Before we start, I wanna say - I will not answer any questions about Steven Gerrard.
LAUGHTER
Not bad, huh?
Jürgen, actually, before we move on to Steven Gerrard...
Obviously there's been various measures implemented
because of the new COVID variant,
I just wonder how fears over that variant have impacted preparations for you
and what COVID protocols have you had to implement -
or maybe reintroduce - because of it?
Yeah, tough situation for a lot of people in the world.
For us as well. When I came in this morning the Premier League said
there's a few new - or old - standards we have to go back to.
Yeah, we try, we try to be as cautious and careful as possible,
do all the things, there might be an extra test per week;
with Champions League games we get tested twice a week anyway,
we'll probably get tested three times a week now, which I'm completely fine with,
we test every morning.
So, that's it, and on top of that we'll try to booster all the people if possible.
Everyone is well at the minute?
Yeah.
Onto Steven Gerrard. He said he never wanted to face Liverpool as a player,
he will get to as a manager, I think I said to you the other week
he may just get a bigger reception than you when he walks out at Anfield,
so how do you feel, seeing someone who was brought in as an U18s coach here
during your time in charge, now returning to Anfield as a Premier League manager?
Wonderful story, to be honest.
And I can imagine a little how he is feeling,
I know he said already no sentiments, bla-bla-bla,
but Stevie is already an experienced coach,
he has been doing the job for a while already and knows exactly how to approach games,
but he has probably no idea how it will feel when he steps into the stadium.
I had that in a similar way, I cannot really compare it,
but when I came back to Mainz for the first time,
or when I went back to Dortmund with Liverpool.
So, it's strange; you like or love pretty much all the people you meet at the stadium,
and that's not often the case when you go somewhere,
it's easy to be very competitive usually.
But I could handle it, Stevie will handle it.
Stevie is friends with 99.9 per cent of the people working for Liverpool Football Club,
and the 0.01 per cent just never met him!
Because they arrived after him. I never heard a negative word about Steven Gerrard
since I met him, he's a great guy,
and he will come here and want to win the football game.
So before and after we'll shake hands,
and in between we will go full throttle and he will go full throttle.
I remember when we scored with Dortmund at Mainz,
I forgot everything about my story at Mainz, I was celebrating like a crazy devil,
so he is allowed to do that as well, I just hope he has no reason to.
Steven said you've given him advice,
I'm guessing you probably haven't before this weekend though,
can you give us an insight into what you've said to him,
and are you concerned it could come back to bite you this weekend?
Yeah, I can with football. Advice... It's long ago, really long ago.
We spoke a couple of times, but since he was at Rangers
and especially since he was at Villa we exchanged some messages,
but that's it pretty much, I'm not silly.
Not because I don't think I would give him advice, but because there's no need for it,
I watched Aston Vila often enough since he's there - quite an impact, to be honest.
Similar style to Rangers, but obviously with different players,
really good players, it feels like everybody plays exactly the position he is made for,
and it looks good. It will be a tough challenge, but that's how Premier League football is.
There is no difference to other games, we try to figure out how we can cause them
more problems than they had so far in the games they played,
and hopefully we can do that.
Hi, Jürgen. Talking to Steven earlier,
he was saying that he didn't expect,
in the conversation you had with him when he went to the academy
and managed there, he didn't think he would be coming up against you so soon,
so is that a similar thing for you -
did you think you would be competing against him so soon?
I didn't think about it in that moment,
that doesn't mean I didn't expect him to be on this level that early,
I just didn't think about it, but it's a completely natural thing,
he did some incredibly smart stuff.
He started here with the U18s knowing that he had to learn the job going to Rangers,
that's how it is in the early stages of your career,
and actually we are all learners all the time.
He took his stuff to Rangers, was very successful,
so now he is ready for everything, that's how it is.
I'm not surprised about it, but when we met then I didn't think about it.
It's not easy for a world-class player to become an outstanding manager,
but it's possible, and it looks like Stevie has all the skills you need,
and I'm really happy for him.
Hello, Jürgen.
In terms of Steven starting at Aston Villa,
what have you made of his team so far and what challenge do you think they will pose?
High-intensity.
What kind of system, 4-3-3, or we are around Christmas,
let's call it a Christmas tree [formation].
4-3-2-1, midfield - very lively, really aggressive,
a very specific way to attack with really high full-backs,
specific kind of protecting with the midfielders,
10s in between the line and a proper striker, whoever it is - [Ollie] Watkins or Ingsy.
Last line obviously looks again really settled or confident again,
let me say it like this. A good goalie.
