Jürgen, just wanted to check on team news first of all -
Virgil, Diaz, Thiago, Naby... Anyone likely to be back?
Virgil, completely normal, back in training.
Luis and Thiago are training completely normal.
The plan with Luis is that he will be available 100 per cent for Leeds.
Again, it looks good, everything is fine, but it was a long, long injury
and so we have to be careful.
We will probably not involve him for Sunday.
Thiago looks slightly different.
He was not out that long, trained now three, four times with the team
and might be available. But we have to check how he feels today.
We know your record against Arsenal at Anfield,
the last time they took points here was 2016, the last time they won was 2012,
but do you sense this Arsenal is pretty different?
Yeah, I knew Arsenal before I arrived at Liverpool obviously,
but I never felt...
Oh, I did actually, in the Champions League with Dortmund.
Yeah, it's obviously a different team,
Mikel has been building this team for a few years now.
and obviously the outcome is pretty impressive.
The way they play is fun to watch, to be honest,
it's super-lively, really good football,
top players on the pitch, good match plans.
So, yeah, good!
It's not exactly what you can say about us in the moment,
so that shows you what the situation is.
But at least for a while we can mention, again, it's Anfield.
So, we are at home and still have to show reaction after reaction after reaction -
we have to - and improvement.
That's what we will absolutely try on Sunday.
What's the key to seeing a brighter and braver Liverpool?
Because we know you can do it...
Good moments in games, building on that, so that's how it is.
Good challenges, good battles in little areas and then keeping the ball.
Because our main problem at Chelsea now,
when you look at that game it was like flipper - we have the ball, we give it away,
we have the ball, we give it away.
It's like you cannot watch that quick.
From the analysis point of view, you think the computer is broke,
and that's obviously not how it should be.
What I liked about the game was the desire, the passion we put in.
But, of course, there were still two situations where they scored,
but it was a handball and the other one was offside.
We still have to prove the point how it would have looked if we are 1-0 down.
But again, it's like that, so this game is gone
and now we have a new chance, and that's how it always is.
We have two days longer to prepare the game, it means we have three sessions,
three proper sessions, which is very, very helpful,
where we really can train, and it usually always helped us.
That's what we need this time again as well.
So, we will give it a proper try.
That we need Anfield is clear, and that's why I said after the Chelsea game,
I think people saw a few things which they think, "OK, that was better than before."
So, come on, let's go from here.
How important is the Anfield factor?
You've won 30 points at Anfield this season.
Very important. So obviously we need 40, 50,000 Liverpool [fans] in away games
and it might look different!
It's not the only thing we should rely on,
it's not that we think, "OK, it's Anfield, so we will win."
There were a lot of tough games and we lost - unfortunately - games as well here,
which was not helpful at all.
But it's no secret that the combination of our people and the ground
and then the boys is a pretty good combination,
so that's what we have to throw in as well - but not relying on it.
We have to push the train. In this moment, I have a very good feeling that we can do that.
At the start of the season I don't think many people thought Arsenal could win the league,
I'm wondering what you make of the challenge they will bring on Sunday.
Yeah, that's easy, because when you watch the team you think,
"OK, City will win it",
and you don't think too much about...
But Arsenal deserve to be where they are.
It's a mix of really good football and extreme emotions, I would say,
from everywhere, but it's just a good way to play.
I know people are always asking for more time for managers to develop this,
but I really think Mikel deserved every minute he got there
when it was not going perfectly well in the beginning.
And now they are there, the team is very well set up,
and good transfers, but last year already they were a pretty stable team.
Brought in super important players, but not too many,
and that's what they are using now.
Jürgen, you said before these three games this week
that you were super-excited, it would define your season.
Do you still believe that it will define it?
Unfortunately it could, or it can, let me say.
If we win this game at the weekend - which is the plan obviously -
then we would have four points out of these games.
That would be a completely normal situation for us, I would say.
