Press conferenceThe boss on Wolves, title race, Jota's instinct and Salah's assists

The Liverpool manager spoke at length about the demanding schedule facing his team during December, the characteristics of Diogo Jota, why Mohamed Salah is racking up assists as well as goals, and more.

Read a summary of his chat with the media at the AXA Training Centre, ahead of Saturday’s trip to Wolverhampton Wanderers, below…

On the balance of managing players’ welfare and getting results during the upcoming schedule…

Yeah, players’ welfare is of course very important but we are used to a tough schedule, the boys are used to a tough schedule obviously. I don’t think we have to make now plenty of changes between the games now, at least not at the start of December. We have to see how it will be in the middle or the end of December. We will see. It’s a constant conversation with the medical department, the fitness department. We have pretty much all data we can have and use them. Looking at that, then making a line-up which gives you a big chance to win the next football game. This week it’s the same. We changed quite a lot in the last few weeks. This week we play Wolves. Wolves played Wednesday as well, so the same for both teams. So we will see what we do exactly, I didn’t make the line-up yet, but I wouldn’t expect now seven or eight changes.

On Wolves’ form…

First and foremost, I have to say a big compliment to the colleague there because it’s really impressive. It was not so easy to go there after the long time Nuno has been there and everything is kind of settled and I think was mostly happy, even when the last season was maybe not the best season since Wolves were back in the Premier League. It was still very stable, clear style of play and these kind of things. And he changed – in a good direction, unfortunately! It’s a real football-playing side with a real football-playing idea. Defending maybe didn’t change too much, it’s still a similar system that they played before.

Everybody is involved for Wolves, that’s clear; we know that from the time when we were having a closer look at Diogo Jota. The numbers he had running-wise were incredible and that made him even more interesting for us. The offensive players still have to do the same now. It means they have counter-attacks, but they have technically good players. Neves is available again, so to get him together with Moutinho is a proper, proper midfield. Whoever plays then on the wing and Jimenez up front. I’m really happy for him that he is back and that he came over all the misery, pretty much, those awful pictures. Now when I talk about it, it is still in my mind. So I’m really happy to see him back and hopefully he will score a lot of goals – apart from Saturday. It’s a good team and really difficult to play. They are not famous for conceding a lot and not even conceding a lot of shots on goal, so you have to be creative for sure.

On Liverpool playing nine games in December and then Chelsea in early January…

It’s crazy. It’s my sixth or seventh season here. It’s crazy, it was always crazy and will always be crazy. Everything is fine until you reach then Christmas time because [playing games on both] the 26th and 28th is still not right. We do that nowadays, it’s still not right. We have to accept that, obviously we do that. It’s a tradition, I get all that but it’s really tough. And it’s not the end of December, pretty much. January is not getting better – the more successful we are in the cup competitions, it’s then pretty much exactly the same. So we have two months ahead of us which will be really difficult to deal with. But the only good news about that is it’s for all teams the same. Two games more [Champions League and Carabao Cup]; all the rest it’s for all the same. That means we all have to dig in and fight through that period, be smart, try to recover as quick as possible. In the end, even when it’s highest intensity – because it’s Premier League – it’s just 95 minutes every three days. I know it’s not just 95 minutes, it’s 95 minutes of super-intense runs, super-intense challenges and all these kind of things, so it’s really not easy, but it’s doable and that’s what we try.

On whether it’s the ‘most exciting title race during his time at Liverpool’…

Is it already a title race? I don’t know. How I said before, it’s a very, very good, highest-quality league. Honestly, it’s unbelievable how good you have to be to win a single football game in this league. That we are around that – that’s our target. You cannot win the league in November or December. You can lose it maybe, that’s possible. But you cannot win it, so you have to be around, you have to keep contact, you have to be up there and that means we have to chase everybody – each player of each team we face – from all directions, pretty much. And just to make sure we are one goal better in pretty much all the games. That’s a challenge. I can’t see it already in the moment as a title race. It’s exciting obviously. But it’s not that we already start looking [at other teams]. And I cannot say that never happened in the past – I think everybody knows I watched the Leicester game when they played Man City and Kompany scored that screamer [in May 2019]. It’s not that I already watch now City or Chelsea games and think, ‘It would be good if they lose’ or whatever. Most of the time I don’t even know if they played or when they play. That hopefully will happen at one point in March or April. That would be great and would mean we are still around. But between now and then there are obviously an awful lot of games. Let’s focus now on the next one.

