Jürgen, can we just check on Emre Can's contract situation,
how do you anticipate this all playing out now,
are you almost resigned to losing him next summer?
When did we speak last time about that?
Two weeks ago?
I've not asked you about that for a long, long time.
And you don't watch the press conference when you are not on duty, huh?
As it's been developing, it's getting to a worrying stage, isn't it?
No. I think I said we could still sign a contract in May,
that's how it is, and it would be a free transfer player for us as well!
I suppose then what do you have to do to persuade him that his future lies here?
"Persuading" means?
Persuading - make him see that the best option is Liverpool Football Club,
to stay at Liverpool Football Club.
I think that's what we do all the time, that's what we try all the time,
not only about Emre, about all the players we want to keep,
and they think about if it makes sense for them or not.
So that's the same thing, we have to be as attractive as possible as a club,
that nobody wants to leave,
and that didn't change since we spoke last time in the press conference about it.
We have spoken a lot of times about Mo Salah, but as he's facing
one of his former clubs this weekend and facing Chelsea for the first time as well,
do you see a player with a point to prove? And what is it about him
that has enabled him to develop the way he has since that disappointing time at Chelsea?
Disappointing time? I really can't get it, he was very young, in a very strong team,
and he didn't come through, that happens very often.
Another player in a similar situation is Kevin de Bruyne.
Doing not too bad for City now!
The common thing there though is Chelsea.
Obviously it was difficult at these times to come into the team,
they already had a fantastic offensive team,
so they were successful in these times, so nobody is to blame for that.
And for sure, not Mo. He took the next chance, he went on loan to Fiorentina I think,
made the transfer to Rome, and then came to Liverpool. That's an interesting way,
he improved a lot, for sure, especially physical-wise.
He was always a very good player.
I said a few times, I saw him for the first time at Basle,
he was already quick. But that's long ago,
and I don't think he has to prove something, I don't think he sees it like that.
Because that's a completely normal situation. As a young boy you go there,
you can come through if you try to do it in a different way, he did it,
and in the end he succeeded, so he's at Liverpool.
If he would have played better at Chelsea,
we would probably not have him in this moment,
so I am happy about the situation.
What have you had to say to the players after the second half on Tuesday night?
Do you have to lift them again?
Not sure, to lift them, we are not in the kindergarten
where we have to lift for everything,
we have to talk about things. So, yes, we made mistakes, yes, we were passive,
that's what I already said after the game, in a lot of situations we were too deep
as a group, we didn't play football anymore, that's all true.
But it still could have...
The performance over 90 minutes, with the performance in the first half
I was already not that happy, about the whole football playing.
Yes, we scored goals, we should have, could have scored the fourth one.
After fantastic play. But that's how it is with games,
and in the end the result is only one information.
All the other things, we have much more information from a game,
so we made the analysis, but it will be a different game against Chelsea.
Especially because it's at Anfield,
and I would say if we can create a special atmosphere it would help us as well.
Jürgen, last season Chelsea ran away with the Premier League title,
what have you made of the champions this season?
Very good still. They maybe...
They lost, I would say, two very decisive players, at least.
Matic and Diego Costa, and that's the situation,
you always have to make a step not back
but aside and try to develop the game.
Everybody who thinks about playing Chelsea last year, it was a tuned side,
everything worked in pretty much all the games,
defended really well, and then they didn't need a lot of chances to win the games,
Hazard and Costa very often made good decisions,
and if they didn't do it then Pedro was there or Willian was there.
Apart from two players they still have the same team, but it's really difficult
in this league to play the same season like you did before,
especially when you lose players.
But they are in the position probably they would have expected.
Nobody has influence on the situation at Man City, they are flying,
and nobody can cope with them so far,
but I think it's still a fantastic football team, 100 per cent.
You said after the Sevilla game
that your players don't have a problem with their mentality.
Where are the issues, if you think there are any?
What needs to be addressed? Do some of the players need to become more ruthless?
I don't get the meaning of "ruthless" 100 per cent, I know what it means somehow,
it's a kind of experience, we were not often in an international game in a situation like this,
with the knowledge that with a win we are already through in the group,
so for human beings it's quite normal to try to defend it somehow,
but we have defended it in the wrong way. But I don't think...
In your job it's to make it like this and like that, it's very good and it's very bad,
so we had a lot of signs for a really good mentality,
and now we have a sign for not a good mentality - what's true now?
