- Hi, Jürgen. - Hi.
Just looking again at last night, some of the analysis looked at
defending deeper to deal with balls over the top
and also restoring Fabinho to midfield was brought up,
because of what you miss when both he and Jordan aren't there.
What do you feel you need to change, if anything,
to rediscover the continuity of positive results that we've seen from you?
First and foremost, it’s completely normal and absolutely OK
that everybody has an opinion about it.
If we go through that game, we had the situation with...the offside Timo Werner goal,
and you cannot avoid counter-attacks when players like Timo are involved,
because of the speed he has.
The general defending is about your own attack,
you cannot wait with your last line
when you have your own attack and then you theoretically lose the ball,
and there will be counter-attacks.
Teams who defend really deep will face counter-attacks, that’s how it is.
The other situation, when we conceded the goal we had enough players
behind the ball, it’s not that we were surprised from the counter-attack,
it was not about the high last line in that moment.
We had the players there, we were actually too deep in that moment, in the box,
when Mason Mount finished the situation.
So, in this case it was not about the line.
What was the other thing? Fabinho in midfield? Yeah, would be great.
We had the problem that Nat Phillips,
who played now together with Ozan [Kabak], couldn’t play, so we had to make a decision:
do we take now an unexperienced pairing on the pitch or do we take Fab?
We decided for Fab.
Ozan had a little problem yesterday after the game.
He's played a lot of games now, we'll see if he's ready but it doesn't look like it.
So, we will have to find solutions.
I understand completely you have absolutely different views on things,
but in the moment when we make decisions,
we make the decisions because we think they are the best.
Obviously last night you explained Mo's substitution as well,
and I noticed his agent tweeted something cryptic,
but focusing it on Mo and his reaction,
it's easy for us to put two and two together,
particularly when there were those quotes months ago
saying that he was unhappy when he wasn't captain against Midtjylland.
So it's easy to look last night and say, "There could be a problem here."
What do you to ensure there is no lasting problem?
Oh, talking, that's how it always is.
I’m not even sure if this situation is now a reason for a proper talk about it,
because there were different things.
We are 1-0 down, that makes no player happy.
You go off, you can react how you react in different ways
because you are not happy about the general game.
On top of that you get subbed, you're a striker, you think you should stay on the pitch -
that’s all completely clear and not an issue. It’s just normal life.
Apart from that, because you mention now Midtjylland,
that’s so long ago, it was absolutely nothing.
Mo is in a good mood, he scored goals after that.
That’s all OK. These things are not our problem.
Is there an argument though that Mo, along with the rest of the front three,
need to rediscover their best levels?
And to that end, could the return of Jota, now he's available,
give them that extra competition that will see those levels raised again?
We all have to improve, definitely.
You only lose games when you have more potential than the results show.
It’s all about the performance, yes, and that’s where we all have to improve.
Mo still has a great scoring record,
but I’m sure everybody knows, and he knows himself,
even he could have scored more goals.
But, again, Mo’s scoring record is not our problem.
In general we have to improve, 100 per cent.
Just looking ahead to the Fulham game, what have you made of them
and what do you think of Scott Parker as a young manager?
Great, absolutely great. Difficult getting relegated and getting promoted,
which is already difficult enough. A big, big achievement.
When you see them, I like that really.
I thought it the other day, the way Brighton is playing, the way Fulham is playing,
is really exceptional in this league.
Yes, it’s tough to stay in, but I think it’s a really good sign for England
to see these young English managers.
Graham Potter is English as well?
Yeah, yeah!
It’s really good and a good sign because they tried to stay in the league
with two teams for whom it’s difficult.
But they do it in a football way.
I think both of them show really that they are ready for a big career.
That’s good for English coaches in general, I think.
If you now look at Fulham - difficult start and now meanwhile in the last few weeks,
for sure they got more points than we got in the last few weeks.
That says already everything. That will be a tough one.
It’s a football-playing team, they have an incredible possession record for a team
in that area of the table. They try their way and it looks like it will work out.
A few months ago maybe it looked like it’s already decided
which three teams will go down, and that’s now completely different.
It’s all close again.
Fulham lost [on Thursday]; I couldn’t see it yet -
we have the analysis meeting after this press conference -
but I saw a few pictures yesterday from the game
and you saw a really - not sure if 'dominant' - but a very active Fulham side
and Tottenham had to do everything to defend them.
That’s what the job will be for us as well.
I hope we can have a little bit more of the possession and can create more problems
for them as well. But we have to be ready for a proper game,
because you shouldn’t make the mistake to judge Fulham
because of their position in the table.
You have to judge them because of the performance they are able to show.
And that’s what we do.
Can I ask, does a run like this change in any way how you operate as a manager?
What do you find yourself doing more of on the training field?
Oh, we adapt to the situation.
You cannot always adapt to the result or whatever that would mean,
I don’t know exactly, but to the situation,
to the players we have available, to the circumstances the players are in,
the way we want to get stability, the way we have to create.
Of course, we work on finishing as well, so there is always an awful lot to do.
There is only little things you only can just let run, because they work anyway.
