Press conference: O'Neil on Lerma fitness, team spirit and Liverpool's attacking threat

Afternoon Gary. Hi Mark. Obviously last week was a real blow for you and the lads and the club having played so well at times at the Emirates. How much of a psychological coaching session have you had to do with the lads to pick them up? Because conceding in that manner, in that style, when there was so much at stake, clearly the lads would have been disappointed. Have you had to kind of lift them in a psychological way? I think the moment in the dressing room right after it was the toughest aspect. So speaking to the group about how I felt about the game at that moment, understanding where they were emotionally from that. But moving past that this week has just gone back to Liverpool coming.

So from Monday the lads were ready to work, ready to go. So there was absolutely no hangover whatsoever. There was a review of things we could have done better and how well we did to go there and make it as close as it was and be in the game for 97 minutes or whatever we were. But yeah, so that in the dressing room making sure we know what happened out there. It was a hell of an effort from everybody as I said on the day, a real big effort. Not many teams, I don't think many teams at all have gone there and scored twice and been ahead or level for 96 minutes at the Emirates this season. It was a big effort from us and then of course the disappointment at not getting anything from that.

But yeah, the lads are fine this week. We're ready to go. Another big, big side coming. So full focus from Monday onwards on Liverpool. At one stage on Saturday you were fifth bottom in the Premier League. You go to bed, bottom of the table. What does that say about the nature of the league at the moment and how defining every single moment can be in a game to where you end up finishing? Yeah, the margins are so small as you guys already know.

So yeah, the nature of every chat we have after every Saturday game with you guys, changes in an instance with real fine margins. I think a lot of the last few games, including the one we won by the way, including Wolves, fine margins at Wolves as well. So they can go in your favour. The Golden Island Forest score here where Sam Surridge last year would have been technically offside by last year's rules. So the margins are tiny and we are at one point behind achieving what would be a real successful season for us at the moment to stay in the Premier League would be a huge success. We are one point behind that at this moment. There are six points that separate the bottom nine.

For you as someone bottom looking up, does it feel like there are nine teams in this relegation scrap and the fact that there are so many sides that are in amongst it, does that give you a belief and a confidence that you can finish outside of the bottom three? Yeah, I think it's a difficult season to sort of pick the ones that you expect to be right down there. Come the end, I think there is a bit of a mixed group there at the moment. Of course when you're in and amongst it, the more teams that are involved, the better. But yeah, it is a very, very tight bottom in the league. So back-to-back results or a win that people don't expect you to get can make a big difference. Just a quick word on the lads mentality. When you put them over the white line, it's their job to get things done.

But when you have those games where you're two-nil up against Arsenal or Tottenham or two-one up against Leeds and the lads don't see it out, what can you do as a manager to perhaps change that mentality or coach them in a different way to see a game out that they haven't been able to do this season so far? Yeah, I think all the situations are different. It's very easy to sort of club them all together and look at them as one. They're very, very different. I think the Arsenal won, the flow of the game did not change at all. They took three of their chances in the last half an hour and they missed them in the first hour. It was basically how the game went. We frustrated them in the same way.

They threw balls in the box. There was deflections. There was bodies on the line. So for me, the flow of the game at Arsenal didn't change. Our game plan didn't change. It's just a long time to hold Arsenal up by. So, and ever to be good sides, have a real good chance of scoring late on in the game because they wear you down, people start to get tired.

So, yeah, I think the lads understand. They know what it takes to see a game out. Of course, when we get a self in front, we try and stay positive. We try and make sure we're still a threat as we were. You know, we were one nil up and dango goes through clean on goal 1v1 with Ramzdal. I think Aaron Ramzdal makes a real good save from Dom late on in at some point in the second half. So it wasn't as if the game changed and we were like, all we're two nil up.

Let's just sit in front of our goal. It was the same. It's difficult for 90 minutes to hold a team of that quality up there. Up next Liverpool in the Premier League, everyone will immediately go back to the 9-nil at Anfield. Is that the first thing that comes to your mind or is it the unbeaten six games off the back of it when you were the caretaker manager? Yeah, the 9-nil doesn't come into my mind at all. Obviously, we were in a very different place then. So the lads will just prepare for this.