And I know the boys better than you do, and I know that they really want it,
but they have chosen the wrong tools. It's as easy as that,
and that was the situation, we couldn't change it until the 3-2, then we could change it,
you saw the goals, how we conceded them, it was quite special,
but it was not a single player. Yes, in the end, the penalty was Alberto of course,
and with the free kick it was Alberto, but it was not like that,
it was where we had the situation, why we had the situation,
why we played the backpass in the penalty situation.
We played other backpasses, we had the ball around the third goal again,
and it was between two of our players,
if one reacted quicker we'd shoot the ball to Betis, but we didn't do that,
so they could score, corner kick, next goal.
So it's all about us and how we felt in these situations,
and unfortunately, very often in life you first need to have an experience to learn from it.
Of course we knew before how it would work, but obviously we couldn't do it in this game.
That doesn't mean anything else.
Jürgen, how are you looking in terms of fitness and injuries at the moment?
Joel Matip was in training yesterday,
and Adam Lallana, how's he shaping up at the moment?
Yeah, Adam is on his way, no doubt about that, we have to see how we handle this now
in the next few days and weeks. Joel trained yesterday for the first time with the team,
and again, we have to see as well, both have good signs,
but nothing else to say about that in the moment.
But Emre struggles a little bit,
with a strange situation in a game, little muscle, could be...
close. He's a doubt, let me say it like this.
Jürgen, it's a team game, we know,
but sometimes it's individual errors that can prove costly,
how do you go about, how important is it to allow players
to make mistakes, to have poor performances and still be part of...?
It's not about allowing, it happens. I'm really used to that, that's how it is.
And you cannot change it anymore, you have to deal with it, in this world especially,
but in this case I had a talk of course
with Alberto and I'm really happy about his shape,
I'm really happy about his performances.
Yes, I know in this game, and that's then really my responsibility,
I could have done different things, but in Sevilla with all the circumstances,
everyone was talking to him like they were talking to a family member.
He left there, and a lot of people are still there that he knows well,
and it was one, two, three per cent of concentration or whatever,
he came a little bit too late and that's how it starts.
My responsibility would have been to think about the line-up,
or change, or change earlier,
so that's how it is, it's not the player to blame,
and I'm 100 per cent responsible for that,
but I told him I still trust him 100 per cent.
For me, the game is over,
how you concede the goal is not important anymore after the game,
only for the analysis but not for anything else,
so we know how we came into these situations and that's what we have to change.
On the positive side of things, how excited have you been
by Liverpool's form recently for the most part in matches
where you've been electrifying going forward in particular?
How much does that excite you as a pointer towards the rest of the campaign?
It maybe looks differently but I'm not so easy to excite actually.
I'm happy about things in the moment, but I know when I've saw it, it's already gone.
We have to do it again and again and again and again.
That's the thing, we have quality and skills and potential,
in all parts, especially of the offensive game, I think there's no doubt about it.
We have the width in the squad, we have a lot of things we can do,
so that's all good, but as a team, we need to bring it all day, every day on the pitch,
that's our challenge, and, yes, after the Southampton game,
which was a really good one,
everybody was really happy, and then you play the Sevila game,
we didn't have a fantastic first half, but we had a fantastic result after the first half,
but actually it's enough, it's really OK,
and in the second half a few things are coming up again,
people talk to you like this and you feel immediately how it's different,
nobody is really believing in us, I don't want to use that word too often,
but you can feel it, if you do good it's like, "Oh, yes, it's good",
but if we don't do good, then, "OK, they proved it again."
Our job is to stay really consistent,
and to be consistent in all these parts, and now it's Chelsea - what a team.
Champion of last year and will be a really tough job to do, but no problem,
we have nothing else to do. Yeah, meeting them at 5.30 and beating them at 7.15,
if it's possible, and that's the only thing. So I'm happy about a lot of things,
but we have to show it again.
Jürgen, just to clarify, is it definitely the case that tomorrow's game
would be too early for Adam to be involved, or does he have some kind of chance?
I don't want to talk about this here.
If I have anything to say about that I'll talk to the player first,
so we will see, we will see.
I was just going to ask you, Jürgen, if Daniel Sturridge wanted to go on loan
or to leave the club in January, would you let him?
Nothing to say here about it, absolutely nothing!
Let's play it. So I say now a definite no, in this world of football, funny enough...
Or I say, yes, he could go, that would be funny as well.
It's a question where you cannot really expect an answer.
But if he wanted to play more and wanted to leave...
That's normal, that's normal that he wants to play more, each player wants to play more,
so there's no difference to all the other players.