We know that this will be a very touching moment because it is our first league game since we lost Diogo and Andre. As I said before, the tribute to them in the entire football community, especially the Liverpool community, is very special and I know we will be together again tonight to pay tribute to them.
I believe that Jota's wife, children and his family will be there. As a club, we must show that we will always support them and help them through this most griefing moment. We are always with them. From a football standpoint, we are certainly happy to go back to Anfield for a formal game. Although it has been a while, nothing compares to the atmosphere of Anfield night game and we are all looking forward to starting a new journey tonight.
We know this will be a tough start for us, and last weekend’s Community Shield is a great example if reminders are needed. I remember Crystal Palace ranked 12th in the Premier League last season, and you saw the strength of this team at Wembley. I think Bournemouth will have a similar performance. They ranked 9th in the Premier League last season, have many excellent players, and excellent head coach Ilaura. We welcome them to our home court. From our perspective, there are a lot of positives in the preseason and some areas that need improvement.
I think you have seen it when you are playing against Bilbao and Crystal Palace in the Asian Tour. We can create more opportunities, handle the ball more freely, and dominate the field more. We had a lot of ball rights last season, but it didn’t always translate into favorable situations. Now, I think we're better at creating and getting a favorable situation than we've been in the previous season. Hope you have seen some changes brought by new players. I'm glad to see Ekitic and Flynnpon scored goals at Wembley Stadium, and Wiltz and Kolkz contributed, who will face his old club tonight.
In terms of improvement, I think we can do better on defense. I said after Sunday’s game that while not giving opponents too many opportunities in the preseason, we’ve given them opportunities often lead to conceding goals. This happened against Crystal Palace, Bilbao, Milan and Yokohama Mariners. We were strong last season because we often won by one goal, mainly because we kept keeping a clean sheet or conceding at most, which is what we hope to continue this season.
Overall, we are in a good position to enter the new season. Indeed, there are some changes in our lineup, with new players joining and some leaving. This naturally means there will be an adaptation period, but I am confident in our existing roster that they are ready for the upcoming challenges.