About the changes made during the break…
We made a big change at halftime as a team because we came out completely different to how we came out in the first half. I also have to give credit to Ipswich because I think they were aggressive, fearless, played one-v-one all over the pitch to defend us. Then it’s about winning duels and winning second balls. I think they won more than us and that’s why it was a completely even game in the first half.
In the second half, we won more duels, we won more second balls and we played more balls at the back because if the other team risks playing one-v-one and if you have the likes of Luis Diaz, Mo Salah and Diogo Jota, then use them, play balls at the back. In the second half we did better and after that the gaps opened up and you saw how much better and better we were able to play in possession.
As for how long Salah can continue to play at the highest level after setting another Premier League record…
If I see what he’s doing to keep his body the way it is and be ready to play every game, I think he’s got a lot more years left in him. But if you’re okay with that, I’ll be looking at Brentford, not at the end of the season!
On what was disappointing about the first episode…
No, we didn’t lose a lot of balls – I think we lost a lot of duels. They were very aggressive, which led to three yellow cards – but aggressive in a good way – and I don’t think we did enough to deal with that. I told them at halftime, if you want to win here, instead of accepting that every time we play the ball, you have to step up in terms of winning duels first and get out of it. the long ball ends up in our 16 again. It also helped us because Ibou Konate came on because from the start he won his duels against the number 9 and that gave us a lot of possession and two goals, but we had a few more we could score.
On Ryan Gravenburch’s Role in Number 6…
For me, it’s always about the team, so if an individual plays really well, that team is doing really well. Everyone is focusing on Mo’s goal and his assist, but both goals were a combination of situations, we started with Virgil [van Dijk] one time and I think even Alisson [Becker] the other time. So we have to make sure that these players, forwards, are in promising positions, and for that the team has to help them.
Same with Ryan. Of course, Ryan is offensive, but if we play him, the rest of the team has to help him. The forwards and attacking midfielders will have to work hard to help him there, but we know with Ryan that if he sees those options, he can play the ball forward. That helped us today, especially in the second half.
On his first impressions of the Premier League…
When I started here, I was told a lot of things, but one of them was that Jurgen [Klopp] hates a 12:30 kick-off, and today the team showed that we hate a 12:30 kick-off. because we weren’t. in the first half of the game. Secondly, people told me there are no easy games in the Premier League and we showed that today. If you play against a newly promoted team and they can fight like they did in the first half, they can make it very difficult for us, so there is still a lot to come. And that’s why it’s important for us to have weeks like the coming weeks, where together with the team we can prepare them even better than we did today, because the first half was not good enough. The second half was a real good game. When Gravenbirch played in the midfield position…
Defensively, we don’t do that with 11 players, so we have to help him like everyone else when he’s playing or someone else is playing. It’s not just Virgil and Ibou or just Virgil and Yarell [Kwansa] defending – it’s got to be done by the whole team. If we defend with 11, it helps Ryan or whoever plays there a lot. Mack [Alexis McAllister] played a lot there last season and I think he has similar qualities to Ryan. If you look at both players, you think about possession first, with the ball, and so we as a team make sure that whoever plays in that position doesn’t get too open. we have to do. That’s how it was today because I think the team really helped to play their best defensively and because of that, Ryan played well.
The second part is about how close he got to what he wanted to see from the team…
I think it’s the first time in 9 years that Liverpool fans have seen a great team performance! I’ve inherited a very, very good team with a lot of great individuals, but these players also need to understand that what they brought in the first half was not enough. If they maximize their potential, they can play very well indeed, and they showed that in the second half today. It was great to see the goals we scored, but I think what was probably the best game of the day and the attack that didn’t lead to a goal was also the most beautiful and that was Lucho’s strike. bar. I would like to see the team do more and more if they can.
Finding Salah running behind the defense for goals…
The way the other team defends, that’s where we have to find our answer. Today, Ipswich always risked playing one-v-one all over the pitch, so their centre-back was constantly stepping towards Dominik Szoboslai. That means you leave three defenders against our three strikers, then we have to recognize those moments and then make sure we bring those three players in dangerous situations. And it’s not to keep playing short, we have to find them with direct passes or back passes. That meant they didn’t take that risk anymore and from that moment we had a lot of time to play and tighten up the game, which you saw at the end of the second half. We have to recognize how the other team is defending and then find our response. We did very well in the second half.
