How’s Saka?

It’s not looking good. He’s gonna be out for many weeks.

How many is many?

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Many. I cannot be too specific because I don’t know but it will be many weeks.

How big a blow is that?

It’s a huge one. He’s obviously a big player for us you just have to see the impact that he has on the team. It’s going to be a really good exercise for us to think of ways to overcome another challenge because we’ve had a lot over the season.

How’s Sterling?

He’s gonna be out for weeks I believe. He needs further testing tomorrow to understand the extent of his injury. It’s his knee. We have to wait and see another 24 hours. Unfortunately he’s gonna be out for a while.

Have you got enough cover or do you need to sign someone?

We have to look internally at what we have and be creative. It’s a good exercise again of how can we mould the squad, how can we adapt to the circumstances and how can we be different? We’re not going to be the same. We’re going to be different. Try and find the best way to do it and win games.

So you won’t sign a winger?

I don’t know. My intention right now is to get the best of what we have in the time right now. What is outside is not in our control.

Can Jesus step up?

He’s certainly done that in the last two games. It’s not going to be just in isolation from one player. We’ve been very strong collectively scoring a lot of goals from various players and sharing the responsibility across the team.

Do you want Rice to have a clear role in the squad or do you prefer him being versatile?

With the squad that we have he needs to be versatile. With the qualities that he has he needs to be versatile. With the brain that he has he needs to be versatile. With the age that he has he needs to be versatile. He can offer so much in relation to the opponent, to the needs in the squad. Putting Declan in a box, there’s no point in my opinion.

Is he better in one role than the other?

Not in my opinion. It depends. He’s gonna play as a six against a low block in relation to what the nine does, he’s going to be with the centre backs. If the 10 is man marking him he’s going to have another role. It depends.

How important is the emotional intelligence aspect of your man management?

That’s a great point. When I talked about how the priorities have shifted on my five year anniversary the other day, that’s probably the way in which they’ve shifted the most. The first thing is the human being and then that emotion, that energy and how the team is feeling about it, and drifting that temperature to make sure it’s the right one for the event that we just have in front of us.

What do you make of Ipswich?

Very impressed. I always liked Kieran. I have a lot of people who know him closely and they always say great things about him. You can tell how they coach, what they’re trying to do. I think they’ve been very unfortunate not getting the results they deserve. It’s a very tough game for sure.

Do you fear that Saka might not be back before the end of the season?

No.

So he will definitely be back before the end of the season?

Definitely in football… I wouldn’t put my 10 fingers there but I would be very optimistic that he is going to be well back before the end of the season.

How hard will it be for him?

Another part of the development of the player. At some stage, at this level, you are going to get injured. Unfortunately badly. It could have been much worse, it can be something else that can take you out for a year. It’s how you react to that, how you overcome that situation. It is a great learning process for him as well. I take it this way. It is what it is. He is injured, we cannot change that. How are we going to use this time now to help him for the following years in his career?

People have saying ‘buy a striker’ but are you proving there is no need to go out and buy a No 9?

Yeah but nobody is right. You are saying that and you might be right because somebody comes in and scores 40 goals. What we have is what we have. I am really happy with the players that we have. They fully try to do everything that we demand of them and we have enough quality in the squad for sure. How we use it, that is something else. And then players, squads, teams — they have moments. When we have those good moments, make sure they continue. When we haven’t got them, try to find the clues and try to understand what we can do better.

Liverpool beating Spurs… how much pressure is on you to beat Ipswich?

Obviously the margins are not big, especially with the results they [Liverpool] are having consistently, it is putting the bar very high again, which we expected. We need to raise it again and be very consistent, continue to play the way we are, winning and wait.

How do you challenge the players to step up in Saka’s absence?

I am putting some ideas together. I haven’t got there yet. But I have a few. Then I want to speak with them as well to understand how we are going to generate that and take it in a positive way. Because that is going to mean we are going to be different. We went through the period with Martin, the period with five or six defenders missing, the period without many other players. We will continue to do that, finding ways and taking it with positive energy.

Do you have to find a balance between that solidity and free-scoring?

It is always about that. If you cover something, you uncover something else. That is always the dilemma. We scored goals with Kai on the pitch and with Declan on the pitch, who is a different profile. So is it related to the players, is it related to the intentions of the team as individuals in certain moments of games, confidence? It is a lot of aspects that play a part.

Will finding solutions to no Odegaard and now no Saka make you a better coach?

I think so, yeah. And obviously we started the season with one of the thinnest squads in the Premier League, we knew that. Okay, so what do we need then? If we are the thinnest, what do we need? And really dig into that and make sure that we utilise every player in the best possible potential, everybody has to feel part of it. You need to rediscover players in different positions, relationships. It’s a great one, honestly. It’s a really good exercise and the boys are willing to do anything we demand them to do, so that’s a really good thing as well.

Past January windows moved very quickly when you have needed to, been agile. Lost Jason and Edu come in, still feel you’ve got that ability next month if in two weeks you suddenly decide to do something?

Yeah. The preparation is done and we are ready if something happens. Obviously we didn’t predict a situation with Bukayo and Raheem at the same time. We predicted more it would be something else, for example if something happened in the defensive line, but the job is done. Then, okay, if something has to happen, we will be open. But the main focus is now, how will we extract still a lot of potential that there is in this squad.

Is the fixture list this season causing all these injuries?

Yeah, but it's probably the accumulation of all the seasons. For example Bukayo and Declan played over 130 games in the past two seasons, so what's going to happen in the third one and the fourth one if that continues in that way?

Probably it's unsustainable. Unless we find ways to physically turn them into monsters who can cope with anything. The fact that you train and recover, that's not a good pattern because the body needs to train, the muscle needs to train. If you just play and recover you start to lose a lot of factors in your body that are key to physical performance. Not just to play not to get injured, but to become a better athlete which is very different and keep evolving as an athlete. That's a challenge, but OK we're gonna do it.

Do they need less games?

I don't think that's going to happen so I throw that through the window.

What would make it more sustainable?

Improve the athletes and bigger squads. That second option I don't see it on the table.

This conversation about player welfare continues – is anyone in football actually listening?

Listening? I hope they are listening. Whoever is in charge, can they actually do something right now with the commitments that are already in place over the next three or four seasons? Very challenging, very difficult I think.

Do you get a sense there is a desire to address the issue?

Yes, but… there is always this ‘but’. ‘But’ we have this competition in January, the other one is going to be in June, then we have this one, then we have the World Cup. So, ‘yes but’, so that means no.

On Bukayo, has he actually torn the muscle?

Yeah.

Was the injury bad luck or do you feel it was preventable?

Probably there are ways to prevent the injury. It happened very early in the match so the fatigue element is not that important. There are other factors obviously. We are looking at everything we could have done better, differently. But there are a lot of uncontrollable as well. The action produces so much force because it is the moment he puts the cross in, so the force is in the standing legs and those actions happen in football. So, I don’t know.

How did Saka react?

He was gutted. You can tell that he has not been injured because he was really, really emotional and really down. And we need to lift him up. It is a big part of his job. And he will be fine but he is going to need a few days. He will immediately realise that he is so important in that dressing room. His energy level, his body language, and how he communicates with the rest of the team has to be really good because it is the only way at the moment he can help, so he better do that well.