- Good morning, Jürgen. - Morning, Peter.
Many congratulations on last night, I know we're here to talk about Crystal Palace,
but if I could just ask you to reflect on that for a second,
there seemed to be a lot of happy faces in that stadium last night from Liverpool.
What impact does it have on a cup like yours getting to a Wembley final?
The best possible. We were desperate to go there,
we didn't think we were out of it after the draw at home to Arsenal,
traditionally that's a big mountain to climb but we were ready for that,
in difficult circumstances the boys played an outstanding game.
Up to a specific point in the game we really controlled it and played really good stuff,
I'm more than happy about that,
so, you're right, there were a lot of happy faces in the dressing room,
the music was loud afterwards, the boys really wanted it
and the boys made it happen, and we are really happy about it
and looking forward to the final.
The only problem is obviously we have six or seven games to play before then!
We have to put it aside a little bit but keep the feeling, because it was good,
you don't just win like this away at Arsenal,
we did it the hard way, but we are Liverpool: obviously we are used to the hard way,
the boys did it, and I'm really happy about that.
And what about your match-winner?
Because I think when you signed him a while ago for £41 milllion
there were a few eyebrows raised,
but he just seems to have fitted in so comfortably.
I know you talked after the game about him turning into a world-class striker.
How does a player like that turn into a world-class striker?
With work.
Yeah, but if you don't have the basis you cannot, nobody can.
Nobody can do miracles, or perform miracles, in this department.
So it's not like... DIogo came here and was [already] an outstanding player, to be honest.
But of course it helps when you're a striker especially,
when your new team has a bit more possession than the former team.
That's already helpful.
The players around help, but yesterday he had to do an awful lot
to make it happen.
So, as good as the passes were from Trent, especially the second one,
there was still a job to do.
And so Diogo is a really impressive person.
Really grown up, really mature young man,
and loves obviously football - loves working, loves training,
all these kind of things, and that's very helpful,
and he is was in the middle of the team after 3-4 weeks.
There was no time really needed for adapting to whatever.
Yeah, for the way we play a little bit,
that probably took the longest, but that's it.
That process is finalised obviously as well,
so I'm really happy for him, just that he can show up,
because if you have this quality,
it's nice if you can show it in public, and that's what he did now a couple of times.
And back to London again this weekend for Palace,
the last time you won there was an incredible occasion,
seven goals going in, I suspect it won't be just as straightforward this time.
They do seem to have changed a lot under Patrick [Vieira].
Yeah, it didn't happen again after that!
Was that the last time we were there? Wow.
That was a...one-off or whatever!
Things like this are like a freak of nature.
It doesn’t happen usually.
That day was incredible, we scored pretty much with each shot.
They had chances but we hit everything.
So, no, we don’t expect that game, that’s true.
And, yes, they changed and improved under Patrick, I have to say.
They look like a really stable team now.
I think system-wise they didn’t change too much, 4-3-3 or whatever,
but it’s a good team, a really good team.
I always liked the front line -
the players available for Crystal Palace were always good.
When Townsend was still there, then Zaha, then Benteke and Ayew.
Now Edouard, Gallagher obviously supporting everybody on the pitch,
really lively boy.
And good defence as well, all these kinds of things.
It’s a really good Premier League team, with a few unlucky results I would say.
It’s not that I now saw 20 games of Crystal Palace
but I saw a couple and thought, "OK, that could have been the other way"
when they lost or drew. So we expect a really tough game.
Thank you, have a nice weekend.
That depends on the result, by the way!
Jürgen, you mentioned having six or seven games before the final,
but talking about the spirit in the dressing room last night,
what does that do over those six or seven games,
do you carry that resilience and momentum through and put it in a pot together?
Yeah, that would be great,
you qualify for a final and from then till the end of the season you are flying.
Unfortunately I don't know, but last night we were flying, that's true.
After the game the boys were in a really good mood,
that's how it should be, it gave us confidence,
everything that was said about us, about the boys who aren't available at the moment,
despite that the game was a really good one.
So I'm really happy about that, and, yeah, we will see,
we feel good in this moment, but we have to create a different mood until Sunday,
because Crystal Palace away, they don't make presents,
so we have to be in this fighting mood again, and we will be, we will be.
We're not kids anymore, that celebrate these things for the next four weeks,
we just take the feeling, hopefully can use it,
but we have to be greedy again, we have to be aggressive again,
we have to fight with all we have because Crystal Palace will ask for that.
That's the thing I'm concerned about, not so much how can we keep this feeling
for the next four weeks until the final.
I don't know the schedule in that much detail yet,
but who cares, we will try be as well-prepared as possible [for the final],
and exactly the same for Sunday.
