Going back to the scene of 'the worst performance ever',
you must have learned a lot from that, what will you do differently?
Everything.
That’s the plan obviously. We knew before the Wolves game
it was Brighton [in the next round]
and we showed we really wanted to go through.
That’s football. There is always a new chance, and you can always do better.
That’s what we will do.
But Brighton is in a really good moment, no doubt about that.
Any players closer to a return?
Closer, yes!
Or imminent?
No.
It will take another couple of weeks, I think, until they can start. Luis [Diaz], longer.
Diogo, Bobby and Virgil...couple of weeks,
then they can join training, then we have to see how quick it goes from there.
Stefan Bajcetic, new contract signed yesterday,
a real talent, you must feel he's got a very promising future.
Absolutely. That was pretty clear from the first moment,
but you never know how quick it goes [his progress].
We were pretty careful with him, because of his age.
He showed now he is ready, and for us it is very helpful, with all of his natural skills.
It’s something we didn’t show often enough in the recent games;
aggression, but a good aggression - it’s not that he kicks players.
He is a good footballer on top of that,
so that’s obviously very important in the centre of the park.
I'm really pleased he signed his new contract.
He deserves it and I think he is really happy about it.
Just finally from me, here on Merseyside,
got to get your reaction to Frank Lampard's dismissal at Everton across the park.
Yeah, that's the business.
That's how it goes, and of course I feel for Frank,
he tried everything, last year was not easy as well,
when he arrived, so I think he did well.
And then this year, after losing Richarlison, and Calvert-Lewin not coming back,
we all know how injuries can really impact a season.
In these decisive positions especially.
So, yeah, that's what we in this job have to accept,
that these kinds of things happen, but Frank will come back, definitely.
He's a young manager, and everything is ahead of him.
Looks like Sean Dyche is coming back.
Yeah, I don't know.
- We do. - You do?
That's clear, I saw Bielsa landing...
He just enjoys flying.
Jürgen, was there much talk among the players after that defeat at Brighton?
Assessing what went wrong,
and what can the players take from that going into this match?
Albeit it's a different competition and you're the cup holders as well.
Being cup holders, I don’t think it’s [a] massive advantage in the competition.
We start completely new. We know how great the event is if you arrive at the final,
so that’s of course in our mind, and is helpful if you want.
Yeah, it [the last game against Brighton] is still the worst game I have ever seen.
That didn't change - thank God, imagine we would have played even worse the week after.
Pretty much everything went wrong.
We had to change the approach completely, not only against Brighton, but in general.
We did really well in spells during the games [against Wolves and Chelsea].
I think the first half against Chelsea was really disciplined.
Chelsea are a really good football team and we didn’t give them a lot to play through,
which is important. That’s something we have to do similar against Brighton, of course.
In the second half [against Chelsea], we built on the first half and started really well.
We got a bit overly excited.
We were not that compact, and the pressing was not that coordinated,
and then Chelsea got two chances.
That is something we want to work with and that’s where we want to go from.
Being more compact than we were at Brighton [in the first game] would be really helpful.
Compact in our case never means being very deep - we cannot do that.
But in the decisive areas we need to be compact, we need to defend them well.
We respect them a lot for good reasons, and we did that before the first game as well.
We have to make it more difficult for them, and we will do.
Then we will see what we make of that.
I remember the replay against Wolves,
you made a few changes but those changes impressed,
we saw the performance against Chelsea building on that,
so will it be a similar selection to those last two games?
We didn't make these decisions yet, but we had a long training week,
and will do after the game again, and that's something we always use.
Everybody can show up, and the boys who started the games,
if they look like they have to go again, they will start.
If not, we have up front not too many [options], Darwin is back,
in midfield we have a few options and I hope it stays like that.
Like I said, whoever is ready to defend is more than welcome in the team,
and the boys look like they understood, so now they have to show it on the pitch.
Hi, Jürgen. Obviously you want to have Virgil van Dijk back when he's ready,
but that's two clean sheets since the Brighton game.
You talk about being compact, is that the first thing you look at as a manager
to make sure you keep things tight?
How encouraged have you been by those last two defensive performances?
I think we could have had clean sheets with Virgil as well, to be honest.
It's nothing to do with that,
I don't think we ever had to discuss the quality of our centre-halves,
and they weren't responsible when we didn't have clean sheets.
I wouldn't say they played a perfect season so far but it's defending,
and defending is much more complex than talking about centre-halves.
Yeah, clean sheets are massive for us;
I know everybody waits for a performance where we're three or four nil up early,
free-flowing football, that's what you want to see,
but that's what you have to work for.
