Press conference'We have a squad full of boys who dream of winning prizes'
Pepijn Lijnders underlined Liverpool’s ‘greed’ to add further trophies to their haul as they aim to reach the Carabao Cup semi-finals on Wednesday night.
The Reds host Leicester City in the last eight of the tournament and the assistant manager previewed the 7.45pm GMT contest during a pre-match press conference.
Read the second part of his chat with the media below…
On the amount of ‘greed’ for trophies in the Liverpool squad…
First of all, you have to watch one of our training sessions! That will take the greed question away because they train every time as if it’s a final. They can make even a simple rondo very competitive. We have a squad full of personalities, we have a squad full of boys who still dream. Even say, James Milner, who is 35, he still dreams of winning prizes. Of course there’s an opportunity to reach the semi-final and we know this. If you want to be a proper Liverpool legend you need to win cups as well – national cups, I mean. We all know how big the FA Cup is and that we want to win this cup as well. But we don’t look further than this game.
On his ambitions to return to management in the future…
That’s the plan. This isn’t the time to speak about these things because I have a contract until 2024 and when the time comes I will sit down with my management and I will see the options I have. But we are in the middle of this project – this beautiful project – and after that I will decide. But, yeah, definitely, that’s the plan [to go into management].
On whether he has desires to manage Liverpool one day…
This is not the moment to speak about these things. I will sit with my management in 2024 and then we will see all the options that are on the table.
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Watch on YouTubePart one of Pep's pre-Leicester press conference
On the Reds staff preferring to have a ‘smaller squad’…
It’s how you look at it. I think without a small squad we would not have Trent Alexander-Arnold, we wouldn’t have Curtis Jones, we wouldn’t have Nat Phillips, we wouldn’t have Neco Williams, we wouldn’t have all these young boys who made a step with us and [might not have] if you would have more adult professional players. I believe with the right processes in place, with the strong Academy we have, that we can also win with them. These players will not let you down, we saw that. I think it’s a clear strategical decision we made a few years ago. It can be a win-win situation. I understand what you mean, of course – you can expect more from professional players but I believe a smaller squad will give everybody constantly the position to play football. And I think that’s really important in a healthy squad, that everybody feels they can [be called] upon in each moment of time. It can go together.