Liverpool's Jurgen Klopp previews their UEFA Europa League clash with Union St Gilloise
Liverpool's Jurgen Klopp previews their UEFA Europa League clash with Union St Gilloise
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00:00 Even in the same process, you have to facilitate any translation.
00:06 Just a first question. Andy?
00:09 Yeah, good morning, looking to get out of this game,
00:13 particularly with the squad and the draw.
00:16 Look, we were a couple of times in a situation
00:20 where we had to play the last game of the group stage,
00:24 and unfortunately not often enough,
00:26 because usually we had to go for everything and win it in the past in the Champions League,
00:32 super important games to get through to the group stage,
00:35 we are through and we were in the past as well,
00:38 and it's really important that you find a group who can really fight in the game,
00:43 who can really go for it, because that's obviously the job to do.
00:46 And who is physically in a situation to do that,
00:50 and from a determination point of view as well,
00:54 and I think we found that, and I hope we can choose that line-up,
01:00 because you never know what happens overnight.
01:03 So the line-up in my mind and the line-up we used today in training
01:07 would mean we have a good mix,
01:10 a bit more experience and youth, and we want to go for it, that's it.
01:20 Jürgen, to check on Alexis McCallister first, please, how is he?
01:30 I'm obviously not a doctor, but they explain it to me pretty much every day,
01:37 why he's not ready yet, and it's obviously a bit more tricky
01:41 than we thought in the first moment.
01:45 So, the other boy stepped on his knee and the stud...
01:53 The boot?
01:55 The stud.
01:57 The stud.
01:59 I don't know how to say it.
02:01 So the thing under the boot went through pretty much the muscle to the bone,
02:08 and now we have to wait until the bone is healed
02:15 and until Maka can deal with the pain, because it's pretty painful.
02:23 Maka is actually a super-tough guy, so we have to make sure
02:29 that from an infection point of view nothing happens, so that's really important.
02:33 So it was a really...
02:38 I never had this injury on one of my players before, but now we have it,
02:43 and I hope it will not take that long, but I would like to say it's day by day,
02:49 but that would look like he could maybe play the next game,
02:53 but they will not be ready for that as well,
02:55 so I hope the next three or four days he makes big steps and then we will see.
02:59 Can I just ask about Harvey on the scene?
03:02 Harvey can play.
03:04 When a player makes an impact, does that give you a headache?
03:08 No, no headache. Harvey is what we really forget from time to time,
03:14 still super young, and he has an incredible amount of games already, and top games.
03:19 We can go back, before the bad injury, in that period Harvey was the best player we had,
03:24 he had the best performances definitely, and then he got badly injured,
03:29 came back, took a while until he got up to speed again,
03:33 and what he showed in the last game and what he showed in a lot of moments
03:39 when we bring him in, what he showed for the U21s for England,
03:45 that's all Harvey Elliot can be.
03:49 With his skill set he will be in the future anyway.
03:56 He is super influential in a team, because he has the ability to connect things,
04:02 he has the overview, he has the technique, the dynamic, he has it.
04:07 Did he bring it on always on the pitch when he played? No.
04:15 But it's normal, I don't blame anybody for that, at least him.
04:20 I'm really happy he could show that,
04:23 because a player with his ability needs to have finishes as well,
04:27 because he can shoot and he needs to play last passes and all these kind of things.
04:33 That was a really good sign again, how good this boy can be,
04:38 and of course we want to use that.
04:41 This morning Coach Alexander Blassien told us that he wants to drink a beer with you.
04:49 Yeah, no problem.
04:50 Is it a nice invitation?
04:52 You know, it's an England tradition actually,
04:54 we always drink a beer after a game with each other,
04:57 I was not used to that because I come from Germany,
04:59 and Alex obviously as well.
05:01 So in Germany we have the press conference after the game together,
05:05 maybe that's why nobody drinks a beer on top of that.
05:08 - How was it to meet him? - Good, we met already.
05:13 We played...
05:15 You played against each other in the audition?
05:19 Yeah, I think we didn't play a lot against each other, but maybe once.
05:23 - When he was at Stuttgart? - Yeah, probably, when he was at Stuttgart.
05:26 I'm not 100 per cent sure.
05:28 So let me say it like this, we both made not the biggest impression on the pitch.
05:32 We were pretty average players, I was more average than he was probably,
05:37 but obviously it goes all in the right direction with his coaching career,
05:43 I'm really happy for him, he comes from a very similar region, if not the same.
05:48 I have a similar mindset probably, that's historically like this in that area,
05:54 serious workers get raised in that area,
05:58 and I'm really happy for him that it's going that well here.
06:03 It looks obviously really good on the table, and yeah, really cool.
06:09 And if he has a beer we will drink it together,
06:12 but our plane goes after the game, so I will not miss the plane for the beer, that's clear.
06:17 If you want the beer, can we party too?
06:20 No problem. But that's Alex's job, I don't know you.
06:24 If he likes you enough to drink the beer with us, you can have it.
06:28 Thanks.
06:29 So the English guys will not be there, because I know them!
06:33 Coach, what did you think about Newham after the first game?
06:39 Good. Yeah, unfortunately...
06:44 Yeah, of course, good team.
06:47 Lost good players, and got a good team together again,
06:51 so really interesting strikers who are doing really impressive stuff now in other leagues.
06:57 Oh, both in the Buddhist League actually. Yeah, of course.
07:01 And doing again that well is really special,
07:05 I think the way the club is set up is just really good.
07:10 I think we all are used to Belgium football,
07:14 when you think about it, who is usually champion, we all know who that is.
07:20 I don't know for how many years it was Paris in a row,
07:24 I think Simon Mignolet came here and then it was five or six years in a row?
07:29 Four. Four, OK.
07:31 And now, Royale stepped in and is doing obviously incredibly well,
07:39 so that's how football is, who is doing the better job should be top of the table,
07:45 and that's in the moment obviously Royale.
07:48 It looks like that fifth match, Kate Gordon, we haven't seen her in a long time.
07:55 You said nobody will be involved, they'll not be in the round,
07:59 what was the problem? It's been terrible timing...
08:04 Oh, yeah, yeah.
08:07 So we were really unlucky with some of our big prospects,
08:13 we had that problem that they were a little bit too good already for the physical status.
08:20 Let me say it like that.
08:22 So they were that good that we thought they could help us already,
08:30 and everybody went in the right direction.
08:35 And then the body said, "No, stop."
08:38 That happened to Kate unfortunately two or three times, it was a really long time out,
08:42 and that's really cool as well, from the first day back in training,
08:46 we all realised immediately, "That's what we missed, that's what he had already."
08:53 So nothing happened really, still a fantastic player, still incredibly young.
08:58 Yes, and he's now again around the first team,
09:02 we try to give him as much game time as possible with the U23s.
09:06 And you know that I'm a real believer that we need strong U23s,
09:13 they don't need to be always at the same time on loan everywhere,
09:18 there are different ways to develop talent, and especially after long injuries,
09:23 you should not think immediately, "Now he's fit again," and send him out.
09:27 We have a really good group there of young boys,
09:31 and some of them we will see tomorrow, that's clear.
09:35 All good?
09:38 Yeah.
09:39 Thank you.
09:40 Thanks for that, by the way.
09:42 Thank you.
09:44 Thank you.
09:45 Bye.
09:46 Thank you.
09:48 Bye.
09:49 (door opening)
09:52 [BLANK_AUDIO]