The clean sheet is the best start in that direction,
because it means you can win a game 1-0, and that result is completely fine.
So, yes, clean sheets are massive to us.
You've had so much success in the cup competitions in recent years,
can that give you momentum in your league form as well?
It can, but you cannot say it like that,
we are not famous for going far in the FA and Carabao Cups,
last year we went all the way but before that...
Yes, we qualified quite frequently for the Champions League final,
but the other competitions we were out a bit earlier.
So, cup competitions are always difficult when you have midweek games,
but now we have a full week to prepare the game.
In our tight schedule I'm not sure the FA Cup should have a weekend matchday,
but now we have it and it's good to prepare at least,
but it will make other things more difficult -
we still have two games in hand which somebody has to fit in somewhere,
no news about that yet.
So the further we would go in the cup, the more complicated it would be,
but let's see, it's not a problem for now.
So, every good game or result, regardless of the competition,
will give you confidence and momentum.
In the moment the job is slightly different obviously,
because we have to improve a lot of things, but when you're winning five or six in a row
there's a lot of work to do as well, it's not like it just happens.
One is with less confidence and one is with more.
Each good result gives confidence and that's why we'll try to play really good at Brighton.
Just going back to that Brighton defeat,
do you refer to that performance at all with the players?
Because it's so recent in the memory.
Not on a daily basis but, of course, we had intense talks after the Brighton game.
We had to change immediately, and we did.
A couple of days later we played against Wolves
and it obviously looked completely different.
After the game, I said it looked like two different sports.
Now, we will not do the meeting where we show all the bad situations from Brighton,
or it will be a proper horror show.
We saw that already - we played it and saw it.
If there is anything good about it, it was that it was so bad everybody was clear,
so it's not about here and there [things need to change],
it’s about general change and improvement of different things.
You can lose a game, but if you don’t learn from it, it’s just a defeat.
If you learn from it, then that’s important as well. We intend to do things like that.
You've played the same midfield three for the past two games,
what's the dynamic that those three offer you?
Obviously we had injuries after Brighton, or little niggles in there,
so it was clear that we had to change anyway.
I liked the rhythm; I liked the mix of offensive things and defensive readiness -
I liked that.
It was not the three alone, because the three alone can do nothing,
but the front lines did that really good as well, that's really important to us.
There are specific things an opponent is doing;
it's not that each opponent offers absolutely everything
and you have no clue what they're doing.
Sometimes that can happen, but less so with quality teams.
Just with teams trying to survive then you don't know really what you prepare for -
but it's Brighton [and] a lot of things are clear what they are doing.
You have to respect that and defend that.
If you don't do that then you are screwed, there is no doubt about it.
The midfield three, it just worked well for these games.
We will see who will start [on] Sunday.
It’s not about...against anybody, or whatever.
It's just the boys in the moment train, it's not about the midfielders - they all show up.
They obviously all want to play, so that's good.
And my job is then to make the decision,
let's see how it works best and then we have five opportunities to change.
For me it’s exactly the same importance [between] how we start
and how we finish a game. It's exactly the same.
The players might be slightly different... for me it's the same importance.
So, we have six [or] seven midfielders in top shape. Perfect situation.
We play a system now, or used to play now for a while,
[where] only three can start.
But then you cannot make mistakes, let me say that, with line-ups. That's good.
That's actually a situation I want to be in again.
Is the midfield more important than ever against a team like Brighton?
They've got real strength in there with Caicedo and Mac Allister.
It is, but against Brighton especially
it's massively important how we defend the first line.
So, they are that good.
[Moises] Caicedo and [Alexis] Mac Allister and then the two centre halves [are] calm...
The goalie - really calm. So, they just pass the ball through.
If the front three is not defending well - and that was our problem at Brighton -
that's how it started. The midfield wanted [to press] but were never close enough.
If you defend Brighton with seven...
Theoretically, if you defend Brighton with seven players, no chance.
That’s the situation.
It's not about the midfield, they are good there, that's why we have to be good there.
Yes, that's one part, but it's really about how we defend in general.
Where's Arthur Melo up to in his rehab?
Pretty good. He's running a lot,
for him as well, two/three weeks maybe until he can join team training.
But it looks good for a while already, he needs a proper build-up,
he wasn't a part of team training.
So this week, Fabio Carvalho is obviously out, he has a little thing but he will not be ready.
Maybe he can train today but he will not be 100 per cent ready for the weekend.
Millie wasn't in training for one day but he's fine, there was no injury reason.
Who else? Nat has a proper cold.
Just on Nat, is there a chance he could go before the deadline?
It depends on the offers, but we have to be prepared for pretty much everything.
The 31st is deadline day
and we will see, I don't know.