In the past when we played Chelsea in our best moments
it was not much better, to be honest.
We played there, it was always difficult;
maybe might have won one or two games there
but most of the time we drew there and stuff like this.
Last season I sat at home with COVID, we started very well
and then got more or less pushed to the wall and it was a draw in the end.
Losing at City is possible, it was always possible.
And now we have to win a football game and then we will see again.
I understand from your point of view it's super-difficult
to find new questions every week, but believe me,
it's even more difficult to find new answers.
That's why I thought, 9:30 [press conference]
and you all stay at home and you can write what you wrote last week!
It doesn't make the situation better.
We have to play better football, how I said.
We have to keep the ball in the decisive areas, we cannot pass the ball into their feet.
It sounds so simple but the last game is a super example against Chelsea;
two teams who played last year an incredible level,
and the teams were not that different to the teams who showed up now -
and both were not able to do that.
Now we can say, "Those 22 players don't want" or "11 players from us don't want."
No, it's not that they don't want. They want desperately.
They want it even more than in good times. Even more. But it didn't work out.
So that just shows us what happens if the confidence level
is obviously not on the highest level.
That's why we have to go through it and you cannot force it really and say,
"Come on, be more confident."
That doesn't work.
We have to help the boys with different things and that's what we do.
And in a home game a massive boost can be the crowd obviously.
Celebrating challenges, celebrating sliding tackles, a ball goes out...
That's where it all starts; we block a ball, we don't win it but we block it and it goes out -
it's the first little victory.
That's what you have to go and build on,
and all of a sudden nobody thinks about confidence anymore, they have it.
Then they are themselves again, and that's what we are working on.
That this will not happen in 2028, it will happen in an ideal world on Sunday,
and from there we go again and again and again.
Jürgen, it's very rare for you
to make the number of changes you did in the Chelsea game...
I'm not sure it's so rare, but OK.
Well, six, it doesn't happen all the time.
That's true.
Have you had the response since then from the players?
Some really high-profile players left out, and some good players out of form.
We had now one proper session since then.
The boys don't show me that they don't want it, not at all.
"Oh, you left me out so now you can try to sort it yourself", or whatever.
This is not the situation we are in.
I said it before the game and I say it now:
this was a different week, because we play every three days pretty much,
but from now on if we don't play three times a week
then we have more time to train,
and then I have to and will make decisions about the team based on training. That's it.
That opens the door for everybody, because of course if you don't play three times a week
then the boys who play all the time, they recover.
The other boys can train well but the last game we won,
so why would you make six changes,
because we saw one session where a few players show up?
That's a different situation,
so you let it go and you keep on building and building and building.
Now, what can we build on?
We have to change, we have to find a basis where we really can build on.
That's why I said, first step: intensity, desire, passion.
Good at Chelsea. Really, that was good.
The rest, not so much.
But it's fine - let's go from there.
I cannot constantly ask for something I didn't get and just put the finger into that.
Development doesn't work like this.
"But this was still not OK, this was not OK and this was not OK."
You [the media] are allowed to do that, absolutely,
you are allowed to do that because you don't work with the boys.
But I'm not; the one in charge is not allowed to do that.
I'm really calm in this moment. You might be surprised, but I'm really calm.
I'm in it, I see everything and I base my decisions on that.
And in the end, we will see what the outcome is. I cannot do more.
And, again, we have to keep going, and we will.
I'll have to go to Carl.
No problem. You forgot him?
Just on that point, the changes you made at Chelsea,
how much of your selection was influenced by the performance at City
and how much was influenced by the week and managing the players' workload?
How can I make the decision when both situations are...
So we had a game against City, which is an influence,
physically and performance-wise,
then we have a game three days later - it's both.
How can you expect now I give you an answer
and say, "Two were because of this and four were because of that?"
That's really a waste of time, but again, I said it's difficult to ask better questions.
You tried at least.