I think it is really similar, the style of play is similar to Rangers.
It made him very successful there
and now he is already successful there [at Villa].
I think they have four games played, nine points - I heard about worse records.
I think it’s a proper start, but none of these four games were against us,
and that’s what we want to bring in.
Stevie might say there are no sentiments,
and that’s right, but from our point of view,
from the club’s point of view, there is sentiment.
We love Stevie, but that doesn’t mean anything around this game.
We are all professionals as well and we will go with all we have, and we will need Anfield.
Stevie can get the best reception in the world, because he deserves it, before the game,
after the game they can sing songs and all these kind of things,
but in the 95 minutes we need everybody behind us,
and I know our people good enough, that’s what they like as well.
And not to forget, it’s just a game,
and in a game we have to throw everything in what we can.
That means at Anfield, use Anfield.
We will try everything to create a special atmosphere, but when the people are ready
we have a good chance to have a special atmosphere
and then it’s difficult for every opponent.
That’s what we have to try to produce.
Have you spoken to him recently?
After the last game, I sent him a message: ‘Not bad at all! See ya!’
That’s it. But we didn’t speak, no.
Jürgen, do you think it's inevitable one day
with the way Steven's career is going that he will manage Liverpool
one day in the future? Once you're long gone I hope.
Oh, yeah. Yes, I think, absolutely I think [that].
The only problem is: when is the right moment for that?
That’s not only about Stevie but we saw that with Frank [Lampard], for example,
at Chelsea - a similar story.
I think that Stevie is doing really well in the moment because he is very young still
from a manager’s point of view,
so it’s just, when is the right moment to take the job?
Not that he is not able to do it, but how long you want to do it.
So, is this the last job you do, is it the second job you do, the third job you do - whatever.
That’s questions I cannot answer,
but, yes, I think it will definitely happen and...good for everybody.
Jürgen, just bringing it back to one of your players...
Thank you!
One of your midfielders who I don't think gets much praise, Fabinho...
Oh! Ask his teammates.
Is he arguably the best player in that position in Europe
and one that most managers would want in their side?
Replace 'most' with 'every' and it's probably right.
Everybody wants Fabinho in his team.
Especially after one day working with him, you want him in your team definitely.
He is not... Is he underrated?
Fab is completely fine with that, I’m fine with that.
He’s exactly in the club he wants to be,
he doesn’t need public praise to increase his value or whatever. It’s all fine.
He can have a normal life pretty much, which is cool.
Exceptional player, absolutely.
Is he the best on that position? I don’t know.
Who cares? He’s a top, top, top, top, top class player
that is hopefully very long at this club and hopefully very good at the weekend.
Just to bring it back to Steven,
you said you'll definitely become manager here one day,
that seems to have been the path mapped out for him from the start.
Does he actually have to prove...?
I'm not the right person to answer that, it's not up to me to make these decisions.
I don’t know what you have to do before you become a Liverpool manager.
I know people say you have to win things, I am not sure about that.
I think it’s more important that you win things when you are here:
you don’t have to win things in the past and be a ‘proven winner’
and all this kind of rubbish.
You can win things in the past but never win something again,
so for these kind of things you have to be the right manager,
and for each manager in the world it is really important that the club is in a stable moment.
So even when they are from a sports point of view probably not in the best moment,
because that is most of the time the reason
why a manager gets the sack and another one is coming in,
but if the rest is stable then you have a good chance to improve things,
and that’s what you have to do.
Everything that Stevie did so far looks good, like it’s going in absolutely the right direction.
But, what does that mean?
I will not... I can’t see a scenario where I will be involved in that decision, to be honest!
But who knows what the future brings - we will see.
Team news-wise, we heard the news about Nat Phillips and his cheekbone,
we didn't see Jota and Origi in the training footage yesterday.
Are they OK?
So, first, Nat... What a story.
Unfortunately, it is broken. It's not as bad as it could have been,
so no surgery needed and he can pretty much train from next week on,
but reduced because everything that could hit him in the face
could cause proper damage.
That’s why he has to be careful
and make sure in the moment when he is allowed [to train fully],
when the bone has healed, he will be in a good physical shape.
So that’s great.
How long it will take exactly, I don’t know.
Four or five weeks, something like that.
We will see.
And the other two, yeah,
Diogo felt something after the last Premier League game and he didn’t train yet.
We will see, maybe he can train today and then he is an option, and if not, then not.
Divock, just intensity,
take him out for a day, extra recovery day,
and I think he will be fine for tomorrow. Didn't hear anything different.