always pot one to pot two, pot three to pot four.
09:16So that is the nice part of it.
09:18What I don't like about this format is that if you have NBA everywhere
09:22where you have a league table and then you play playoffs,
09:24you have a league table after everyone playing the same teams.
09:28So if you then end up number one then probably the number eight is weaker
09:32than the number five.
09:33But now there are teams that come from pot four that have an easier draw
09:37than teams that are on pot one.
09:39So this whole league table doesn't give the real opinion
09:42about who's good and who isn't.
09:45So then it can happen like last season that the number 11 Real Madrid
09:48can play the number 22 Man City,
09:50and it's not like Man City did something so bad.
09:52No, they had to face a difficult draw.
09:54And it's the same like Paris Saint-Germain.
09:57If you look at the draw of Paris Saint-Germain this season,
09:59it's the same as last season.
10:00So if you asked me this question immediately after we lost Paris Saint-Germain,
10:05I would have told you forget about the first eight games.
10:08But now I've used my brains a bit more and I tell you,
10:14don't judge a new format on the first time,
10:17judge it after three or four times and then see maybe the upcoming three times
10:22the number one at the league table will have a favourable draw.
10:26But that was definitely not the situation last season.
10:29Pass-pass support behind you.
10:31Arne, when you think back to the second PSG game and how close it was,
10:40does the fact that they went on to win the tournament give you a boost in a way,
10:45or does it frustrate you?
10:48A bit of both maybe.
10:50Because we were so close, I think it wasn't that I said it,
10:54but I think Luis Enrique said before when he sat here,
10:57he said the team that's going to win this play-off is going to win the tournament.
11:00And he was right.
11:02Not to say that it would have happened with us as well,
11:04but in the end he was right.
11:05It tells you that we were the only team that could bring them to extra time
11:10and the only team that could bring them to penalties.
11:13So it was a frustration to lose it with penalties.
11:16It also, if you are out, at least that's what I have,
11:20if I'm out I prefer to go out against a team that wins it in the end,
11:24because that tells you if you can bring them so far,
11:27it's a bit too simple to say we weren't that far off of winning it as well,
11:32but we felt that was the best team in Europe last season.
11:35I think everybody agrees to that because they won the French League,
11:39they won the Cup, they went to the Club World Cup,
11:42were very close to winning that as well.
11:45So it's fair to say they were the best team in Europe last season.
11:48That we were so close to beating them gives us also the confidence
11:52that we are able to compete in this league as well,
11:55but even if we would have lost them two times with 4-0,
11:58I would still tell you now that Liverpool will always be able to compete in the Champions League.
12:03At the front.
12:05Artur Kovac, RTL Hungary.
12:08We can say that Dominik Soboslai can play brilliantly well as a right defender,
12:13but now Jeremy Frimpong is fit again.
12:16Can he return to the midfield, maybe?
12:19And Conor Bradley is fit again as well.
12:22But we also have four very good midfielders fit as well.
12:27Endo, Magalester, Dominik, Florian, Curtis is not fit, Curtis Jones.
12:36So yeah, in every position we have a lot of competition.
12:41He can play in both positions.
12:43And let's see if he plays tomorrow, where he's going to play.
12:48Just behind.
12:50Hi, Honour.
12:52Gabriel from Swedish SVT.
12:54What do you think will be the biggest challenges here for Alexander Isak
12:59in the first time in the club that he must focus on?
13:02Getting fit.
13:03Getting fit after missing out four months of proper team sessions.
13:11He doesn't have to prove to anyone that he's good enough to play in the Premier League,
13:16because that's what he's proven already at Newcastle.
13:18So the main challenge he has is to become so fit
13:24that he's first of all ready to do what he did last season.
13:28And then speaking about Paradis and Germain,
13:31I don't think anyone is surprised that I was mainly impressed by the way they press.
13:38So it was double-press.
13:39And that is what was Dembele,
13:44was one of the examples that was so outstanding in his pressing game.
13:48So everybody is focused on Paris and Germain,
13:50about all the goals they score.
13:52But I was mainly impressed by the way they pressed.
13:55So the moment he's fit,
13:58the match fits, and he can play 90,
14:01and then the next step is playing three times in a week, 90 minutes,
14:04and then the next step is going one step further in terms of pressing.
14:11And that's what he has to do.
14:13And then scoring goals and doing special things in the Tech,
14:16that is something he will 100% sure do.
14:20John, here.
14:21Hello, here in Spanish.
14:23Spanish, yes.
14:24Yeah.
14:25He's been listening to a lot of talks for us because he was saying that we've spent so much money.
14:32And it didn't came to him probably that we've sold for 300 million.
14:35I repeat for 300 million.
14:36As well.
