The Reds visit Spurs on Wednesday evening (8pm GMT kick-off) to begin the two-legged contest for a place in the Wembley showpiece.
Read a round-up from the head coach's chat with the media ahead of the game below…
Dominik Szoboszlai fitness update
On what he is expecting from the first leg, just a few weeks after winning 6-3 at Spurs in the league…
I think what we expect before we go into the game is that two teams have such a clear identity and playing style, that is I think what most people expect to see tomorrow again as well. They have their identity, we have our own identity, and both teams trying to force that identity towards the other. Large parts of the away game two weeks ago, we could show our identity. But there were definitely also parts in the game where they showed how good of a team they are. Scoring three goals against us is also an accomplishment. I know we scored six in the game as well but scoring three against us, not many teams have done [that] until now.
On Trent Alexander-Arnold…
I think we were all disappointed – not only Trent, we were all disappointed – by the way we played [against Manchester United on Sunday]. First of all, about the result. Parts of the game we could be quite satisfied with, other parts of our game we weren't completely happy with. That was not only Trent, there were more things in the game that we could have done better. Trent didn't play his best game, I've said it already, but that's not for the first time in his life he didn't play the best game of his career. He has played so, so, so many games well for this club. Now it wasn't his best – like for some others, it wasn't the best game for some others as well.
We just pick it up and start training again, because these players know if you play 50, 60 games in a season, once in a while you don't have your best performance. Maybe we should highlight more how good it is that these players are able to play every three days such a good game. And apart from the game maybe not being the best, it was again an eventful game from Liverpool. All the games we've played in the last six months – and maybe even longer when Jürgen [Klopp] was here – I got many text messages from people saying, 'What a game again!' Unbelievable what happened the last 10 minutes, both teams playing fully for a win. That is also part of our job I think, to make it an eventful game. That is what we are trying to do every game, mostly with a result or winning. Now it wasn't enough to win it, but it was definitely an interesting game for everyone to watch.
On handling any external debate around the club at the moment…
I am not [having] that debate with my players. I talk to my players so if there is anything that worries them, then they share this with me. That has not happened until now. What I do with the players is showing them what we could have done better against United; [and] what we have done well against United, because I think especially in the first half we created some very good chances out of a very good style of play. And the mentality we showed after being 1-0 down was something every fan likes to see, and me as a manager likes to see as well. That is where we are focusing on, and I am not focused on social media posts or what is being said about us. If you do that as a Liverpool manager you have no life, because this is one of the biggest clubs in the world and every second of the day people talk about us. It already takes a lot of my time to prepare the next game and to look back at the game we just played. If I have to do this as well then I need a few days off once in a while as well!
On whether it would 'benefit' Alexander-Arnold to have another match quickly…
I think it would benefit every player [after] we had a disappointing result. We would have loved to win that game so then every player wants to play two days later again. But every player that was not on the pitch would love to play tomorrow as well. That's the good thing – they all want to play. Almost all of them are fit, that is quite special in this part of the season as well. And I would highlight more on the fact that these players show up every three days, because they did show up also against United. If I am correct, United's manager said it was one of the best games they've played until now. If that means that if they play so well, we can still come up with a 2-2 and have more chances than them, then we're not in such a bad place as maybe all the people will tell us we are. So, we just analyse it as we always do and prepare ourselves for the next one.
On Cody Gakpo's form and what he brings to the team…
A lot. But I think I've said already a few times that I can completely understand how much focus there is on Mo [Salah]'s performance because that is remarkable, if a player has so many goals and so many assists. But if you combine the goals of Lucho [Luis Diaz] and Cody when they play as a left winger, they come quite close to the numbers Mo has. Mo's advantage is that because Federico [Chiesa] is not always available he is playing from the first until the last minute, but I think our left-winger position comes quite close to the numbers Mo has. So, that probably tells you then as well that part of the success is definitely the quality of the players but part of it is also the playing style we have. I just mentioned that again, the game against United was a game that everybody loved to watch because we play such an attacking style of football and what comes with an attacking style of football is scoring a lot of goals. That's what we do at the moment.
On the depth of his squad and whether he feels the need to make new signings in January…
It would be a bit weird if I said during the summer break that we are very happy with the team then I would tell you something completely different now. But you always look at the market, this club has always looked at the market. I think we did this with the goalkeeper we don't even have at the moment [Giorgi Mamardashvili]; if there is a chance in the market this club always tries to bring that chance in. But the team is in a good place. Unfortunately, Joe Gomez is injured [and] that means we go from four centre-backs back to three, but he will be back in a few weeks so [I am] very happy with the team and I think they deserved that trust from the club and from me if you look at the performances they have brought in over the last half-season.
