Well, Jürgen, ten days without a game,
you'll be looking forward to getting back and West Ham coming to Anfield?
Yeah, we are, but it's...
And I'm really happy that we didn't have to play immediately after the Porto game,
because it would have been quite difficult, from this really...big result,
in a good game from our side, then to get the concentration
for a really difficult job against West Ham, so I know people now think
we have West Ham and Newcastle before we play Champions League again,
so that's like, "We need to get these points", and yes, we want to have the points,
but it's quite a big job to do.
In the form table for the past 15 games I think they are sixth,
so since David Moyes came in obviously a lot of things changed.
They get the results, I'm pretty sure they always had a good team.
Yeah, Arnautovic - flying, probably Lanzini back,
the rest - really experienced, tall, well organised and stuff like that,
so it's a real job to do.
We are looking forward to it, 100 per cent, but we know it's hard.
We've seen some reports this week about Sadio Mane's future,
he may be getting an extension to his contract - is there anything in that at all?
Nothing to say about it so far, but that we want to keep the players together,
I think that's not a secret. But no news or anything about that,
I don't know how information like that goes out or not, are they true or not,
it's normal, we want to keep Sadio here of course, not only him -
he still has a contract, so there's nothing to do about that actually.
But, yeah, we want to keep the team plus strengthen it as well in the future,
that's normal business.
And finally from me, how glad are you to see the Firmino situation resolved now?
Ah, the Firmino...
Yeah, good, was a long time, huh? And I'm really proud of Roberto,
how he dealt with it, I was, we were sure from the first second
that there's nothing to be afraid about from his side,
and so, happy that that's confirmed now.
That's all. We all take it really seriously, that's not only a saying, it's like that,
racism is...
..obviously always - we spoke about that already -
in this world, something we really need to think about and be careful with,
BUT if there's nothing, then we need to sort it as well.
So all good now, let's carry on.
Can I just ask you about your brief jaunt out to Spain, about the benefits that you've had
with your warm-weather training out in Marbella?
Like it always is with a training camp, you want the boys to be together
the whole day, pretty much. We ARE together a lot,
but not when we have time off or whatever, because we are here so often.
So it's not that the boys do a lot of hobbies together or stuff like that,
so we had that time as well, but we had four sessions while we were there. Five?
Four. Which was very important.
But between the sessions we had time, and the weather was brilliant.
Everything is easier, if you had to do hard work like we did,
then it's easier, and it was a change of circumstances again
after a long winter in England. That's all, we used the opportunity to have this,
there's nothing good to say about not being involved in the FA Cup anymore,
but if you are not in it, you have to use the time, and that's what we did.
And we saw a couple of your younger players
getting their first taste of senior training yesterday as well,
so how happy are you with what's coming through to the next generation
and how do you continue to manage getting them tasters with the first team
but also keeping them protected and ready?
We gave the next generation pretty much on loan - with Harry, with Ryan,
maybe I forgot a few, but they are now out there and trying to make the next step.
It means there's a next generation, and this generation is still here,
and, yes, of course, I want to see them often, I knew about Rafa before,
I knew about Curtis before, and a few others, Liam Millar...
Steven has a nice team together, Critch as well, with Critch it's a little bit more difficult
because pretty much we gave half his team on loan,
so not too easy, but it gives other players the opportunity to play.
Conor Masterson is quite often with us,
so we know the boys, and giving them the opportunity is always nice.
If we would have injuries now - thank God we don't have too much at the moment -
then we need them as well, for a proper training session,
but you can only use them if they are ready for that, if the level doesn't drop
when they come in. And it's not like this, it's nice to see them,
they are close, and it's good for all of us, yeah, I'm very positive about that,
I loved the result of the U19s when I saw it,
it was a quite difficult game against Man United,
they had their chances as well, but football is still a results game
and we won it and it's good. I, of course, gave my compliments to Stevie,
I like his desire, how he's doing the job, it's really cool,
and he has a good bunch of players together there, so that's all in a good way.
Happy about that, of course, but it was never in doubt.
Like I said, we gave the other boys on loan because we have the next generation here,
and now they can step up.
And just a random fact really, to throw at you - if Mo Salah scores again with his left foot
between now and the end of the season, that will be the most goals in one season
that someone has scored with their left foot.