14:37As well.
14:38I think it's only a compliment.
14:39I think it's only a compliment.
14:40I think it's only a compliment.
14:41I think it's only a compliment that people tell everyone that
14:44we've spent so much, because that tells you that we've spent so much because that tells you that the players we've brought in,
14:51are seen as very good players.
14:58So, I'm for a part responsible.
14:59I'm for a part responsible for bringing the players in as well, together with some other people.
15:00And I think we should see this as a compliment that everybody is like, wow, they did great business.
15:01And I think we did.
15:02We brought in great players.
15:03And to add to that, we have a incredible strategy, that to me, and to be able to make my happy
15:04show, we wanted to make the picture.
15:05I think it's only a compliment.
15:06I think it's only a compliment that people tell everyone that we've spent so much because
15:09it tells you that the players we've brought in are seen as very good players.
15:14So, I'm for a part responsible of bringing the players in as well, together with some other people.
15:23And I think we should see this as a compliment that everybody's like, wow, they did great business.
15:26And I think we did.
15:27We've brought in great players.
15:29And to add to that, we've already lowered the age of the players.
15:35So some other teams prefer to bring in 27-year-olds
15:39because they're already, bam, ready.
15:42But we think we've brought in players from 21-22 that are ready,
15:46but also 21-22.
15:51And then if they are four or five years with you,
15:53you can still sell Luis Diaz for 80 million.
15:56But if he would have been 28,
15:57I think it's harder to sell him for 80 million, if he's 32.
16:01So that's our model, and I think that model should get a lot of praise
16:05because I've said it here in England once or twice,
16:09and I can say it one more time to you as well,
16:11I think all the money we've spent,
16:15we generated ourselves by selling and winning the league
16:19after we didn't buy anyone at all.
16:22I don't know if you know, but if you win the league,
16:23that's quite good financially as well.
16:25So those two situations led to the fact that we could spend 450 million.
16:30It wasn't as if we looked in the ground and saw,
16:32oh, there's money coming up, let's spend 450.
16:36No, we've generated ourselves,
16:39and that is, I think, a big compliment for the model we have
16:41and for the quality players we've brought in,
16:43that everybody is only talking about the 450 we've spent.
16:47And we are always, that's not a surprise to you if you are Liverpool,
16:52you're always, if you're an English club playing in the Champions League,
16:56you belong to one of the favourites.
16:59Hi Arnie, you mentioned earlier Curtis Jones is still out for this game.
17:03Could you tell us a little bit more about the nature of his injury,
17:06how long you expect him to be out for,
17:08and whether or not this affects your use of Alexis McAllister,
17:11who himself is still finding his way back to full fitness?
17:13Yeah, I can talk to you for a long time, but I already talked for a long time,
17:18so he will train with the team tomorrow.
17:20So hopefully he's able to be in the squad on Saturday, but not for tomorrow yet.
17:28Lewis?
17:31You mentioned earlier about Robbo coming in and doing well.
17:35You just asked on Milos, how has he taken being substituted so early?
17:39Have you spoke to him about that, and is he fine, ready to rise to the challenge again?
17:45Yeah.
17:47Yeah, although you never know when they're sitting in front of me
17:50or when I have my team meetings, they don't stand up and say,
17:54I disagree with you, but maybe when he's at home
17:56and he's talking to his father or his girlfriend or his friends,
17:58he's like, what a stupid decision this was.
18:01But when I'm around, he comes across as if he understood it.
18:06And I've shown yesterday that, because that was maybe clear for every player,
18:13you could see after he made the foul, which you could argue if it was a foul or not,
18:17but the referee blew his whistle.
18:20I've highlighted that six of their players went over to the referee
18:23and the referee made twice a signal like this,
18:26no, no, this is not a yellow card for me, this is not a yellow card for me.
18:29And for me it was like, hmm, you could even argue if this was a foul or not
18:34and it's already necessary to tell everyone in the stadium
18:37that it was definitely not a yellow.
18:38What will happen if he makes a normal foul, which is normally not the reason for a yellow?
18:44So for me, that combination, if their players wouldn't have gone to the referee,
18:48if he wouldn't have made this thing, I would have at least kept him on until halftime.
18:53But I felt also the atmosphere in the stadium, smart from their fans, by the way.
18:57They were on every decision, they were on top of the referee.
19:00I felt if he only touches him once, he's under a lot of pressure not to give him as yellow.
19:07And that's what I tried to explain.
19:09And again, he said he understood, but yeah, I don't know what he says to his fans about it.
19:16But to me, he says he understood.
19:20Hold on.
19:22You're welcome.
19:23You're welcome.
Recommended
0:44
9:45
15:30
2:17
12:46
Be the first to comment