On the performance…
Like many times now, managers change their game plan when they come to Anfield or when they play us – that’s also what we saw today. We’ve seen a lot of games from Leverkusen but I’ve never seen [Victor] Boniface playing from the left. So, they played without a nine and that’s why they overloaded the midfield a lot. It was quite difficult to press them high. But the good thing was that we hardly conceded anything and I think during the first half if there were chances, they were for us. But [in the] second half we could adjust to the game plan of the first half, we took a bit more risks, we were better with the ball as well. Normally they defend more in a 5-2-3, now they defended in a 4-4-2, so they changed quite a lot and we could adjust to that at half-time.
On the decision to play Diaz through the middle…
A few things [why]. I only have four attackers available at the moment with the injuries of Diogo Jota and Federico Chiesa, and Darwin [Nunez] didn’t play that much in the beginning and then he started to play a bit more. With this fixture list, it’s almost impossible to play them all, especially if you haven’t played that many games before. So, that in combination with the fact that I think [Jonathan] Tah – who is a real good defender and is one of the best defenders in Germany, maybe the best defender in Germany – maybe likes to play more against a target man, someone who’s there in the middle. We chose to play Lucho more from the left or the midfield and then maybe surprise him afterwards with runs in behind – not only him but in general. If you look at the first goal, that played out – what a pass from Curtis Jones.
On whether using Diaz in that role is something he could do regularly…
If we have our injuries like we have at the moment then this could happen, yeah. But that also depends on who is available and how the other team lines up, what the formation is. Last season, I think if both of them played – Cody Gakpo and Lucho – then it was more Cody who played as a nine and Lucho as an 11, and that’s also a possibility. But then we had maybe, again, this height from Cody against Tah instead of someone who’s a bit more versatile and who drops into the midfield.
On Diaz…
Not only the people in Colombia like and love Lucho, the fans of Liverpool love him a lot as well. I heard many times the fans singing his song. And the manager likes him a lot as well – I don’t love him but I like him a lot! He’s played many, many games but I just said something about Darwin Nunez: in the Premier League and the Champions League, you have to play so many games at the highest level and it’s not always possible for every player to play every game, especially in certain positions. So, if you are a centre-back, normally you run not as much as a left-winger or a full-back or a midfielder – and especially our wingers. But because you all look at the goals Lucho scored and the goals Cody scored, I also look at the fact how hard they track back, how much they have to defend. I ask a lot from them, so that’s why sometimes we have to rotate them. But Lucho, for me, is a starter. And I said this three days ago about Cody as well – he’s, for me, a starter also.