I think Robbie Fowler was previously the most,
so has he got the best left foot in the business, would you say?
Hopefully! In the business, all over the world?
Lionel Messi, is he left-footed?
Maybe we should not forget him completely.
Yeah, best in the world, I'm not too interested in these categories, but he has a good one.
I'm happy about that, and Mo surprised a lot that he had a header as well.
And probably with the right foot he scored a few.
So I don't care which part of his body he uses, for him it's like for all the other boys.
But, yes, it's a very good left foot, for sure.
Thanks for demonstrating which is the left foot there as well.
Yeah.
LAUGHTER
From my point of view, by the way, that's the right one.
Jürgen, 11 games to go in the league, you're well-positioned with regard to your progress
in the Champions League, a lot to look forward to, how happy are you
and how would you assess the progress that you've made so far this season?
I'm absolutely not happy.
I want to be happy at the end of the season, I want to see the progress...
With the way things are going?
"Happy" is not a word I have in my mind, to be honest.
I am sometimes fine with it - sometimes more and sometimes less. So that's how it is.
But really...
..immediately after the game against Porto, it's not good for me as a human being,
but I thought about West Ham. And I know what people will say about that,
that's our life to deal with that. What I want is that we all...
..are really ready for this game tomorrow.
Will they defend a little bit deeper? Yes, probably.
And we need an atmosphere that's ready for that as well,
so nothing is decided, we're in a good position,
but a good position only gives you the basis for the next few games,
and now we have to use it as a group.
Players, coaches, manager, crowd.
So we need to be ready for a difficult game tomorrow,
because I don't know exactly the results, but they had a draw against Tottenham
or only lost by one goal against City, stuff like that,
so that shows you need to do it, you need to do it,
and they always have opportunities with counter-attacks and stuff,
set-pieces, to score by themselves, and either way it's all negative,
or when it's positive it's so positive that we don't care about the next thing,
so I'm not like this, I really want to use this basis now,
and for that we have to be at our best tomorrow afternoon.
And I know it's a lot of work to do.
West Ham, you hinted at it before,
they've made good progress since David Moyes' appointment,
and in Lanzini and Arnautovic, which you also mentioned,
they have two very dangerous players, aren't they?
Chicharito, and OK, Carroll is injured,
they have a few problems, Masuaku suspended - good player.
But they changed system, a few things, and it's just...very mature now,
we all know how difficult it is, and of course they are not safe in the league for next year,
but a few weeks ago it looked like it could be quite difficult,
now it looks much more positive for them. They will use that as well,
they know that they are in a good moment as well,
and they will show that, so that's why I say, we all know that,
in a few moments you will play against a wall of eight players at least,
and they have two quick players, maybe Chicharito and Arnautovic,
or Lanzini and Arnautovic, or whoever, a little bit hidden in different areas,
ready for the counter-attack. So that's...
We all know, that's not easy,
and the good thing is, we had time to prepare that in training,
and usually that helps us, when we have time for that,
and that's why I said it's a completely different game to Porto, for example,
and then you have to play three days later, and to do a completely different job,
that's why I was happy we didn't have to play immediately,
and so now we use the time for a lot of sessions, since we played the last game,
and, yeah, hopefully everybody can see that.
What are the key things that you've seen from West Ham under David Moyes?
Good organisation, everybody knows David better than I do
but I think he was one of the most successful managers when he was at Everton,
then maybe the Sunderland job, that's how it is in the managing life,
it was not too successful, but things like that happen,
nobody doubted his quality and now he's showing it again at West Ham.
Slaven Bilic is a fantastic manager and they did really well - until they didn't anymore,
and David came in and changed it all round again.
So it's good organisation, it's a clear plan,
it's bringing the players into their best positions,
that's what he's doing.
A few brave decisions as well, line-up wise.
Like I said, David is very, very experienced and he knows what he is doing, that's it.
Do you have any injury issues?
Not...really. In this moment.
Little things always, little bit stomach here and there, but should be OK,
nobody said to me today that they are still out,
but we had one or two players with a few issues stomach-wise.
Should be OK, hopefully.
Anyone who's a real doubt then?
Not at the moment, no.