Boss: I love derbies - they are the salt in the soup
'I love derbies' revealed Jürgen Klopp as the Liverpool manager looked ahead to his first meeting with Manchester United since taking charge of the club.
The Reds welcome their rivals to Anfield on Sunday afternoon for an important Barclays Premier League contest that follows quickly on from the thrilling 3-3 draw with Arsenal in midweek.
Klopp’s pre-match press conference featured a range of questions on the challenge posed by United, the nature of derbies and comparisons between the boss and his counterpart.
Read on for the key points from Melwood…
On United’s form…
I’m not too close with the news about Manchester United in the last few weeks. I have watched them this week, of course, and I heard the Newcastle game was pretty different. I saw a few games, of course, but the stories around I’m not interested in. Louis van Gaal is one of the most successful managers in the world and has won a lot of titles, not only in Germany. He has a special idea of football and as an opponent you have to respect this and work with this information. That’s what we do. Newcastle was a different game, for sure, Newcastle did really well and it was a special game. But United reacted really well in this game. You analyse the last three games for the information we need, not the last 10 – you cannot take this information and it’s not important because they are different teams. We have to watch what we can find out, if something has really changed or if it was only because of the good performance of Newcastle. We have to see and if we find out, then make our plan and we’ll play football.
On the game’s importance…
A game against Manchester United is a little bit like Dortmund-Schalke. You can play the whole season the way you want, but in these games you have to be prepared and you have to be there and show your best. Obviously it is important for the table, we are close together and both teams need the points to stay close with the top teams in the table. For this, it’s important. But it is Manchester United. If we were 20 points in the lead of the whole table, it would [still] be important. That’s how I understand derbies. I love derbies, to be honest. It’s the salt in the soup. They are the best matches to perform in.
On finding a balance…
That’s always the case, not only in derbies. You can be over-motivated, that’s possible. But you don’t have to think too much about motivation in games like this because everybody knows about the importance. But the balance is always the most important thing, in football everything is about timing and the right thing in the right moment. If you don’t do the right thing in the right moment then you have to run more. You cannot solve it in a different way, you can only solve mistakes with your legs. You will not win against Manchester United because you run 145 miles. You have to make the right way and you have to defend well because they have brilliant players in the team, really good players. That’s the case. Two days to go and we can prepare, that’s what we’ll try to do.
On Louis van Gaal…
Louis van Gaal and I are different, but that’s normal – I think I’m different to most people in this room. I don’t know Louis too well but we have met a few times and had a few intensive games, that’s for sure. We both want to be successful and both need to do a lot of work to be successful, and that’s what we’ll try. It’s a different idea of football but I wouldn’t say we have the better idea, it’s only another one. It’s always about possession and in a few small things we are different characters. He has more experience; I am maybe a little bit more lively on the sideline! We have to trust our players.