It's another game against a very, very good side. They're in good form at the moment. It was a fantastic attacking threat. So yeah, it'll be a tough ask of course, but we approach the game like it's a game that we need to take three points from and that's all. I'm presuming that you would have sat down with your laptop and your notebook watching the Liverpool Manchester United game last week. What was going through your mind in that second half when you were seeing Liverpool demolish Manchester United knowing you've got to play them next? Yeah, a couple of things. I thought, ah, it's not a great time for them to hit top form.

And then secondly, hopefully they've used up all their goals as the last swing I was thinking. But yeah, they've changed a little bit recently. They're using a slightly different structure. So yeah, last three or four weeks, they've mixed things up, changed how they played. They probably haven't done that in quite a while while Jürgen's been there. So slightly new look. But yeah, same sort of threat.

Salah on the top line. Nunez obviously a huge threat. Lots of pace up front. So yeah, it'll be a tough ask, but boys are looking forward to it again. An incredible opportunity for us to give ourselves a chance of putting another big result on the board. Thank you. Can I just firstly check on injuries Gary? Yeah.

Obviously Jefferson, Harrod Joy were missing last week. Lewis Cook we saw back. Marcus Tavernier, could you update us on some of those? Yeah, so Tavern will still be out. Junior will still be out. Junior Trey Aure. Jeff's touch and go. Jeff's not done as much as you would like, but he's further along than the others.

So we'll make a call on Jeff tomorrow. Lewis Cook still back. So good to have Lewis still. Yeah, the rest should be fairly similar to where we were last week. How much is availability, I guess, dictating how you go in these games tactically and shape-wise? Yeah, I think we haven't had as many options as we would like, tactically, because of the injury situation. But also the calibre of team we're playing at the moment obviously dictates a little bit tactically as well. So Man City Arsenal, Liverpool as a free game run is not the easiest run you can have.

So yeah, there's a few things tactically, but getting players back fit is huge. So I've said it a lot this season, but it is. So we need to get them back as quick as we can. We've got Liverpool and Villa and then an international break, which will hopefully help us as well, and hopefully come out the back end of that in a much stronger place, numbers-wise. Is that risk, reward, I guess balance, something that you're continually toying with? We see Arsenal last week have 80-plus percent possession, obviously, we camped in your half for a lot of the time. In terms of how you set up the risk and the reward, obviously, in games like that are, if you go too open, you're going to get picked off probably. How is that proving difficult for you to decide how to go in these games? Yeah, there's a decision.

Of course, Man City, we went very different to that. So we tried to be front foot and aggressive and disrupt their control and structure in a Man City game, especially with it being at home, I thought we could create an energy here and make it uncomfortable for them. Whereas Arsenal, they're an excellent side. I didn't see us causing them a huge problem if we went front foot and energy, and I thought the home support and the nature of the game at the Emirates would mean that that would help them. So I felt the best way was to make them go around us, make them throw balls in the box that were less controlled, have numbers around it, scored two goals from the training ground, lead at the Emirates for a long time. So, although it ends in huge disappointment, there was a lot of stuff that worked very well. You obviously came here from Liverpool in the under-23s.

How much did you learn from your time there? Yeah, a lot. A lot. Yeah, fantastic club. Yeah, really good academy. Produced some fantastic players. Watching the elite level that the first team work at. Yeah, obviously an incredible club, one of the biggest clubs in the world.

So, yeah, I learnt a lot from, obviously started my coaching career there, so learnt a lot from the guys around it. Yeah, so looking forward to tomorrow. Obviously, it was there when we lost 9-0 last time, but wasn't the head coach. So, yeah, looking forward to it. And did you have much interaction with Joven Klopp there? Is there any relationship between the academy and him? Yeah, saw him around a bit. Obviously, there was COVID at the time, so it was trickier to move between groups. But yeah, he attended some of the games and saw him around the training ground occasionally.

Yeah, that was nice guy. Was very helpful. So, yeah, looking forward to going up against him tomorrow. Just finally, something you mentioned with Mark about game management and defending leads and things. When does, I guess, losing leads become a concerning habit rather than just one of those things that happen occasionally? No, it's always a concern. You don't want to lose leads. As you guys rightly say, we've lost 3 this year from 2 goals in front.

So, the real disappointing one for me was leads, obviously, because Tottenham and Arsenal were, I mean, I remember the Tottenham one, we were fairly comfortable and they lined about £150m worth of subs up and brought them on. That made a big difference. And like I say, the Arsenal one felt they were strong throughout and it's hard to do what we did for 65 minutes, let alone 97. So, the leads one was the disappointing one in that for me.

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