The most important thing is - and I said it last night,
and I cannot change it now overnight -
the thing we have to improve is our decision-making in decisive moments.
That’s clear. That’s obvious, I think.
With all the few good things we did last night, in the end,
I’m not sure 100 per cent on numbers now,
but Chelsea had more shots on target than we had.
Shots on target are not THE sign, it’s the goals you score, but it’s a sign.
I said it last night, a lot of things were really good but the last pass
was not good enough and that killed these situations.
We have to work on it and we do that,
but in the end it’s football as well, it’s about creating a feeling in the game,
like a confidence or whatever.
If you are 1-0 down it’s different to being 1-0 up,
and that one situation brought us into the situation
where we had to chase the game again,
and against a quality side like Chelsea that doesn’t make life easier,
especially if you then don’t use the situations you have.
We know the big chances we had, and if we use them,
then the whole game can change.
If not, then not.
Hi, Jürgen, can I just ask please about injuries?
And particularly Nat Phillips and Ben Davies,
how close are they being back to full fitness?
Nat I think will be ready, Ben as well.
It's not easy in our situation, we brought him in and he has to adapt,
he's a really good player, we just have to make sure that...
If you bring one new player and then a second new player it changes everything,
so we have to see which decision we make for it.
It looks like from the boys who were available - and I didn’t get the final information yet,
only yesterday after the game - the game could come too quick for Ozan,
but Nat should be ready again, and Ben.
Hi, Jürgen, how are you, all right?
Kind of.
I'm just wondering if you think this dip in form was inevitable?
You've worked so hard climbing the mountain in the last two years,
winning the European Cup, Club World Cup, Premier League -
was it kind of inevitable because you've worked so hard to get to the very top?
I don’t think so. Inevitable means unavoidable?
That it goes constantly in one direction, I am not sure if that’s possible or not.
There are other teams in the world that did that,
but you can only do that if your problems are not getting bigger
than the solutions you can have.
I think the most difficult league to stay on top of everything
for a long period is England.
It could happen and there is one team who maybe has everything for it -
the team, obviously the players, the manager, the money and all these kind of things -
it’s Man City.
All the rest has to fight with all you have to get closer, and when you are close enough,
then maybe you can make what we showed last year.
But there is a big difference between the situation we are in now
and the situation which could have happened.
Coming second or third or whatever in a year when it is not perfect for you,
I think, for everybody, is absolutely OK,
and you have the chance to go far in the cup competitions, you have the chance
to go as far as possible in the Champions League and all these kind of things.
But our situation is different.
I think we all agree it is a really strange one injury-wise,
and football is much more a rhythm game than maybe people might think.
It means when you can rely on different things,
when you can build on different things, then you can reach your personal best as a team.
We never had that situation this year, that we really could build on something,
because we had to change too much.
That’s it, that’s the situation.
That shows why it was clear it would be difficult for us from a specific point
in the season on, but then of course the job you have to do then
is to fight with all you have to get the results anyway.
Maybe not with your absolute best football or whatever,
but [get] the results anyway.
That’s the point where we didn’t do well enough because we didn’t get results.
In an average game you still can win it, or you can draw it or whatever,
but we lost even games where we were actually good –
and that’s of course absolutely the opposite of how it should be.
We are very self-critical, we know that and we take and face all the criticism,
that is absolutely OK.
But it is still our situation and we cannot change the past,
the only thing we can try to change is the near future.
Just to go back to Mo, you said about him feeling the intensity of the game last night.
Does he feel as well the responsibility of being the main goal-scorer in the side?
His numbers are what you expect them to be, whereas Sadio's and Roberto's arent.
Absolutely possible of course, but I don’t think for him that’s kind of a pressure -
I think he enjoys that, rather. It’s not about that.
Mo’s goal-scoring record is absolutely outstanding again,
especially when you look at the consistency.
Again, I said it, last night I could have changed other players as well.
That’s true. It was more about who we bring on in that moment.
In the situation when you make a decision like that, he looked, for me,
like he felt the intensity. He probably saw it completely different,
and, again, that’s absolutely fine.
That is not the most important thing in the world.
Half an hour without Mo Salah,
maybe that’s the reason why he can play on Sunday again and stuff like this.
We make these decisions in the moment and not with any thoughts in behind.
The problem is only you have to explain it after the game,
the day after the game and all these kind of things
and you try to find a story. These kind of stories, so far, they didn’t happen.
I cannot guarantee for the future of all time that it will never happen,
but these kind of discussions we never had.
It is completely normal, I make a decision, the boys accept it,
nobody feels that he has nothing to do with the situation or that he is not responsible for it.
I don’t do that, the players don’t do that,
we all know we came together to the top and we came together to the point here,
and we will sort it together. That’s our idea of it.
I cannot not change a player just because it creates a story afterwards,
I don’t even think about these kind of things in the moment -
‘What will that mean? Tomorrow they will ask this or that.’
It is just not like this. You do it because you think in the moment it’s right,
and you are allowed to judge afterwards if it was right,
but it doesn’t change my decision anymore, because I can’t do that.