Gini Wijnaldum Q&A | His future, Reds' belief, European aims and more
Georginio Wijnaldum addressed a wide range of topics during Tuesday's press conference prior to Liverpool's clash with RB Leipzig.
The Reds return to Budapest for the ‘home’ leg of their last-16 Champions League tie boasting a 2-0 advantage from the first game at Puskas Arena.
Ahead of the match on Wednesday evening, Wijnaldum spoke with the media via video call from the AXA Training Centre.
Read on for a transcript…
On the impact of not playing in front of large crowds for the last year…
I think it affected us a bit, not a lot… I believe that the things happening to us right now would not be happening if there were fans in the stadium because the fans, as you know, help us a lot through difficult times. When you have difficult times during the game the fans are there to help you get over it, to give even more energy than you have in that moment. But if it really affects us in a way that we cannot play without fans or [get] results without fans, I don’t really think that way. Of course they make us stronger than we are in the moment, I think everyone can see it, no one can deny it either. I think we can do better even without fans in the stadium, but I’m sure, and everyone is with me, that the situation we are in right now would not happen if fans were in the stadium.
On the questions regarding his future…
At the moment, there is no news as it is right now. I would lie if I come with news. The only thing that I can say is that I’m really happy at the club - I’m really happy with the team, the staff, and really happy with the fans for who I play. That’s the only thing that I can say. It’s not that I am not happy and that I have to leave or something like that, but it’s not as easy as everyone thinks it is to make some decisions for your future because you have to think about everything. First you have to negotiate with the club and those kind of things and it’s so difficult to deal with all kind of things and that’s why I think it takes so long. I think also [that with] the situation we are in right now, it’s not the most important thing right now. I think the most important thing is to get back on track, to start winning games again, and then we will see. But until now, the only thing what I can say is that I am really happy here; happy with the fans, happy with my team, happy with the staff, with who I work with. My family is happy here. But beside that, there is no news.
On whether the Champions League can ‘rescue’ Liverpool’s season…
Well, yeah, of course the Champions League can rescue the season but I think a lot of people only say it is rescued if you win the Champions League and everyone knows how difficult it is. But I think everyone who is in the Champions League has a chance to win it. In the beginning of the season we already wanted to play for everything what we could win and the Champions League was one of them and I don’t think that changed. So what we are going to do is give it our best and try to win it.
On whether the belief remains as strong in the squad as last season or whether the recent run of form has hit the players hard…
It hit us hard, definitely, I think everyone can see it. There is confidence in the team and the players in each other but I think it’s less than what we are used to also, because the situations we are in - with the injuries and players who get COVID sometimes in difficult times during the season and also the results that were not in our favour. So I think also for a lot of players of us, it’s a new situation we are in right now. We were used to winning games and winning trophies and now it’s totally the opposite. Yes, I think the confidence is less than the previous years but it’s also because it’s a totally different situation we are in right now.
On how ‘shocking’ the recent home form has been for the squad…
Really shocking. I don’t think it was shocking to lose a game but more the way we lost the games. Also because we all believe that the way we lost the games was way too early, that we could do it better even in the situation we are in right now with the injuries and everything. We analysed the games and we saw that we could basically fix the situations we were in in the moments where we conceded the goals and even play better, so that’s the most frustrating thing about the situation we are in right now because we all believe that we could do better.
On what impressed him about RB Leipzig in the first leg and whether the result was down to their individual errors…
Yes, of course it was the errors they made but I also believe we forced them to make the errors with the way we were pressing their last line. So I also think that we had a big part in the way that we won the game against them. What impressed me the most about them, we analysed them before and basically they played the same we thought they were going to play. They tried to play football in the moments they could play football and be really direct when they have the chance and that’s what they were doing in the game. I have to say, the game was way more difficult [than] when you train it because you train with totally different players. In the game you see the quality of the players and they have a lot of players with a lot of quality. I think it’s a good mixture of players they have in the team.
On how difficult it would be to leave the club in the summer…
Really difficult because if that happens you will leave a team who you really love, a team who you shared a lot of years together, and where you feel really comfortable. That would be difficult… it always depends on the situation but that I would be devastated that I don’t play with this team anymore, that would be for sure.
On the sense of responsibility the players feel for the current run of form…
[We feel] really bad because what I just explained, I think the way we deal with situations during the games was way too bad. We could do better and when we analyse the games it makes us basically more angry because we can do so much more better than what we’re doing right now. Of course we are in difficult situations with injuries and those kind of things but the situations we faced in the games where we conceded goals had nothing to do with injuries. That’s what we are most disappointed in because we could have dealt better with situations in games.
On whether there is pressure on the players to prove they remain hungry for success in this season’s Champions League…
Yeah, I think there is always a pressure if you play for a club like Liverpool and you have the results that we have right now, there will be a pressure to bounce back and to show that you can do better. But on the other hand side we just have to give everything, we should not force it to show that we want to do better because we still have to do it as a team. It’s a team sport and you have to all do the same thing so it will help more if you analyse the games, train with each other and have a plan and stick to that and just try to do everything to make that plan work.