Fabinho had a brilliant game last night,
winning the ball back many times and also getting forward,
which he's been doing a lot recently,
he's becoming a commanding figure in all areas of the pitch, isn't he?
Thankfully.
It’s not that Fab now came back from COVID and we all thought,
"Oh my God, he’s directly back."
I think they all need a little bit of time, that’s an observation I have to say.
Even when you have no symptoms, it’s not like seven days out,
no symptoms, coming back.
They didn’t look exactly the same,
I don’t understand it yet but maybe we’ll get more information about that over the years -
or hopefully we don’t have to get this information because at one point it’s over.
But, yes, he was outstanding last night.
The amount of balls he won, the way he defended, the way he played,
in which areas he showed up.
Yes, that was a really good game, I have to say.
That was nice to see.
But the others who came back recently -
Virgil now a really top game, Trent now a really top game.
That’s absolutely helpful.
And Caoimhin Kelleher, he didn't put a foot - or a glove - wrong last night,
he looked really assured, made some good saves,
he'd probably be number one at a lot of clubs, wouldn't he?
How highly do you rate him amongst other goalkeepers?
He is No.2 at Liverpool, which is, I would say, one of the highest ratings.
I don’t think you can be rated much higher at the age he is.
We are more than happy with him, absolutely.
This is a John Achterberg project.
There were a lot of steps to go since I arrived here.
When I saw him first time, a skinny boy from Ireland and standing in this big goal,
it was like, "OK, it could take a while until he fills it."
Since then he made incredible steps and now he is a top-class goalie, definitely.
Calm like you cannot believe, good with the ball,
and on top of that, makes incredible saves.
So, he enjoys the work with John, Jack, Taffa [Claudio Taffarel] and the other goalies,
because what can you do better in this age than to learn from the best goalie in the world?
All these kinds of things are really good for him
and we are more than happy to have him.
And how nice is to give the fans a nice trip out to Wembley as well?
Oh, great, absolutely great. Obviously it's a while since we had this kind of situation,
so I'm really happy that we could help a little with that,
and again, I am not in the mood to think about the final,
but, yeah, it will be absolutely great,
the stadium will be in red and blue, people will see the difference really well,
and it will be a really exciting game, two really good football teams,
it will be interesting.
- Hi, Jürgen. - Hi. Carl.
Just wondering how pleased have you been with Curtis' response
after your little chat with him the other week?
You win a football game, a difficult one,
you only can win it because a lot of players obviously performed really well.
And, yes, Curtis was really good last two games, yes.
I knew him for a long time now and I am one of his biggest fans, to be honest.
From the first day when I saw him I can pretty much remember,
when the Talent Group trained at Melwood on a side pitch,
I looked out of my office and I saw him there and thought, "Oof, wow!"
The next question was, "How old is he?"
I think he was 15 at the time but was already clearly a massive talent.
Talents need to work and he is doing that work.
Talents need to learn the game, he’s doing that every day and trying that every day.
Sometimes they need a little push, and Curtis looks like he is that guy.
Not that he is not concentrated or whatever;
let me say not ‘pushed’, it’s a response, a proper response,
and then he can have that much more often if he wants!
If his response is then like this, absolutely fine.
Again, we couldn’t have won that game with bad individual performances,
and he was one of them, so he performed really well.
Can I just check on availability for this weekend?
I think Pep said Ox might be back,
and Joel's substitution last night, was that tactical?
No, Joel was not tactical. My God, how good was Joel?
We thought something was not 100 per cent right, and you can change five times,
so it’s not a situation where you ask, "What [can we do]?"
We had Ibou and Joe on the bench, so we just changed. Nothing else.
Ox...
Yeah, we hope and pray, he was running yesterday
but we don’t know what that exactly means for today.
It would be helpful if he could train before the game!
I don’t know yet.
The rest, as far as I know, were only knocks. Yes, we got knocks, proper knocks.
Wow, second yellow from Partey against Fabinho, that was a proper knock.
I didn’t hear anything so that’s most of the time positive,
but sometimes I get surprised after the press conference.
But I don’t know anything else.
And just quickly, having Harvey Elliott back in training,
what's it like having him back?
Outstanding, he's an outstanding boy.
I have a really nice office with a really good view of the pitches
and when Harvey did his rehab sessions the last weeks,
I could watch probably...five of them,
so I got already excited by watching them and then he came back.
Now it’s really cool.
He was out for a long time so we cannot and will not and should not rush it,
but he looked directly like he could play!
We had to force ourselves a little bit to say,
"No, no, that makes no sense after that long period."
But I’m pretty sure after the international break he should be ready.