On why Liverpool have conceded more goals recently when compared to earlier in the season…
I said in the beginning of the season when we conceded one or two chances, sometimes we were a bit lucky or it was [because of] the quality from the goalkeeper that we didn't concede. I don't think we conceded many more chances than we did when we kept the clean sheets. We had a clean sheet against West Ham when they hit the bar and the post, so that is a bit of football as well. It's also about the teams you face: if you go away to Newcastle I think that's a difficult away game for everyone. So, there we conceded three, we conceded two against Fulham with the red card included and conceding goals against United, which is a very good team in the league – I know everybody is looking at the league table but that is so far off from the quality they have – that is part of the season as well.
So, during the season sometimes the other teams have three or four chances and they don't score and other times they do score their goals. That has happened quite a lot recently. What I still see also when we concede the second goal against United, I think we had more bodies in our 18-yard box than them and Robbo [Andy Robertson] tried to do everything, tried to make a sliding tackle but the ball went through his legs and went in, and it went through the legs of Ibou [Ibrahima Konate]. So, as long as we bring more bodies inside the box than the other team then still you don't like to see you conceding a goal but I still see the same work-rate as we had at the beginning of the season. That is what is necessary and then it is also sometimes about the quality you face, which is something that happened against United and Newcastle because they have attackers that don't only score against us, also against other teams.
On whether Alexis Mac Allister is benefiting from a short break afforded to him by a two-game suspension in December...
No, because he played outstanding before. When I think about Macca, I cannot come up with a poor performance from him – he is so consistent in his performances. Of course, he is not like Mo, Cody or Lucho scoring 15 goals and 12 assists, but he is so involved in every game we play. He is so important for us defensively as well, bringing the ball towards these players. For me, he didn't find better performances afterwards [the suspension], but I think every player benefits for the long term to have sometimes a few days or a period off as well. I was happy I could give this to him, but I don't think his performances are better now than before he got the break. Hopefully because of this break it will give him even more consistent performances in February, March and April as well.
On whether he's spoken to Alexander-Arnold since Sunday...
Yes, but I've spoken to other players individually as well, which you do after almost every other game. I spoke to him before the game and then, as I already said to everyone, things I talk to him about I do not share over here [with the media]. It is normal you talk to players always; in this situation it wasn't his best game, so there were things I had to show which he has to improve. That's what you always do after every game. Sometimes you show how well they did, mostly when it comes to work-rate – you don't have to show a brilliant 80-yard pass because that they know. Sometimes you have to show them what they can improve, but I did not only do this with Trent. We were just talking about Macca and I think if you look at the second goal we conceded with the cut-back cross, if he sprints a bit harder he could prevent the shot from [Amad] Diallo as well. So, there are always things you can improve, but in general they've worked really hard and gave everything to get a result. Unfortunately, we were unable to get the best result but we still got a result.
On maintaining the challenge for honours deep into the second half of the season...
It's very difficult for me to compare last season with this season. The only thing I do know is what gives me the most confidence to look forward to the upcoming weeks and months is until now we haven't stolen one point; all the points we've got were fully deserved. I think even in some moments we deserved more than we got when we dropped points. That is the best forecast you can have for the second half of the season. I don't know how that was last season, if all the results were as expected or fully deserved, or if there were a few lucky moments as well. I don't know. What I do know is this season all the points we've got and all the results we've got were deserved, in my opinion.
All of the players are fit at the moment, but again if we drop points when the team has injuries people will say, 'That's because you have injuries'; Mo misses the penalty against [Real] Madrid, he is distracted by his contract situation; if Trent has not his best performance, he is distracted by the contract situation. If they play really well, nobody tells me that's because they have a contract situation. We always try to find arguments, but nine out of 10 times the best argument is the quality of the teams you face or the game plan the other team has.
United had a very good game plan – no build-up, at least not from the start, bring the ball long and don't give us the chance to press them high and go to a low block, which always makes it difficult for every team to create chances, which we did quite a lot actually. I think it is more about the game plan when we drop points than it is about too many games, players being distracted, having injuries and all these kind of things. Nine out of 10 times, it is because of the team you face.
