Hi, Jürgen.
Sheffield United pushed you hard, was today one of those days
when you had to dig in and win ugly?
Yeah, obviously. We had our moments, and we had...
I'll start again - we started well, lost the rhythm a little bit,
it was really difficult, we didn't accelerate in the right moments,
the passes didn't have the right speed,
we didn't create the right angles, but we still had our moments.
It's difficult, you have these crossing moments where you could cross,
but the way they defend in the box makes it not really likely that you could score,
so we were always waiting for: "Where can I find somebody else?"
But they were all involved in defending, did really well, closed these gaps,
we didn't find the space, and we tried to show the boys at half-time.
Because the half-spaces were open pretty often, and when we found them,
Trent's pass, Hendo turns inside, passes it already to Gini,
and on the other side Robbo can go. We had these moments, but not often enough.
And that made the game a bit hard for us, and a bit tough,
but all respect to Sheffield United, they did really well and they did that over 95 minutes,
they really deserve all the respect.
But we still had big chances, nearly no-brainers,
but that's how it is, [Dean] Henderson reacted really well, at least twice if not three times.
Yeah, and then we had luck around the goal, that's clear,
that was not our biggest chance in the game.
Unlucky for Sheffield United for sure,
so if it would have been a draw I would sit here and say that's how it was,
that's what Sheffield deserved, that's what we deserved.
I don't think we would have deserved to lose, but a draw, if you don't use your chances...
But with the goal we got the three points, and that leaves me pretty happy.
Winning when not at your fluent best,
did you show some of the characteristics that could make you champions?
I don't know, I don't know exactly what you need for that, I've forgot, it's too long ago!
But, yeah, winning on the cloudy days is especially valuable, for sure.
Did Jordan Henderson have a knock or...?
No, it was just... Oh, it was an offensive change, eh?
We had an opportunity, either Hendo or Gini,
both worked hard, for both it was not an easy game,
obviously we made the right decision - Gini stayed on the pitch and scored.
But, no, we wanted to change our approach actually,
that we have Bobby finally in between the lines but still an option in behind with Mo,
we needed to defend the wings properly,
because they were there constantly,
that's why we needed first Sadio and then Milly on that wing.
Div had a proper impact when he came on, that was really helpful,
that we could pass the ball there and he had one-on-one situations,
I think he crossed the ball before the goal,
so, yeah, that was the reason.
Jürgen, football is a game where the attacking players usually get the credit,
but do your defensive ones deserve credit today?
Not just Virgil, but Matip and Fabinho for how he competed, Adrian for his saves?
Oh, yeah, absolutely, you need a complete performance actually
to win football games, especially in this tough league, for sure.
Like I said, it's what you have to do. In this game, it could have clicked,
so there were moments where, if we scored, it was exactly like we wanted to do it.
In the first half we passed the ball in the box, we had exactly the players we wanted,
and then we didn't finish it off. You score in a situation like that, everything changes.
That's how it is, but it didn't, and then you have to stay in the game.
You lose momentum a little bit, that happens as well, because here, that's a proper unit -
manager, team and crowd together,
that feels like a wall you're playing against and that makes it not easy.
If you don't score early or have five, six chances
then you have to be really ready to work until the bitter end,
and that's what we did.
So I really think we deserved it, but of course it was still lucky because of the goal.
How impressed were you with Sheffield United?
You didn't know much about them before the game,
but they must have really impressed you.
When we play a team I watch three of their games, so I knew,
I'm not sure if you saw three games! Maybe yes.
I saw the last three so I knew as much as I could,
but very impressed, to be honest, very impressed.
Like I said, the way they play, the way they fight,
I was manager at Mainz and when any team came to Mainz, whatever they did,
nobody could stop us enjoying the ride.
And we went 1-0 up and the stadium was there,
that's really good, so they have a proper basis to be a really uncomfortable opponent,
especially here, so that will be, for sure.
Because they have really good set-pieces that make life really uncomfortable,
they're even good around throw-ins, so many good little things
which give them plenty of chances to win a football game,
and obviously the relationship between managers and players is that good.
He's quite animated, Chris, it's my first game against him,
I thought I'm loud but he's really loud!
And the boys listen and go for it, so that was impressive,
and of course, it's easier to enjoy when you won the game,
but anyway, I'm sure we will come here again.
He kind of asked my question actually, but I'm gonna repeat a different one!
The question about how important it is to win matches like that
when it's what Chris Wilder described as maybe an off-day for Liverpool,
when we saw City win...
Chris said that, we had an off-day today?
Yeah, he was very generous about you, but he said it was a missed opportunity
for them maybe. He felt you were maybe not at your best.
That's true.
Is it more important in a way to win a match like today than to stick eight past somebody?
Oh...
No, it's more important, for sure. Eight times 1-0 is more important than one times 8-0,
but unfortunately they don't only win one game 8-0, we all know that.
Yeah, if you give me the guarantee for it I'd take the next eight games 1-0,
but it's difficult. Look, we are very critical with ourselves,
but in the moment it's not the moment for being critical,
you just have to respect the effort we put in, because that's exactly what we had to do.
What I said before the game - is it allowed that Sheffield fight more than us? No.
And they didn't. Did they run more? No.
That was important, and then, if you do that,
you can have a chance to deserve three points.
That's what we did, and then always around goals you need a little bit of luck,
it's only that this time it looks like we needed extreme luck.
That's the thing, I'm completely fine with it, I know that we - and Chris is right -
we can play better, I don't think we had an off-day
because today it was much more important that we were really ready to fight
than to play our best football -
the best football comes in moments, fighting you do for the whole 95 minutes.
That's what we did and that's how we deserved it.