Monday's Melwood digest: Klopp, Mignolet, Lallana and more
It was another busy day for Liverpool at Melwood as we geared up for our EFL Cup fourth-round tie with Tottenham Hotspur at Anfield. Here’s all you need to know about Monday's happenings...
Our top three stories…
Jürgen Klopp used his pre-match briefing with journalists to confirm Simon Mignolet is set to start the clash with Spurs, but revealed that Loris Karius currently holds the status of Liverpool’s first-choice goalkeeper.
“After the last international break, I spoke to both of them and we made this decision. I know for a player it is always a big thing not to start, not to play, but for a goalkeeper it’s a little bit more different. In this moment, there’s nothing else to say. We made the decision and that’s the ranking, if you want.”
Elsewhere, the manager stressed that no-one within the Reds’ camp is getting carried away with their start to the season, despite just losing once in our opening 11 matches and sitting level on points with Manchester City and Arsenal at the top of the Premier League table.
“Nothing what we did until now was close to 100 per cent, nothing, so we have to improve, we have to get closer to this 100 per cent.”
Meanwhile, Adam Lallana chalked up his 100th Liverpool appearance in Saturday’s win over West Bromwich Albion – a stat he could scarcely believe when it was put to him.
“It’s flown - time flies when you’re having fun and doing what you really love. I’m delighted to be playing in a team that’s doing well, that really works for each other, and now we just have to be consistent.”
The LFCTV GO video…
As mentioned, the boss hosted his pre-Tottenham press conference at Melwood today – and you can watch it in full below now.
On this day…
In 1998, Michael Owen netted four times as Liverpool overpowered Nottingham Forest 5-1 at Anfield in a Premier League encounter. Steve McManaman was the Reds’ other scorer that afternoon.
Meanwhile, back in 1984, Ian Rush helped himself to a hat-trick in Liverpool’s 3-1 win over Benfica in a European Cup second-round, first-leg showdown on Merseyside.
The social post…
Tomorrow on Liverpoolfc.com…
We’ll kick the day off with an exclusive interview with Kevin Stewart, while we’ll have full rolling coverage throughout the day in our live matchday blog as we build up to Liverpool’s EFL Cup clash with Tottenham at Anfield. Don't miss it.