On whether he always feels his side will find a way to win given their knack for scoring late goals this season…
You’re never 100 per cent sure but what I do know is we’re so fit that we’re able to push one more time. But I’m sure that we’re not going to need, every single game, stoppage time. There will be games where if we are 2-0 up after six minutes and we create so many chances afterwards that we will score the third and then we won’t need stoppage time to make a late game winner. And there will probably also be games where we need a goal in the last minutes and we don’t, but what I can assure you, even if we don’t score it we will try to push for it. That is the mentality this team has, but it should not only be about mentality. It’s also how fit we are, how well prepared we are throughout the last few weeks that they are able to push one last time and then in the end it is also about quality because the cross from Szoboszlai and the way Virgil heads the ball in is not only to do with mentality or being fit, that is also [about] having so much quality.
On where his team can still improve…
I think one of the things you need to have if you want to compete for the Premier League and the cups and the Champions League is mentality and fitness. But you also need quality and I think that’s also what we saw tonight. Maybe I am even a bit disappointed that we scored in the last minute – I know that’s going to be your headline and it’s going to be great to score a late game winner, but I would have liked it more if we would have spoken about, ‘Did you see the few attacks we had before half-time when Florian [Wirtz] and Alex combined together, which led to almost Jeremie [Frimpong] scoring, or second half a great attack with Dominik and Flo and Mo that ended up on the post.’ I can come up with so many great attacks we had today but probably no one is talking about that.
Everybody will probably talk again about the late game winner, which I understand because that is the story of this game and the story of the last five games. But for me it was a different game than the ones we have played before. So I saw many good things but it is not for the first time that we give away a 2-0 lead as well, which was different to the one we gave aways against Bournemouth because this one had nothing to do with counter-attacks. But we did give away a 2-0 lead which is not what we were known for last season. So yes, there is a lot to improve but there is a lot to like as well.
On Florian Wirtz’s performance…
He was indeed a few times close to scoring a goal and he was also a few times close to assisting a a goal – I think he was the one that created most chances for us today. So I can see with him also that he is getting fitter and fitter and adjusting more and more to us, which is normal. You need a bit of time to adjust. We all know how much quality he has but sometimes people forget that he is a 22-year-old that goes for the first time abroad. I am 47 now because it is my birthday today but last year I came when I was 46 and I know it was my first time working abroad, and in the first two or three months your whole life is changing.
All the things that are normal to you are not normal anymore… because everything is different and that sometimes costs energy as well. Combine that with going to a new club, a new playing style because [Bayer] Leverkusen played 3-4-3 and we play 4-3-3 and so we ask a bit more from him off the ball and defensively as well. But I can see him growing, growing, growing more and more and more and I think that is what you can expect from a quality player, who always adjusts to what he needs. And he and the team will get better and better, but I liked his performance today already a lot.
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