Every word from Mikel’s pre-Liverpool presser

Here is everything he had to say:

on Oleksandr Zinchenko’s injury and our other players currently out:
He is progressing well. We have another training session tomorrow and we will evaluate whether he is available or not to play and start the game. As for the rest, there is no actual news.

on Thomas Partey not going to the Africa Cup of Nations:
It was about common sense. He has a long-term injury and he really wanted to push his rehab. He really wanted to be with the national team but he is still far from training with the team and it didn’t make a lot of sense for him to be involved.

on Jurrien Timber’s progression:
Unfortunately, that’s a very long-term injury. He is doing really well but he is still far from being fit to train with the team, or something to compete with the team so we don’t expect him back anytime soon. It’s what we have; the situation that we have now as well with Tomi having to leave and we have to cope with that.

on whether a left-back is a priority in the transfer window:
We are open in the transfer market but again the emphasis is on making the most out of the players that we have. We will work together with the club to understand whether there are any possibilities and if we have any good options, but first of all focus on the players that we have.InformationGuideNigeria

Read Other Sports News:

• Injury updates on Zinchenko, Partey and Vieira
• Osimhen to sign Chelsea pre-contract agreement
• Chelsea should use FA Cup as route into Europe — Pochettino
• I’ve given up on Chelsea – Tolu Obanro
  

on whether we may do no business at all:
That is a possibility.

on our rumoured discussions with the PGMOL about the treatment of Bukayo Saka:
It is part of the daily, weekly communication. We have our sets of topics but nothing specific about that one.

on if referees are being too lenient on early tackles in games:
I think the referees know the tactics of the opponent and they know that some players are more targeted because of the way they play. Obviously they buy more tackles but I think they are aware of that.

on whether that was a specific request to the referees regarding Bukayo:
No.

on whether he’s surprised by the commentary it’s provoked:
I think that’s been going on for two years now! We have wingers that provoke a lot of fouls and a lot of attention and that’s something normal.NYSC Portal

on whether he has a feeling for winning the FA Cup after lifting it as a player and manager:
A real feeling. It was a great experience to win the first title in the way we did, and there’s a big history between this competition and our club. We have a big opportunity to start again and make a beautiful journey.

on both teams missing players due to AFCON and Asian Cup:
Both teams are missing very important players, and we knew that. We have to adapt to that and still perform and win matches.

on the importance of the No More Red campaign:
I think is a great initiative from the club. I think giving support and creating a safer environment with the power and the capacity that we have to help people and transform certain areas of London. It’s a campaign that started three years ago and has helped a lot of people already and brought a lot of attention, so if we can make the streets safer around our city, especially for people with kids, we will sleep better.

on whether this is the ideal time to play Liverpool:
It is the draw. We played two weeks ago and it was an incredible match and I’m sure it will be a really good match again.

on the level of opposition:
We don’t have a choice. If you ask both teams, probably in the draw we were expecting something different, but we have this incredible clash in this round and we have to go for it.JAMB Result

on what went wrong against West Ham and Fulham:
We weren’t at the level. We weren’t good enough. I don’t think we deserved to lose the match, but we didn’t do enough to win it.

on if he is worried that form will continue:
Hopefully not because it was a one-off. I haven’t seen the team do what we did in certain periods of the match so hopefully not.

on if it affects confidence:
It affected the momentum that we had. Until Christmas Day we were top of the league. Six days later, we are fourth, so you can be very tempted to look at things with a microscope or with a telescope and look a little bit further and with a little bit more perspective. My job big time is to look through the telescope and have perspective and analyse things in the proper way, and not get affected by one performance. Not the result, one performance.

on the FA Cup:
It’s a great competition, as I said before, especially for the club. We have won it more times than anyone so we expect a great game and a good run.

on if it would be fairer if every FA Cup game had VAR:
Ideally yes. I would support that idea one hundred per cent.

on the atmosphere at Emirates Stadium:
It will be our own one and we are really happy with the atmosphere that we’ve created at the Emirates. It’s been incredibly supportive. Can we tweak it and sometimes make it even more hostile? I think we can and that’s the next step in my opinion. We have to be so grateful for what we are achieving and creating in our home ground, and Sunday is going to be a good one again.

on how to take that next step:
The team has to give more. The team has to transmit that fight, aggression, intimidation and dominance to the opponent. Certain games this season, like in Champions League games, we have created that next step.

on winning the FA Cup in 2020:
Winning always gives you more credit. It attaches you emotionally to people because winning in the end creates a very special feeling. Those moments are always really important when you want to evolve relationships and have certain attachments to the team and the players and I think that helps.JAMB Portal

on whether that cup win saved his job:
I don’t know, maybe yes, maybe no. We won it for a reason. We deserved to win it, we did it against big teams as well. We won the Community Shield as well so we are here for a reason.

on it being a pivotal moment for him:
I think it helps but, as I said, I don’t know. A month goes by and look what happens. You lose two matches and what is happening now? Six days ago we were top of the league which means that we were the best team, the most consistent team in the league. It puts it into perspective.

on a mid-season break being interrupted if we have an FA Cup replay:
That break will be minimal and we have plans for both scenarios because there is a possibility always in football. We want to win the game, will try to win the game, but that has to be considered.

on whether the FA should consider scrapping replays next season:
I think so, but we will see what happens with it because with the new format of the Champions League as well, there will be more games so I don’t know where we are going to fit them.

on who will play in goal against Liverpool:
We will see on Sunday, I cannot give you the line-up right now.

on how long Partey will be out for:
Hopefully it’s weeks. How many weeks it will be will depend a little bit on how long the next step of training with the team will take him, but he’s progressing well.

on how Fabio Vieira is recovering:
He’s doing well again, but it was a surgery that required two different things to get results. The first signs are good, obviously he is still a bit far from where we want him, but he needs to keep working and hopefully in the next few weeks we can have him [available].

on how close Emile Smith Rowe was to leaving in the summer:
That was never part of our plans.

on whether he would stand in his way if he asked to leave:
This is a two-way conversation all the time with players. I love listening to them about how they are feeling, what is the best thing for them, or what they want to do. Because you really have to be aligned with them and how they are feeling and they have to feel important. This is still the biggest part of the season to play now and we have to be patient, and he will have his chances.

on whether he would stand in any player’s way if they wanted to go:
It depends on the situation in the squad. We want to help the players to fulfil their feelings, but as well they need to understand they are part of a team and a squad that has been assembled and planned with them in the squad, and you don’t always get what you want. Maybe they wanted something different six months ago, a new contract or another individual target, so it doesn’t always go your way.

on whether he has less control over scoring goals as a coach:
Overall the execution is in every part of the field, but when it comes to those spaces, the timing and the definition of the action becomes trickier to coach, and certainly to replicate as an action in the game. That’s probably the hardest thing to replicate in football. The timing and the behaviour of the opponent, the distance between the player and the opponent, the exact location of that shot, the position of the keeper, the game state – it’s very tricky but it’s something that we have to improve. Recently especially in the way we have transformed those chances into goals.

on whether he tries to emulate that in training:
For sure, yes. We have to, it’s our job and the things that put them in the most concrete and reliable scenarios are going to help the players to do better.

on why the forwards are less prolific this season than last season:
I think what they did last year was exceptional. To maintain those numbers, we knew would be extremely difficult because it was a one-off. Not just for us, a one-off in the league. So we know that we need all the resources and all those kinds of goals to maintain the level that we want in the league.

Check JAMB Result

Check and Confirm: How much is Dollar to Naira

📢 We are hiring writers!