On not getting carried away with the eight-point lead…
No, definitely [it’s a healthy advantage] but we also know what we have to put into it to get this lead that we have at the moment – and to get these wins. I think there were maybe one or two games for us that were wins by a big margin, but the rest of them were all by small margins. We know how difficult it is to win a game and these players have been longer in the Premier League than I have been. I think it was last season and even later on in the season that Arsenal led by eight points and [Manchester] City came back, so you know if you face Arsenal, City, Chelsea and all these other teams – Tottenham [Hotspur] were great yesterday, as well – they’re all able to win so many games in a row. It’s nice to have this position, but we are definitely not getting carried away.
On whether he spoke to Southampton manager Russell Martin…
Not more than I speak to any other manager, you shake hands before the game and after the game. What was a bit unlucky for them I think is normally they play, in my opinion, even much better, they create much more chances and hardly score. Today they only created two chances, which the first one wasn’t even a chance, and scored two. They maybe could have done this the opposite way and then they would have had more points because in other games they played through the press of other teams so, so, so many times but then they were not effective enough. Today they were really effective because I think they arrived two times with the first one not even being a chance, maybe, and the second one from our set-piece. If they can combine these two things, the style of play they have, for all the other games with the effectiveness they had today, then I am sure they will bring in a lot of points in the future.
On the penalty decision awarded against Liverpool…
In general sometimes you could have made a different decision or not, but for me with the offsides and deciding if a ball is inside or outside, that is just black and white. It was a foul, that was clear, so if they saw it was inside then, yes, it’s a penalty. Sometimes with a knock, yes or no, or red card, yes or no. There was also an incident in the first half where you could argue if it’s a red card, yes or no. Those things you can argue, but offside and inside or outside the 18-yard box is something you cannot argue.
