Slot on Liverpool mentality as they comeback twice at Arsenal to seal a point
Arsenal 2-2 Liverpool
27/10/2024
Emirates Stadium, London, UK
Arsenal 2-2 Liverpool
27/10/2024
Emirates Stadium, London, UK
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SportsTranscript
00:00How do you view that performance and result?
00:29Going two times behind against a very strong and good Arsenal team,
00:34then to get a point is pleasing to see,
00:38especially because we had to play an away game in Europe this week,
00:42we had one day less to recover and to prepare,
00:45and then to go two times behind with the fans being so loud
00:50and us coming back so strong in the second half,
00:53because I think we deserved to be 2-1 down or one goal down at half-time,
00:58it's very pleasing to see that we had the energy
01:01and that we were so strong to fight ourselves back in the game in the second half,
01:06also because the ones that came in did really good,
01:09but also that we were physically really strong today.
01:12It's another milestone for Mo, isn't it, in Premier League goal terms?
01:17His finishing, his prolific nature in front of goal,
01:22it's just remarkable, isn't it?
01:24Yeah, but that's not only all, he's also available for us as well,
01:30and that's one of the things that top players have,
01:34that they are always available and they show up in the big games,
01:38and I think today was a big game for us again,
01:41just like last week against Chelsea where he showed up with a golden assist.
01:45That's also what you need if you are a big club like we are and like Arsenal is,
01:51you need these quality players, because if you don't have them
01:54it's going to be quite difficult to get your results.
01:57So it's something you need to have as a club,
02:00to have these players that can make the difference for you,
02:03and Mo was that today offensively,
02:06although I think we have to give credit to Darwin and to Trent as well in that goal.
02:11But for me the one that stood out today was...
02:15That's a question.
02:21He was also very good, but I think Konate was also very good for us today.
02:26He doesn't always get the attention he deserves in my opinion,
02:29he's asking to be the man of the match all the time.
02:32But he's coming closer and closer and closer to achieve that,
02:37because I think he had a great performance today as well.
02:46Hi, just wondering where you think your team's title contenders are
02:50after that performance?
02:53Where we are?
02:54Title contenders.
02:55Oh, I know you guys like to talk about title contenders
02:59and where we are exactly in the league, and that's also part of your job.
03:03The only thing I look at is, can you get a result in a difficult game as this one?
03:10And the way we did it pleased me a lot, and we're only nine or ten games into the season.
03:14But to see that we can compete with such a strong Arsenal team in their stadium,
03:20that is very pleasing to see.
03:23But where that exactly will lead towards the end of the season, I cannot tell you yet.
03:29You mentioned Konate, and you've also said that the trip he's had
03:32and the injuries he's joined has been one of his poor careers so far.
03:35Obviously this season he's playing three games nearly every week.
03:38Have you done anything differently to make sure he's staying fit?
03:42That I cannot tell you because I wasn't there last season.
03:45The only thing I know is that these players, from the moment I stepped in,
03:50put a lot of effort in themselves to stay fit.
03:53I've said it many times, our performance staff and medical staff
03:56is one of the best in the world, which is normal if you're in Liverpool,
03:59because it's one of the best clubs in the world.
04:01They should have a very good performance and medical staff, and that's also what we have.
04:05But the main thing is that the players buy into it,
04:07because they have to do the work and they have to recover,
04:10and they have to go into ice bath and all these things we're asking from them
04:13to be prepared in the best possible way.
04:15And that's, until this moment, what Ibu has done and the programme we offer them
04:22has maybe helped him a bit as well.
04:25But in the end it's always about the players,
04:27they have to do the effort to stay available.
04:30James.
04:31Arjen, what did you make of Darwin Nunez's spending?
04:34He learned to come very deep for the staff to get involved,
04:37but the fact that he played a part in the equaliser,
04:39does that show the value of keeping him on and the fact that he just keeps on going?
04:43Yeah. The last thing is also the reason why I keep him on,
04:47because if you just keep on going I see you're fit enough to keep competing.
04:50And that, compared to Ibu...
04:53Oh, not compared, but also after speaking about Ibu,
04:56that is what almost surprised me, because Darwin hasn't played that much yet.
05:01And then to play three games in a row with the difficult fixtures we had,
05:06and away in Europe, and then to be so fit in the end of the game.
