On whether the squad needs another centre-half…
What you just said, they [Ryan Gravenberch, Andy Robertson and Wataru Endo] can definitely play there as well. You forget to mention Joe Gomez – unfortunately, he has a minor injury at the moment but he will be back with the team very soon. We still have numerous options that can play there. But what I always say, it’s the same boring answer as with players that we might bring in or not, I’m really happy with the players we are having and we have numerous players that can play in that position.
On the chance to secure the first trophy of the season…
Which is nice if you can start the season with the chance of winning something. Normally you have to play numerous games before you can win something. If it’s the League Cup, FA Cup, let alone [the] Premier League or Champions League, normally you win something in the end of the season. Now we have a chance to win something in the beginning of the season. Unfortunately, we face a very good Crystal Palace that have been very difficult to win against for us, because we played 1-1 against them in the last game of the season. They showed in the last final – and even in the semi-final, by the way, as well – how difficult it is to win a one-off game [against] them. I think most of the players that they have are still there, so even more reason to know what a difficult team it is to play against.
On supporting Rio Ngumoha’s development and him ‘handling the spotlight’ after his goals in pre-season…
That is sometimes also difficult, and you never know how an individual handles that situation. It was a year ago when Trey Nyoni scored a goal, I think against Sevilla, when he was also maybe 17 – very young. They have an incredible chance to work and be every day around players like Virgil van Dijk, Mo Salah and all these others to see what they do to be ready to perform every three days. That is a step these players definitely have to make, which is completely normal if you’re 16 or 17. It’s already nice if they can play once a week at a good level.
We just try to develop them in the best way we can. We also have to take care of them because new players that come in that are 24, 23, 22 already experienced that the intensity levels are quite high either during the games or in training sessions, let alone for players that are 16 and coming through the Academy. We are aware of that but it’s been a promising start from him, like for Trey Nyoni as well because I think Trey also played a very good game at Anfield [against Athletic Club] three days ago.
