Jürgen, before we talk about the game, because this covers a period
when you narrowly missed out on titles to Manchester City,
people will think it has relevance to you.
So the question is, how do you feel
seeing the charges that have been brought against them
for alleged breaches of financial regulations?
I have absolutely nothing to say about that.
Fair enough. We'll move onto the game.
Good news from training this week -
Van Dijk, Bobby, Jota and Arthur, what chance have they got of figuring?
And despite what's gone before,
is it a game where you don't don't have to worry about the intensity of your players?
Yeah, the players are back in training in different stages.
Diogo is the closest, he trains now normal already for two days,
so another three days [of] training is possible for him.
I think he is in contention for the squad, I would say,
but we have to wait a little bit.
Bobby next one... I don’t know, we have to see how that looks now,
how he deals with training intensity [and] stuff like this and then we make a decision there.
Virgil, I don’t think he is that close already, but we will work on that as well.
Arthur, probably similar to Bobby, I would say.
That's it.
And what else was it, I don't need to worry about intensity?
Intensity is always important, an important part of the game
and we never went into a derby and said,
"Oh, I have nothing to say, it’s a derby, go for it."
There is always information we have to give and we will give [it] this time as well.
We know it’s a difficult game, Sean Dyche is now there
and obviously [made] a massive impact immediately, it was obvious.
We have to prepare that - that’s what we did and will do in the upcoming days.
Looking at his impact, do you feel your group need a lift,
and is this a big chance? Do you get even more of a lift from a game like this?
Yeah, it was very often now in recent years that it was always like this,
that Everton could sort a lot of problems just beating us or whatever,
when they were not happy with what happened around...
and for us it was not a normal game but another game
where we needed desperately three points. That didn’t change, to be honest.
But I know where you’re coming from, of course.
After the game we played at Wolves, we have to show a reaction again.
I know our people want to see that. I want to see that. We have to show that.
This is not a time we wanted to have,
or a time we are happy to be in or whatever.
But I think this is a time where as well we can show, if we want to show,
that the club is really special.
The boys delivered a lot of great moments in the last few years.
In the moment, for different reasons - not all of them are clear -
it’s not possible or we didn’t do it.
But we are fighting for it, to change the situation in a better direction.
I really believe the better you behave in your lower moments,
the quicker you get in the better moments,
and then the much more success you will have in the better moments
because you are just still together.
That’s, I think, like that in normal relationships
and football relationships should be like that as well.
And I thought so far we did really well all together,
especially our supporters.
And I’m really looking forward to a derby atmosphere,
a proper atmosphere, and to a proper, proper football game.
Morning, Jürgen. What sort of Everton are you preparing for under Sean Dyche?
You've obviously faced his teams before.
A very compact side, very good in counter-attacking really
and set-pieces will be very dangerous for us, a very important subject definitely.
That’s the team, you could see that in the last game,
it was good, a really good game.
They had a lot of the game in their moments.
Of course Arsenal were dominant, that’s clear,
but in the end Everton had really good chances
before they scored already, and the goal came from a set-piece;
that’s how they scored in the end but they could have scored in other moments as well.
So we prepare for the team we saw against Arsenal, that makes sense.
And because they are longer together now,
all the patterns can be a bit clearer for everybody.
But the difference is it’s not there, it’s here [Anfield] -
so we have to make sure that is clear and will be clear in the game as well.
You've got a great record in Merseyside derbies,
I think it's one defeat from the last 24 in the Premier League.
Is there one that stands out?
I had 24 derbies already?
Not you, but the club.
Ah, OK, wow.
But is there one derby moment that stands out?
Yeah, of course, but that's not important now.
It's the 1-0 at home [December 2018], but it's just the emotion,
not the kind of goal, a late winner in a derby is the best thing that can happen.
That day was set for a draw pretty much, then it clicks.
So, that's my favourite moment,
but it's nothing to do with the kind of goal or whatever.
Jürgen, just to pick up on something you said earlier,
does it matter that you're playing Everton on Monday,
or is it just another opportunity to...
Both, both.
It matters always, but it's another opportunity as well.
Whoever would come, we would have to show, but it's still Everton.
For them, on another importance level, but for us as well.
It was never that we thought, "Oh, my God, Everton..." or whatever -
no, it's a very important game in our situation, and in general. So, both.
I'm going to ask one on Jordan Henderson, his last start was nearly a month ago.
To put some context in, he's featured 91 times for club and country
since the start of last season,
so whilst you've been dealing with all the other problems and the injuries,
I guess you have to factor in player management as well,
with fatigue and other things that can creep into the performance of a player?
Of course, yes.
How can I answer that - yes.
But 91 appearances, that's a lot.
Yeah, absolutely. So it's...
People don’t want to hear this kind of thing, it sounds like an excuse.
But there must be reasons for a few things we did this season,
and we don’t turn to bad people overnight.
It’s not that we lost our football brain, we don’t know the game anymore and stuff like this.
What could be the reason on top of that, apart from losing confidence,
never having momentum and stuff like this?
Yes, there are some physical things as well. They are clear.
Other players from other clubs have similar problems
and cannot play the season they played last year.
For us, it is now not too important because the last season is long ago,
now we try to manage things - like workload - as much as we can.
Because we couldn’t do it, and now we can do it a bit more,
but in the past we couldn’t because everyone who was available,
especially up front, had to play.
We had changes up front, and when you have changes up front
you want to have a more settled midfield, where it's clear what's happening
and you don’t change too much and all these kind of things.
