..which could obviously impact on this, but in all likelihood what are you going to say
to your players with regards to toning down goal celebrations
to maintain social distance?
That we'll try. I know how it is, I played myself,
it's a difficult one, but we all know about the situation,
and the boys so far did an incredible job to be disciplined,
with all the things we had to do around the pandemic.
I know they will try to do our best, if there is hopefully something to celebrate,
that it will be in an appropriate way, but it's difficult.
With all the things going around, we just have to...
It's like others said before, it's instinct, when you run alone towards a goal
and have the opportunity to score, then in the next situation have to think about
what you do then, that's just a proper, proper challenge.
Football is an emotional game and all these things.
And what we should not forget in the discussion about this
is that these players are tested two or three times a week.
During the week we reduce the contact to a minimum,
with all the things we have to do in the training ground,
these are the moments - once, twice, three times a week -
where they have to concentrate mainly on the game and on the things they have to do.
We will see.
We will try, how we always did. That’s it.
It will be your 200th game with Liverpool, and I know ahead of that
you're raising money for the Alzheimer's Society
with Sir Kenny Dalglish and Sir Alex Ferguson,
so I'm sure the rivalry with United will crop up at some point as well,
but what extra edge is there, when they can move six points clear of you
at the top of the table, or you can go back to the top by taking all three points?
Winning a football game against United is enough itself,
it's not necessary that there's a special add-on - we play at home v United, we want to win.
That’s all we have to think about.
There’s no extra add-on in that game because they are in the situation they are.
They got the points, they deserved the points they have so far,
and we have ours. The season is still a long way to go,
so it’s not really in it that we talk now constantly about:
‘If we win, we are ahead of them again.’
How it looks in the moment with the football they play again,
Man City is one game behind and is very close as well,
so you have constantly to think about other teams?
We don’t do that. We just try to win our football games,
and for this, we need to perform on our highest level because United are good,
they always were, and that’s it.
How likely is it you'll have Joel Matip available, and if there is a doubt,
have you decided whether or not
you'll drop Jordan Henderson back there as a contingency plan?
Joel is...
..close.
Does it now make sense to throw him into a game with one or two sessions -
which he didn't do yet - but today and tomorrow he might be involved?
To bring him [in], I don't know.
We have to see, we have to decide, we have to look at him and how he will train,
how he looks in training and these kind of things,
but we have still different solutions.
Hendo is very important in midfield for us as well, so we just have to see.
It's not decided yet, why should I?
Hi, Jürgen, I just wondered how impressed you've been with the work
Marcus Rashford has done in recent months and still continues to do?
I think I said it before, it's absolutely exceptional what Marcus is doing,
he has really got some reward for that,
like some honours, and it's absolutely right that he did.
It's a little bit of a shame - and I know Marcus sees it the same -
that he has to do this work, that it's not inevitable that these things happen,
but he did it because he saw the issue and had the same situation when he was a kid,
and it's just great when you see somebody never forgetting his roots.
Yeah, exceptional, an exceptional thing to do.
On the pitch, Bruno Fernandes has had a huge impact on Manchester United,
from afar do you think he's been the biggest thing to change the way they've played?
He’s an outstanding player.
Before he joined United, we played against Sporting [Lisbon] in the USA, on the tour,
and in that game already you could see, ‘Wow!’
Obviously everybody knew him
but in that game it was the first time my team played against a team where he was involved.
You could really see he was a difference-maker
and that’s what he shows now.
He is settled, he is a very influential player for United obviously, involved in a lot of things.
I know people talk mostly about the goal involvements,
which is very important stuff, but he is a link-up in a lot of other situations as well.
I don’t know him well enough to really judge that but he seems to be a leader as well.
So, yeah, a good signing, unfortunately, for United.
Hi, Jürgen. It's already been mentioned,
your 200th league game for Liverpool tomorrow,
your 100th league game at Anfield, of 99 so far you have only lost four,
just how proud are you of that incredible record?
Not at all because I never thought about it!
And I cannot get now proud in a second.
It looks like an OK record. But who cares about this record if we don’t win the next one?
That’s our life and how I see it, so I’m not even for a second in the past.
So far, so good.
We have to carry on, we have to get better.
That’s all that we try.
It feels like I had much more games - it’s only 200? But it’s a good number as well.
So, yeah, all OK but nothing to really think about.
Just on the injury front, in addition to Joel Matip, how ready is Naby Keita?
Naby is not ready for involvement.
It's not a big thing; it's a little bit like with other players
in the past when they came back from injuries
and then, because of the amount of games and situation in the squad, they had to play.
Then a little injury happened again.
Now we just had to put on the brake and say, "Let's settle it properly."
In the moment we have alternatives in midfield,
so we really try to give him all the time he needs to get 100 per cent fit.
That's the situation, so no, he is not in contention for Sunday.
Can I just go back to the goal celebrations and social distancing?
In your opinion, how close are we, if players don't get this right,
to maybe losing watching football and having the mental health benefits that football brings?
It's a difficult question to answer, only because whatever I say,
you all make big stories of it, and I understand it completely
but at this moment no-one uses common sense anymore.
In this moment in time we all wish we knew more about this virus,
but we get information step by step by step,
and we've been playing football for... six or seven months in the pandemic?
I don't know exactly, but we played for a while.
In these games, during goal celebrations - and we scored a few goals in that time -
nothing happened. And I know there are different things to talk about,
one is the role models we should be, but like I said we get tested two or three times.
Since it started again we get tested two times, sometimes three times, a week.
Even when the Premier League said one time is enough,
we still had two times a week because of the Champions League.
