Press conferenceKlopp on Salah future, Reds' response, Brighton analysis and more
Jürgen Klopp covered topics including Mohamed Salah's future, how Liverpool will respond to defeat by Internazionale and his analysis of Brighton & Hove Albion during his pre-match press conference.
The boss spoke to journalists at the AXA Training Centre on Friday ahead of his team’s Saturday lunchtime trip to the Amex Stadium.
Read on for a summary of what was discussed…
On Salah’s future…
I think Mo definitely expects this club to be ambitious, we were in the last years and we are… no, of course we cannot do much more [in the talks], that’s how it is. But I don’t think it’s about that, I think meanwhile it is Mo’s decision pretty much; I think the club did what the club can do, that’s how it is. There’s nothing to say about it, it’s all fine. From my point of view it’s exactly like it should be in this moment in time and everything is said. Nothing happened further, so no signing, no rejection or whatever. So we just have to wait for that, it’s completely fine. There is no rush in that situation.
On Graham Potter labelling Liverpool ‘one of the best’ and how he feels about playing against Brighton…
Brighton are not the best in the world but they are incredibly good. We are not the best in the world, obviously, but it is nice words. Graham knows exactly what he really thinks, he knows that it is football and there is a big chance you can give other teams a struggle. That’s what we try to do constantly and that’s what they will try, definitely, even when the results in the last few weeks were not brilliant for Brighton, but the performance level is really, really good. I think they are fourth-highest [in the] possession stats in the league, which is not easy to have. So, you need to do a lot of good stuff to keep the ball that long in a football game and in the end, it’s for us always a challenge to face them. We realised it in the home game: when you are not compact against Brighton then they play in and around you, that’s how it is, that’s how they set up. So we have to make sure that we find a proper defending attitude and from there we go. We don’t go there to show who is the better side or who is world-class or stuff like this, not at all. We are humble enough to go there and really work incredibly hard and put in a proper shift. That’s what I expect – not a fancy football game, I expect us as a real hard-working unit.
The reverse fixture: Liverpool 2-2 Brighton
On Luis Diaz’s impact…
Good, great, outstanding. Surprisingly quick [to adapt] and everything like you wish for. That’s how it is. When you sign a player you never know in the moment how quick it will go, obviously. Luis has so many things he needs to have an impact here and we saw that in the first moment, but then there is still a difference between seeing it in training and bringing it on the pitch. But you really get what you see, in training you get it as well and in the games. Brilliant so far.
On winning seven Premier League games in a row and the importance of momentum…
For us, incredibly important because we obviously have no time and no points to waste so we have to keep going, that’s clear. The situation is clear, everybody knows it and yeah, if there is any kind of momentum we better keep it and work with it. That’s it.
On whether he is excited by the title race and if he thinks it will go to the wire…
From our point of view I hope so but I don’t know because… we spoke about that here now plenty of times and it is always the same. Everybody is excited about having the opportunity to have a title race – our problem is we have to play Brighton now, then the game in hand we have a few days later is against Arsenal away. In all the thoughts of a lot of people it’s like, ‘OK, three points, three points…’ but there is 180 minutes, at least, of football in between – now only 90 and then another 90. So, it’s really tough but so far the boys did incredibly well and why should I think we cannot go on? It’s hard work, yes, but the boys are ready to work hard and then you have to play your best football and if you cannot play your best football, you have to force luck a little bit, that’s how it is. We will try everything but from our point of view we cannot call it a title race because we are still behind and all these kind of things, but we try to win football games and let’s see.
