On how much belief a win in this game would give to the Reds…
Of course that would mean a lot, because if you win those games that tells you that you can compete in the latter stages of the FA Cup and the Champions League with any other team as well. I think we’ve shown already that we can do this because we’ve beaten, for example, Arsenal at home and I can come up with many other games that we’ve won against very strong teams. But we also know that it’s going to be a special game for them as well.
We have to be completely ready because as well they are in a very positive vibe at the moment and it’s obvious that we aren’t, especially because we’ve conceded again a late goal. But I think everyone, me for sure, is looking forward to this game because it’s always nice to be part of a Liverpool game but especially if you face Real Madrid or Arsenal or [Manchester] City or these kinds of games. So, we’re definitely looking forward to going there tomorrow.
On whether it could still be a ‘special’ season for the club…
Yes, of course. I think this club has shown so many times when the club didn’t have the greatest form in the league that they were able to win another trophy. And other clubs have shown this recently as well that it’s always possible. Because we have a very good and talented group and we’ve shown this season – Inter Milan away, Real Madrid at home, Atletico Madrid at home, Aston Villa who won maybe 18 from their last 20 games, only lost two, one against us, one against Arsenal, we’ve beaten Arsenal at home – so yes, we’ve shown that we can compete with almost every team.
Maybe there was one exception, but that was also because there was a goal disallowed from us just before half-time that shouldn’t have been disallowed, that was City away. But in all the other games we’ve been competitive with everyone, but we haven’t had consistency against the clubs where we ‘usually’ win, that led to the fact we are now 14 points behind Arsenal. Another challenge for us, with of course players being out but still enough very good players available to go to Arsenal and make it a proper fight.
On what he can take from the victory over Arsenal at Anfield earlier in the season…
You definitely look at that game as well but that’s not the only thing we are looking at. There are recent games as well. That was the start of the season where both teams brought in new players, so I think defensively we did really well [in] that game. You need to do defensively really well in every top game to even have a chance to win it. Of course, it’s different if you play at Anfield because the fans are such a big help for us. But now our away fans will probably be a big help for us as well.
We do watch that game but – I don’t know – I think Arsenal will probably play a few others than they did back then. Their whole way of playing under Mikel [Arteta] has been so much the same and every time he adds something new, but we can expect probably a similar team and way of playing, let’s put it that way. But they play at home [and] I think their fans will really be up for it. It’s probably in the last five or 10 years one of the best times to be an Arsenal fan. They’re top of the league, they have an incredible team, incredible manager. I assume they look forward to the game tomorrow, but we are looking forward to that as well.
On whether it is ‘frustrating’ Liverpool have had better performances against ‘bigger’ teams this season…
It is annoying because usually you think it’s harder to play against the best teams in the world or in the country than to play against teams that are not competing for a league title or not involved in the Champions League. There’s definitely a reason why it is, because I think in the last nine games I think people have liked our two games against Villa and Brighton more than all the other games we’ve played. I can exactly tell you why that is but if I do so people will tell me, ‘How can you make your opponents so much wiser?’ We have to find a way of playing that same style of football against other styles of play as well. But we haven’t found that answer enough yet. But ‘yet’ is an important thing to add.
On whether he believes his team will be able to find ‘consistency’…
We should definitely be able to find that consistency and also play games that are more [of] a joy to watch against teams that have a different approach against us than Brighton and Villa have. Therefore we need as much players available as we can and keep working very hard to find openings and find the right ideas to hurt those teams as well. Against Fulham I don’t think many people thought it was a joy to watch, and I’ve said many times that I found our games against Paris Saint-Germain a joy to watch. So then compare maybe these two games with each other and then ask yourself why is one game a joy to watch and the other is harder to watch?
When people tell me we always need an extra pass, extra pass, but the first goal we scored against Fulham was only one pass. These players do know that if we need one pass or we can use one pass to score a goal then we try to. The second goal we scored it was 17 passes we needed before we could bring a cross in and sometimes that means if you win the ball back low on the pitch then the other team goes in the low block, it’s harder to get through it in one pass, which we did in the first goal because we won the ball back high up the pitch.