The workload management is not that easy, let me say it like this,
but this week they all look incredibly fresh - that’s the truth as well.
The training sessions so far were really good, super-intense from how the boys did it,
and, so, 91 games, but the 92nd could be a really good one.
Jürgen, talking about Jordan Henderson,
like a lot of the other players his form has not been at the highest standard
throughout the season. Obviously we saw what he can do at the World Cup.
When he's not around, how much do you miss his leadership in that key midfield area?
I don’t understand now why we talk about one player.
I mean it: Hendo, I hope everybody knows how much I respect him and stuff like that.
It's now one there who plays really well, and now we talk about Henderson.
Sorry, I don't like to say it but it's true:
you are not able to deal with these kinds of things.
When I talk about one player, you make it their subject.
I spoke too long about it to you already.
Hendo is not our problem - never was and never will be.
When he is ready, good shape and the rest,
he played probably 98 per cent of the games we had.
Now he didn’t start for two or three games,
he came on, all these kind of things.
He played all these games because he is a very, very, very important player for us.
That’s the only reason, there is no other reason for it.
When he is not playing then you miss that, that’s how it is.
I understand that you have to think about subjects, but I cannot answer this question,
because there's nothing...
Yes, he’s very important, I said that.
That was pretty much the question.
No, the question was about when you've struggled with midfield balance this season,
Jordan Henderson's form hasn't been up to his usual standard, like all the others,
the question is about... Just let me finish. How much his leadership...
No, true, but the key part is 'like all the others.'
So if we we missed something from Hendo but all the rest were there,
we wouldn't miss it that much.
But he's an inspirational figure for you.
Like all the others are, like Virgil van Dijk is
when he is on his top level, we miss him like crazy at his top level.
But not even Virgil played all the games sensationally well.
I am still overly happy that he’s coming back.
This is a team story and, if you want, a manager story. Nothing else.
Not individual players or individual members of staff or whatever.
This story doesn’t work, definitely not. That’s all.
After last week and some of the comments you made about the first 15 minutes,
can you sense that the players this week want to front up and accept responsibility?
Definitely. Definitely.
All the signs are there, but when I say that now, I know people will sit at home,
watch this and say, "Yeah, but show it on Monday."
We see it exactly the same: we have to show it on Monday.
Training was so far really good, and will be, everything is in the right direction.
That’s true. Aggression is there, determination is there, readiness is there,
concentration is there, focus is there, intensity is there.
So far, a really good week.
Hi, Jürgen. After every bad performance you're asked to explain the reasons for it,
is there a point where there's only so much you can say
and it's just a question of going with feel or thinking differently about something?
Can you get to a point where you've done all the analysis
and there's no other explanation?
A few problems.
In the best possible period we ever had,
it's very easy to do a press conference,
because you don't ask really important questions,
it's like, "Oh, my God, he scored three goals" and stuff like this.
We have a laugh together and it's nice.
When it's not going well, of course we cannot explain similar mistakes 500 times
in a different way, or always new mistakes.
So it's not easy, and you know it,
it's not disrespectful when I say you cannot deal with it,
because some of you make massive things of things I say where that was not my intention.
I try to get through this without...
I'm responsible for it, you should blame me, but if I talk about Hendo it's:
"Henderson's not there, and this player's not there", these kinds of things.
So I have to be careful, because I don't want to do it,
and that's why it's so difficult to talk all the time about things like this.
That's why it's really helpful to at least from time to time win a game,
because at least then you have a little break.
I don't have that now for a while, so that makes it really intense.
It's just difficult, not impossible.
I can explain absolutely everything in football - but not to you.
No, that's true, because you understand yourself,
or you can find someone to explain it, it's not my job.
Maybe after my career you can call me and ask, and I can explain it to you,
but what I see is not for you.
But it's nice about the game, you can write about the game all week
and no-one tells you if you're wrong or right.
And people can say what they want, absolutely fine.
So there's the problem, I am completely in a situation where I can explain everything
to the boys and we understand most of it -
not everything can be understood, to be 100 per cent honest -
but we go from there.
So that's the good thing about it,
the next game is coming up and we have the chance for a better result,
then a much easier press conference afterwards.
I have no problem with it, but 'enjoy' is not the right word!
You said the players are looking incredibly fresh,
I'm just wondering how beneficial time off is?
Think they had a couple days earlier this week.
Yeah.
In Germany this question would have come much earlier:
"How can you give them two days off when you are in the situation you are in?"
In England, you are relaxed about that, to be honest.
You cannot... Well, you can but it's not beneficial, but you can’t train every day.
Played bad at Wolverhampton, next day we came in and then we took two days off.
We did the analysis, we spoke to each other and then we gave them two days off
because it’s a very long time between Saturday and Monday.
But of course, I could have said Sunday training or recovery,
and then from Monday on we go for them.
That wouldn’t be helpful at all, it would have been bad, it would have caused injuries,
it would have caused a lot of problems -
and, to be honest, on Sunday after we spoke about everything
I thought it made 100 per cent sense that we don’t see each other for two days.
It was helpful.
I left on Sunday in an average mood and came back in a good mood.
I worked through it, I had a lot of phone calls and stuff like this,
but I was in a much better mood.
A completely different mood, to be honest.
That’s why it’s very helpful and, yes,
they benefited from it and that was very good.
But you asked the question in a nice way, that's OK!
Yeah, Thiago has some problems.
I know the problem,
but I have to ask the medical department what I'm allowed to say about it!
Yes, with his hip flexor, stuff like this.
That's it pretty much, he wasn't able to train.
Anybody else?
Don't think so.