05:10I took Curtis off against Leipzig because that was what I was a bit afraid of,
05:15is he ready to play two in a row?
05:17But with Darwin, in my opinion, I have no choice
05:19because he's the only available striker at the moment.
05:23For him to see how hard he worked was really pleasing.
05:26Yes, he had to play deep the first half,
05:28but that had not so much to do with the game plan,
05:30but with the quality of Arsenal in the first half, because they dominated us.
05:35Without creating that many chances, though,
05:39they also needed set-pieces for the second goal and also to threaten us,
05:44where the first goal was, of course, a great individual quality of Saka.
05:50Jürgen, what was the message last time?
05:53Because it was a lot better in the second half,
05:55but that's also a lot of pressure you face, huh?
05:58The thing is, if you face Arsenal,
06:00with a manager that's been working here for four or five years,
06:03and he has done an incredible job over here,
06:05because his team can play in so many different set-ups,
06:09so they always play four for three.
06:11But the way they position themselves, they can do this in,
06:15I think he said it once himself, 40 different set-ups.
06:18I don't know what he exactly said, but in many different set-ups.
06:21So you prepare a game plan, you expect something,
06:24but you cannot tell your players 40 different options,
06:29so you try to prepare them in the best possible way.
06:32But now they played with a false nine, which they do maybe more often,
06:37but they didn't come that many times with a full-back inside,
06:40so they didn't let it go.
06:43So we could prepare them at half-time a bit better
06:46for what we saw the first half.
06:48We took some more risk, but I think the main thing was
06:50that we just put more energy into it.
06:52We pressed them more aggressively from the start,
06:55and then I saw also that we could keep going
06:59where they had to take a few of their quality players off as well,
07:03because they couldn't go on,
07:05and maybe that helped us in the end a bit as well.
07:09Where last time I said...
07:11I'll just take it over now.
07:13Last time I said I completely deserved the yellow card.
07:16This time I don't think I did it,
07:18because I said after so many times that they were on the floor,
07:22which can happen in football, I don't blame them for that,
07:24but they always fell down after they had ball possession,
07:27and that took the energy out of the game in my opinion,
07:30and I said to Ibu,
07:32this is a fucking joke,
07:34and the fourth official thought that I said to him,
07:37you are a fucking joke, so that's definitely not what I said.
07:41But I got a yellow for that, so now I'm on two,
07:44so I have to be careful now.
07:52Is there a sense of belief or growth
07:56that the team can take and garner
08:00from the circumstances of that performance,
08:03going behind twice but then also coming back?
08:06Yeah, but I think you also take belief
08:09from winning away at Bulls or winning away at Crystal Palace
08:12in the way we did,
08:14so especially if you get a result,
08:16you always take the positives from this,
08:18and last week we had to defend really hard
08:20to take the 2-1 lead, to keep the 2-1 lead,
08:23and today we had to fight really hard
08:25to fight ourselves back into the game,
08:27and that shows for me a great mentality,
08:30because I think most Arsenal fans at half-time
08:34would have felt this will probably lead to a win for us,
08:38and if you then saw the second-half mentality
08:42and the second-half performance of us,
08:44that all these things you take with you
08:47to the upcoming difficult fixture list,
08:51which is still what we have,
08:53but I think this is what every Premier League club has.
08:58How important was it to stay calm in the atmosphere
09:01and also to wait a little bit for Arsenal to get tired in the second half?
09:06I don't know if Arsenal got tired.
09:08That's a question you don't have to ask me.
09:11The only thing I saw is that we were pushing the second half a lot.
09:15That can also have to do with the score,
09:17because last week we had to defend the 2-1 lead
09:20and Chelsea were more pushing than we did.
09:24But in the end it was good for me to see that we were able to do so,
09:28because I said in the beginning of the press conference already
09:31we had to play in a way like in Europe against Leipzig
09:34with travelling with one day less to recover.
09:37Then you're not always sure if you're able to come back into the game,
09:41especially because they have the fans
09:43and the fans give you a lot of energy as well.
09:46That's why we all prefer a home game,
09:49because the fans can help you in difficult moments
09:51or can help you to get the energy if you are a bit out of energy.
09:55We had our away fans, which were loud as well,
09:58so maybe that combination helped us
10:00to get the second-half performance as we had.