JK on Burnley threat and LFC's need for a 'plan B'

The Reds are looking to build on another win over a rival for a top-four finish by overcoming the sort of side who have posed them greater problems so far this season.

Klopp's team completed a league double over Arsenal by winning 3-1 last time out at Anfield, but now face a Clarets outfit who inflicted defeat upon them in frustrating fashion in the second game of 2016-17.

Speaking at his pre-match press conference at Melwood on Friday, the manager discussed the qualities of Sean Dyche's team, their record away from Turf Moor, and the aims of his side during the weekend's game.

Read for a transcript of his answers.

On the 'special' threat of Burnley...

We will see what we do, but this game is in a few ways really special. Even if we would have won all the games against other teams, Burnley is special because they have the clearest plan of all of these teams. That’s why I think Burnley are happy with their position in the table, they have this comfortable position. It is 100 per cent clear what they do but it's 100 per cent clear that it's not easy. It's not about [how] other teams play football; they play different to Sunderland, they play different to a lot of teams - Hull, meanwhile, plays completely different. With Burnley it is clear what you have to expect and the knowledge about our problems against other teams is not for this game. It would be difficult even if we had won all the other games, that's how it is. They defend like they defend, you all know it, counter-attack, long balls, all that stuff - it's really tuned. Barnes or Vokes are running, or Gray is running, general balls in behind, set-pieces, you know it can’t be easy, that’s how it is. I know when we prepare for a game against a top side everybody [thinks] 'wonderful', and then in the public view it feels a little bit stiff [for lesser games]. It could be hard, yes it will be, I'm pretty sure if you don’t score early, or score another goal early, then it will be difficult and the quality is high in Burnley. You can see the results they had even when they lost away games, it's not that they lost high against most sides. I think Man United and Tottenham for sure were close games, and we need to be ready for work again. Of course, creating an atmosphere on the pitch, creating an atmosphere in the stadium, using the advantage of Anfield, all that stuff [is important]. If you miss a chance against Arsenal, nobody is surprised, it's not that everybody thinks 'oh, again'. You miss a chance against Burnley - which will probably happen, hopefully we have some - everybody thinks differently. [They think it's] difficult [and] there will not be another chance like this. We need to feel free for playing football. Yes, we know about a few problems already but we had already good sessions, we will have good sessions, and we have to go in the game. 

LFCTV GO: Watch the boss' Burnley preview in full

On Burnley's two away points thus far...

Their away record is obviously not good, if you look only at the numbers then that's pretty obvious in comparison to the home record especially. But it is not that they have no chances in the game - the situations are similar [it's just] sometimes they use the situations and sometimes not. For the other teams it was always hard work to [beat them] so we only have to be ready for hard work. If we do this then I think we have a bigger chance to win than to lose but that's what we have to do. There is nothing decided before the game, as always in football, that's a good thing. Everything is possible, that's another good thing that nobody really likes, especially when you think about that we also could lose. We have to take it, we have to take it like it is. We respect Burnley a lot, not only because we lost there but because of the season. The style of play is clear but that means they are good in it, as good as they want to be. Maybe not always, Sean Dyche is not always 100 per cent happy with the results, but the performance maybe more often than with the results. They think they are close to it, we think too that we are close to change the situation, so we will try all we can. You cannot compare Premier League teams to each other, only we do it because we split the league into teams we win against and the rest. Burnley is one of the other teams and a good side - we need to be ready for it.

On having a 'Plan B' versus deeper teams...

Of course we have spoken about the things we have to do but not in case it's a team from the lower part of the table or whatever. It's a specific kind of play, of course we spoke about it. I know what people say, that it looks like this and it’s not the first time people say something like this, that I don’t have a plan B or whatever. Yes, we know how to play but in the end you have to come into the specific spaces, you have to make the right decisions, there is nothing you can do and say [to change that]. [You can't] concentrate only on set-pieces, or only concentrate on counter-attacks or counter-pressing, [it's] not like this, it’s [an] all-round challenge. We need to be as good as possible in all of these things. We are, often enough, in all the games, in the right spaces - maybe apart from the first half against Hull. [The players] make the right decisions, so what can you do now? My job, how I understand it, I have to help them find the right decisions more easily, that's what training is for. It’s a challenge, we knew it after the Arsenal game that this would happen - in this press conference you would ask these questions and I would give these answers. In the end, how I have said a few times, we have to prove it on the pitch. Before the Arsenal game the mood here was quite optimistic but I think a lot of people thought, 'Yes, until now it was like this but lose now against Arsenal too and they really have problems'. I was not sure in the last press conference that we would win against Arsenal and, in this moment, I am not sure that we will win against Burnley but I am quite optimistic. I know about the boys and as long as we can bring 11 of our boys on the pitch, we always want to be competitive. That's what we want to be in this game, nobody should expect an easy game. If nobody expects this then we are ready for the fight we will face.

On what the Reds need to do to win...

A few things we have to change, that is how it is. You have to bring the right players when you know how they defend in the spaces, it is not new. The pitch is too big to close all of the spaces so then you have to play quick in the right spaces, speed up and change the situation for them and use the timing advantage. That’s it. So yes we know, we are long enough in the business, we have played enough games like this. We played this kind of football, everybody forgets and it looks like we forgot it. We didn't! It's about making the right decision in the right moment and if this would be the most easy thing in the world we would all be a little bit better in the things we do.