Andy Robertson on Arsenal, topping the table, his fitness and more
A six-point lead at the top of the Premier League ‘changes nothing’ in terms of Liverpool’s outlook, Andy Robertson has insisted.
The Boxing Day results of Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City, coupled with their own resounding 4-0 victory over Newcastle United, saw the Reds stretch their advantage at the summit of the table.
However, Robertson has stressed the importance of looking no further ahead than Saturday’s meeting with Arsenal at Anfield.
Ahead of that game, Liverpoolfc.com caught up with the left-back to discuss the Reds’ unbeaten first half of the top-flight season, the test Unai Emery’s side will pose and how he is feeling physically, given that he has started 23 of the Reds’ 26 matches so far this term.
Read on for Robertson’s thoughts on those topics and more…
On whether the situation in the standings has influenced the squad’s mentality…
No, it changes nothing. I don’t think we’re a squad or a whole department as such that look at the table a lot, I think we very much concentrate on the next game and we know if we look after ourselves and get the results we need then the table will look after itself. Nobody would’ve imagined that Man City would’ve dropped six points in the last two games, but that’s what can happen in the Premier League and we’re no fools to think that it can’t happen to us. We have to be at our best in every game to win them or get what we deserve, and we know how hard this game’s going to be against Arsenal, who are a fantastic team that have had a great season under a new manager and are just finding their feet. We know how tough it’ll be. We’ll be looking to get all three points, but we know we have to be at 100 per cent to get them.
On reaching the halfway stage of the Premier League season unbeaten…
It’s a great achievement but if you look back on it in years to come and it means nothing then it’s pointless. For all the records we broke and points that we gained, it’s pointless if we don’t make the most of it. So we look to have another successful season on top of the last one and whether that’s winning the league or whatever then we’ll soon see. It’s a fantastic points total just now, but it means nothing halfway through the season. We’d much rather have the right number of points at the end that [means] we are crowned champions, but we can’t focus too much on that. So far, so good: we’ve gone through a whole round of fixtures unbeaten and it’s easy to say that if we do that again then we’ll win the league. But it’s not as easy as that and we know there’ll be a lot of tough games to come, but hopefully we’ve got the squad to deal with that and the character to deal with it and like I said, we’ll see where it takes us.
On the factors behind Liverpool’s perfect record of seven wins from seven games so far in December…
I think we’ve demanded more and more of each other in every game. If I remember then last season in December we did really well and we’ve done well this season, and that’s probably why we’re sitting where we are just now - teams have dropped points while we haven’t. We’ve had a lot of tough games but we’ve came through them and the last one in December is the toughest one because it’s the one we’ve not played yet! We look forward to the challenge, but if we can get the three points it’d be massive for us. Obviously [we’re] going into the new year with excitement and we can look forward to all the games ahead. There’s a long way to go, but December’s been a good month so far.
On the significance of the week ahead, with a trip to Manchester City following the clash with Arsenal…
It’s a huge week, and you very rarely get quiet weeks in the Premier League - it is what it is and every game’s massive and the next one’s always the biggest one, [and that’s] against Arsenal. We won’t even be thinking about the Man City game because we can’t take the eye off the ball and we’ll never do that, but it’s two massive games, of course it is. After them we could be sitting a lot nicer or we could be sitting a lot closer to the pack. That’s the beauty of the Premier League, but we hope to get the points against Arsenal and then we can think about City and the rest of the games. But our full focus is on tomorrow and hopefully under the lights at Anfield the fans can get behind us and we can put in another good performance.
On the 1-1 draw with the Gunners at the Emirates Stadium eight weeks ago…
It was tough. I thought they played excellent, I thought we struggled to deal with them at times and I’m sure they’ll say the same about us. We scored at the right time, Millie scored a fantastic goal, and then we couldn’t hold on because they threw bodies forward and they’ve got a great attacking team and caused us problems. Walking off that pitch, I think everyone knew a draw was a fair result for both teams, I don’t think anyone could’ve moaned about that. But they’re one of the teams we haven’t been able to beat [this season] so we know how tough it is - that’s a reminder to all the lads and probably since then they’ve got better than they were then. So it’ll be a tough task for us, but we know what we’ve got to do and we know that if we’re at our best, then that’s hopefully enough for the three points.
On whether Liverpool learned anything from that game that they will take into Saturday…
Of course. It’s a new team, every team over the years has been used to playing against Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal and now it’s a completely different team. Unai Emery’s done a great job in a short space of time and is playing football the Arsenal fans are happy with and against us they were fantastic. They have a really good manager with a good team behind him and we can learn a couple of things from it, of course we can. We’ll look at the analysis again and see if there was any weaknesses from their performance and what their strengths were to try and stop it, but they’ll be doing the same and that’s the wee bit of a downfall when you play everyone twice because they can relate to the game we’ve just played against them. There’s probably very rarely surprises in the second half of the season because we should know what they’re all doing. We know how hard it’s going to be, but we look forward to the challenge and we know we need to be at 100 per cent.
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On the difference playing at Anfield could make to the outcome this time around…
Of course it can [make a difference]. Our record at Anfield has been fantastic, but that means nothing when it goes into the game and it’s something that gets put into the back of the mind. But with our own fans at the stadium we’ve made it a tough place to come and that’s all you can ask for as home fans and as a team, and we look to do the same as that for Arsenal. We don’t want to make it easy for any team coming here and trying to get a result, so we need to make sure that if they do come and get something then they’ve worked extremely hard for it and they were just better than us on the day. But we believe that that shouldn’t happen and we’re good enough to get the three points, so we just need to take that attitude into tomorrow night and hopefully we’re celebrating at the end of it.
On his own fitness...
Look, I love playing games. I would never want to miss a game - the two that I’ve missed I’ve probably been disappointed, but when you look at it then it’s the right call from the manager, of course it is. He spoke to me about those two games and that’s fine, but the number of games I’ve played I’ve been delighted with. I love playing the games, I love playing with the lads and in front of the fans and that’s what I look forward to. Of course training’s fun and stuff but games are your bread and butter and all good players want to play. Everyone who is on the bench or left out is disappointed and luckily I’ve not had that many times this season, and I look to continue that. But I know how competitive this squad is and you need to be at 100 per cent. The body’s a wee bit sorer over December because of the amount of games, but it’s something that every team has to deal with and we’re no different. It’s all about preparing properly and then recovering properly after the game. All the lads have done that really well and that’s why we’re in good shape.
On whether he picked up a knock or was just being rested when getting taken off late on in the win over Newcastle…
No [no knock], all good. The manager said to me after the game ‘I managed to give you 15 minutes rest so you’re good to go!’, kind of making a joke of it! But I think he was obviously just thinking that I have played a lot of games and the game was, without being disrespectful, fairly comfortable once we went 3-0 up. Clyney’s a fantastic pro and he can play on that side and done well for the last 10, and it was maybe nice to get a wee 10-minute break. But I want to play every minute of every game and hopefully he [Klopp] doesn’t make a habit of that!