Inside Training: Behind the scenes at Thursday's session
On whether there’s a skill or art to keeping the squad together and motivated during such an intense period of the season…
It’s the boys, the character of the group. We don’t feel sorry for ourselves or whatever and think, ‘Oh my God, again.’ Not at all. We really like the situation and we are used to it. Even last season when we wanted to be qualified for the Champions League, we had to win pretty much all of the games in the last I-don’t-know-how-many weeks. We brought ourselves quite frequently in similar situations for different reasons. Don’t know exactly what it’s about or why it always happened to us but there was one year where we didn’t have to fight – the year we became champions, it was decided a bit earlier. All the other years were always full throttle until the end. So we are kind of used to it. But I don’t take it for granted that it works out and I know the boys have to invest a lot. Of course we try to help with all we can, with all the recovery stuff, opportunities we have. And obviously with telling the boys why it makes sense to give it a try as well. These kind of things. We want to write a special story here – not only this year, in general. And if you want to look back later in your life on a very successful time then you should better give your absolute everything now so that it’s a good story. That’s what we try.
On the difficulty involved in maintaining the level of hard work the players put into games…
I am not sure if it is difficult or whatever. I believe in humans and I really believe in the fact that everybody has a specific amount of self-motivation, and then if you see other guys around you who have something similar or even bigger, higher level of self-motivation then you realise, OK, it’s possible there’s still some space for improvement. So it’s a lot – pretty much all – about the boys themselves. We were really lucky in moments and obviously quite smart in other moments with bringing these boys together. And now it’s a lot about self-education, about role models in the team, about who sets standards; on the pitch, but in the dressing room as well. These kind of things. And we are really blessed. But it’s not only City and us, Chelsea, they are all working hard, and for all different reasons; Burnley are working incredibly hard every day but they don’t get the points all the time but they never give up. If you want to be a Premier League player you have to be ready to give your absolute all. Some are more skilled than others, that you think they work even harder. But that’s not always the case. Like me as a player, I worked incredibly hard but the people didn’t talk about that, they only talked about that I cannot control the ball, which actually was the same way I thought about it. Having a good, an outstanding attitude should be the basis for a successful sports career.
On why Brighton have caused Liverpool problems in previous meetings…
They are a really good football team and obviously Graham likes to and has the time as well to set up his team for each opponent and he is using it obviously pretty smart. Graham Potter is an outstanding coach, I have to say – I really, really like what he is doing. I think Brighton have the problem that from time to time they don’t finish the situations off that they create. I don’t know how many games I watched of Brighton when you thought on 80 minutes, ‘Oh my God, how good they are’ but they are only 1-0 up and then the other team has one chance and it’s 1-1. You think, ‘That’s really hard.’ But if you have a look at the players they bring in and the way they play, it is really exciting to watch. It’s really good football. We realised that at home; we were 2-0 up, I didn’t think we were brilliant that day but we didn’t really leave the door open. They needed a screamer to get a bit closer but then from that moment on we were not compact anymore and they played through the lines, between the lines, in behind the lines. Not a lot of teams are able to do [that] but they were and I respect that a lot and that’s the team we prepare for tomorrow.
On how the squad reacted to the defeat against Inter…
We are not good losers, honestly. I have usually after the game a little speech in the dressing room; actually most of the time it is quite nice, to say to the boys how good they were and stuff like this. Obviously in this game it was slightly different. I realised when I looked in their eyes I was in a better mood than the players when I came in and I lost as well. My first thought was, ‘We are through against a tough opponent.’ The boys’ first thought was, ‘Wow, we lost.’ Both are fine somehow. Always in life reaction is important. We have to see, we have to show a reaction. I’m pretty sure we will.
In the game, the result is only the result and I am obviously very interested in the performance and I didn’t like parts of the performance, especially defensively. That’s now a good point to make before you play Brighton because if you don’t defend properly against Brighton you have a problem, definitely a problem. Our counter-press was not even close to what I would have expected in this game and we got punished for it. Do I like losing? No. Do I like the fact that if you don’t do what actually the plan was that you then got a knock for it? Yes. I would have been happy with a draw as well, that would have been enough of a knock, but now we lost. We could have won. With all the chances we had; OK, some of them against 10 men, but before already. It would have covered a couple of things for this game, problems we don’t have that often but we had in that game. We have to stop having these problems, we have to show that we understand there is a way we can cause each team in the world problems – and we should better use that way.