Klopp: We must make the best of intensive fixture list
Jürgen Klopp accepts that his players will need to dig deep as they work through an 'intensive' January fixture list but insists he wouldn't have it any other way than to be fighting on so many fronts.
The Reds will play four Barclays Premier League fixtures, a two-legged Capital One semi-final tie and an FA Cup third round clash this month, in a run that could play a significant part in shaping their season.
Klopp admits it's up to him to ensure there are no signs of weariness in his team's performances as they work through a gruelling schedule that begins against West Ham United tomorrow.
But he says a challenge for silverware and a push toward the upper reaches of the Premier League should be motivation enough for his charges.
"I’m the first to force the players [to work] or to help them not getting fatigue in the periods between the games because first of all you get tired in the mind then the body starts thinking the same," he told Liverpoolfc.com.
"It’s intensive, we cannot ignore this. It’s the most intensive time in the year after an intensive time, so we are not on holiday for sure.
"But it’s the same situation for nearly all the teams – we have two [cup] games more but that’s how it is. We wanted to go to the semi-final of the Capital One Cup and now we are in it, now we want to go to the final of course, and that’s what we have to deal with.
"It’s a situation and we have to be prepared for all these games, that’s our job. It’s not that you can just say, ‘come on, boys!’ - that’s what we say and that’s what we expect but it’s really intensive.
"You want to show everybody that you want to make the best of it."
A string of good results in January would put Klopp's team on course for the Premier League top four and keep them in with a shout of lifting a trophy in 2016.
But, while the German has talked up the importance of his players enjoying a period of wall-to-wall football, he is adamant they must take things one game at a time so as not to trip themselves up.
"It’s good, they are big targets for us, but we have to play the games first. We cannot say now that [if we win], then it is like this," he added.
"If you take the second step before you make the first then you will, for sure, struggle. That’s what we shouldn’t do.
"Now it’s West Ham, then we can think about Stoke, then we can think about Exeter, then we can think about Arsenal, then we can think about Manchester United and then I don’t know.
"We have to see, it’s intensive but it’s playing football and we love this. It’s a brilliant game and that’s what we can’t forget."