On the work that goes into identifying a new player, such as Jota…

Diogo, what I didn’t know obviously when I saw him first, is an incredible package. Personality point of view, he’s an incredible, really incredible boy. Really smart, pretty organised, structured in a very nice way. That’s all what I didn’t know, but it helps. When we looked at his career, where he started – Atletico, then on loan, going then to Wolves. I remember when I saw him the first time, I thought it could be a player for me because of how intense he was in all the situations. Technically obviously on a really high level but the intensity he put in, that makes then the real difference. Because our level, all the players, they are technically incredible, they have incredible quality. When everybody is really on a high level in one area, how can you make a difference? You can make the difference then with your attitude and that’s what I was most excited about with Diogo, this little mix. People maybe would have said he didn’t score an awful lot of goals. The problem is that Wolves had probably the most intense style of play for the offensive wingers, defensively in an unbelievable way. Jimenez was allowed to stay a little bit up, all the rest had to cover pretty much the whole pitch and that costs you energy for being calm. And he was very young – he turns tomorrow 25. He was very young then. And all that made it really interesting for us. For us, it was clear he will make the next steps with us and that’s what he did.

On Salah having the most assists in the Premier League, as well as the most goals, and if anything has changed to make that happen…

It’s not a coincidence, but we didn’t have now a specific talk about that or whatever because it wasn’t necessary. These things happen naturally. He was never criticised by us for being too selfish or whatever because he never was. That a striker who comes in situations where we all want them to finish off, that he from time to time oversees a mate who is maybe in a better position is completely normal. But it’s then really easy to sit at home on the sofa and say, ‘Pass…’ If you played yourself the game then you know it’s the most difficult thing to do. But what helps a lot is experience, what helps a lot is being in similar situations plenty of times, that you know what happens when we are there. As a team we developed obviously, so it should be clear when you are in a specific area on the pitch, 10 or 15 yards away from you in another specific area should be a player wearing a similar shirt, because of our formation. That’s what helps obviously. Mo has now the experience, is calm enough, didn’t lose any greed for scoring but is calm enough and developed technically again. It was incredible what he did. So he just has more time to see the right things in the situation. When he sees somebody in a better position you can be sure he passes the ball there. But when he thinks he can finish it off himself then I expect him to try to finish it off himself, even when he misses the chance. Because that’s the nature of a chance: you finish it off and then you realise if it was the right decision or not. Obviously for him it was very often the right decision.

On how much Jota often being in the right place to score is design and how much is natural instinct…

Oh, it’s both. I don’t know how much, like 50 per cent that and 50 per cent that. But as a striker you have to be there. The goals he scored against Southampton, I think if Diogo is not there, Mo is there. So, it was obviously that Sadio passed the ball to Robbo; Robbo goes with a brilliant run but a brilliant pass as well; and then you need to have at least one player at the first post. We had two players at the first post, which is a pretty good idea when the ball is arriving there. That was the first goal. And the second goal, as a striker you’re not involved – it was a one-two between Hendo and Mo – and then Mo passed the ball square and Diogo is in front of goal. We always say, these goals are not easy. It looks easy in the last moment but it’s not easy because you have to be there, you have to read the situations right. So that’s both instinct, but as design – if you want to call it design – he has to be there. That’s what you do in training, that’s what you have to.

A game is a good game when you have a cross or whatever, a pass into the box, and you have at least four options there. That makes it a good game. You have one on the first post, one on the second post, one in the centre and one on the edge. That’s a really good goal. I think Hendo’s goal against Everton is a goal like this, for example. It’s so easy to speak now about it but in the game you cannot say in the moment when you realise, ‘Oh he will cross in a second’ and you are 60 yards away and will not make it. So it’s all about how you develop the game in these areas. If it would be easy we would have started in October 2015 exactly with that and would be now even much better in that. But it’s not because the opponent is there in between, they defend situations and you have to judge it right. A good example for judging situations right is the goal we conceded against Everton. Trent was 100 per cent convinced we’d keep the ball on that side, that’s why he was already a bit wide and high, which is absolutely fine if we keep the ball in that moment. When we don’t keep the ball it’s easy for me to say, ‘Trent, where have you been?’ But actually it’s not right because we lost the ball on that side and we had a lot of players on that side to keep the ball, or if we can’t keep it to at least shoot it over the roof or whatever. We didn’t. That’s football. You have to judge situations and you have to offer options for your mates and you have to follow the situation, that you are in a good spot for either finishing off or protecting the whole attack.