So, we know between the tests there are still two days where you could get infected,
and it happened, we had cases, pretty much all of them were when people left the bubble.
So that's true, for private reasons, for international duties,
and all of a sudden they came back and had the virus.
In our situation, it never spread, because when we all get tested
we still are distanced in the dressing rooms,
so the only thing where it looks kind of normal,
even though no people are in the stadium,
it was the only moment where we try to forget the stuff.
If somebody says, from a role model point of view,
"Oh, they can hug each other, why can't I hug someone?",
then we of course have a problem, but I think people are smart enough
to make the difference between people who are constantly tested
and those who aren't, so that makes a massive difference.
If we would think and feel that we threaten one or two of our teammates,
we never would do it, it just wouldn't happen,
but it's the only safe place we had.
Outside, people said from the beginning it's not infectious and stuff;
inside, nothing like this happens,
we have team meetings in rooms
where I have to shout so the players can understand me.
So, I understand the discussion and I have no real solution,
but if someone says we have to stop the game because of that
and cause other issues, which I'm sure would happen in society
because I really think meanwhile it has been proven how important football is
in these times. And I know there's much tougher things,
but it's really tough for all the boys, our building is cold all day
because the doors are open for the whole day,
everybody walks through here in warm coats. We just try absolutely everything,
we had to close the canteens and all these kinds of things,
there's no point during the week where you can create kind of a group feeling,
because what you usually would do is, "Come together, let's talk about this",
all really important things on a daily basis,
we can't do it so we don't do it.
We don't sneak into a room where nobody sees us, that never happens,
we just stick to the rules,
and if now somebody says, "If you do this again we have to stop the game",
I wouldn't understand, to be honest.
But I'm not the decision maker, we follow the rules, we try everything,
that's what I said in the beginning, but nothing happened around celebrations.
There was a good example only last week against Southampton,
Danny Ings, I don't say 100 per cent sure, but we try,
but if someone stands there and says, "They're too close, now we have to..."
It's not right, and again, if we deliver, apart from some entertainment, something,
then it's as well that, if you get tested often enough,
if you stick to the rules, then you are not as much in danger as you would be.
You can still do stuff that is possible, like sports outside, nothing happens there.
I understand that the rules have to be strict, because we all know what happens.
But we have to learn from the things that have worked in the past few months,
and football worked. The increased number of cases,
it was always clear the winter would be a challenge,
because people are more inside, and it was always clear Christmas would be a challenge.
Both happened, but now, being surprised that it happened is just not right.
I know people work tirelessly on solutions, and I don't have them,
but what I have is experience in some situations during the week
of what works and what doesn't. That doesn't work for the whole outside world,
but in a football environment most of these things happen.
That's all I can say really about that.
- Hi, Jürgen. - Hi, Carl.
Are you surprised that your comments about the amount of penalties
Liverpool and Manchester United get is still generating debate?
We've had former referees chipping in, today we've got Marcus Rashford saying that
when Mourinho was manager at United he told him he needed to be more streetwise
in terms of winning penalties.
I'm just wondering if you've ever said anything similar to your players?
No. I can be 100 per cent honest - I never, ever mentioned something like this.
To any player I have worked with, and I've worked with a lot,
ask all of them, it never happened.
Am I surprised that someone is talking about what I said after the Southampton game?
No, I'm not. Am I surprised that Mark Clattenburg speaks about it? No.
I'm not sure if he got asked a lot of things long after his career,
so it's nice for him that we can talk about him as well,
but I'm not Sir Alex, and for different reasons.
When he said I tried mind games, I was directly after the Southampton game,
we had another game in between and I didn't think for a second about the United game.
But before the Southampton game I saw the stats about penalties,
and that's why I mentioned it.
When people like Mark Clattenburg speak like they speak,
it always says much more about them than it could ever say about me,
so if he was in my situation he would obviously play mind games.
I unfortunately have no skills to play mind games, that's my problem.
In terms of player reaction, are you just happy for the natural course of events to play out
and whatever comes of it, comes of it?
How long have we been playing behind closed doors, in the pandemic?
Is it five months?
And now we come up with this. I know there's a new strain of the virus
and the numbers went up...
I think Carl's talking about penalties.
No, sorry, what I was saying was, you're happy for the natural course of events
in terms of penalties to take their course?
Because we've had cases in the past where Mo's been fouled,
not gone down, not got a penalty,
so you're happy for that to play out without telling players to make sure they get one?
We just didn't speak about it. There were two situations in the last two games,
Sadio Mane had a foul situation, which is a penalty for me,
I cannot whistle but I have to say my opinion,
there was the handball and there was another situation where Sadio didn't go down,
and that's why I said, when people say he is a diver or whatever,
it's just not right.
The game before against Newcastle,
we had pictures where the goalie had both arms around Sadio's legs,
he didn't go down, he tried to score the goal.
So I didn't ask him why he didn't go down,
Sadio knows, if he gets fouled, he goes down.
That's how it is, and if not, then not, obviously.
Yes, it is natural, and it's not the player who should make the decision,
it's the ref, and after the Southampton game, the next day,
pretty much the only thing I read,
to try and understand how people are obviously living on a different planet to me
in how they see the situation.
The handball was no handball, the Mane thing,
I think his name is Mr Dermot [Gallagher],
the ref watch, he said it was no handball and the other was no penalty,
and you think, "OK, obviously I'm wrong and they are always right."
So it's just the situation. I don't want penalties which aren't penalties,
but if there is a penalty, it would be nice if they whistle it, because it's part of the game.