Those topics were discussed in addition to Roberto Firmino’s fitness, why Trent Alexander-Arnold got the match ball on Wednesday, and Joel Matip’s recent performances.
- Roberto Firmino fitness latest
- Why Trent got the match ball against Watford
- Matip praised for 'very impressive' form
Read the key points from the boss below…
On the mood in the squad after beating Watford 5-0…
It is really good, of course. When you play a good football game, it’s not that you leave it behind you an hour later, it carries you through the week. But we are all long enough in the business to know it is a good piece in our preparation for the next game but it is only a little piece. We know we can do things like that. We knew it before and now we proved it again, so we have to try everything to play a very, very similar game again because we play against a really good side, who will be really on their toes. It’s a big one – for us and for them as well, so that’s how we treat that game. We try to be perfectly prepared and then play the best football we are able to play.
On whether the atmosphere at Goodison Park can bring the best out of his team…
Hopefully. Football players like that. Of course, the fans of Everton don’t want us to win anything and probably for our fans it’s the same the other way. But in the game it’s only very emotional and passionate. I hope it will be like that, that’s how football should be. At Goodison they really support their team, so now let’s go there and use the atmosphere of course. It will be loud, it will be wild, it will be everything – and we have to deliver on the pitch as well.
On how players react when they aren’t involved in games…
They accept it. I don’t think they are happy. I know Hendo played a lot of games this season but then for a while there was a little injury here and problems there, Millie had them sometimes, Gini had them, they all had it, Naby had problems. The most important thing is how will it fit for the next opponent, that’s the first thing I think about, and then if more things than one could fit then you start thinking about who maybe needs a rest, who is a little bit better in this or this. Hendo plays a really good season. I told him, he looked not happy but completely OK [about not starting against Watford]. In this situation it was especially important. I don’t always tell players before the game they will not play, they realise it – you see it on the training ground actually and as a player of Liverpool you know you don’t play all the games, that’s a normal situation. But because the stories were made because of my reaction after the United game, I thought it made sense to tell him it had nothing to do with that – because there was nothing. I don’t tell the players always before the training if they play or not, in training they see it and that’s it.
On Mane’s form and his increase in goals this season…
Sadio is only coming into an age where things are becoming more natural for him. He is not in the part where he has to convince everybody every day of his career, that he has a good one. We all know he is a world-class player and now he starts realising that himself. Mixed up with his attitude and his work-rate, it could be a really decent career, even better than it was so far. He is a good boy and he has these skills. For goalscoring you need moments. If you speak about the backheel goal, I didn’t see it in the game, I saw it later – it was not only a backheel, it was over Foster’s shoulder. Goalscoring, always a little bit of luck is involved and if you have it in a moment like this then you have to use it, because there will be other moments in life. He always had the quality. He has scored a lot of goals for us and if not then he was always a proper threat and gave us the space to score from another area. He’s just in a good moment of his career and it’s the best age group, where they all are. That should now continue and develop in the next few years because there is still a lot to come from these boys.