JK on Huddersfield, defending and bouncing back
Jürgen Klopp held a press conference at Melwood on Monday afternoon to preview Liverpool's midweek trip to Huddersfield Town in the Premier League.
The Reds boss provided an injury update, hailed the return of Jordan Henderson, and discussed his players' penalty record and the possibility of further transfers this month.
To see what Klopp had to say on the threat posed by tomorrow's opponents, Liverpool's recent defensive woes, and getting his side back to winning ways, read our transcript below.
On how Huddersfield have performed so far...
Usually it’s not my job to talk about an opponent but I can make an exception of course in this case because it's Dave [Wagner]. I really think that everybody expected before the season that Huddersfield will fight for [survival] until the end, so it should not be a surprise. They did, so far, fantastic with the possibilities they have, the money they have and stuff like that, they do really brilliant [and are] in the middle of the group who fights for [staying in] the league. I think they did fantastic, but for this game it's not too important what happened the last few weeks. Both teams really need the points and we will probably see that in the game so it makes it really interesting for everybody who wants to see. That's the challenge we have to face.
On whether Huddersfield could match Burnley in establishing themselves in the division...
I don’t think Huddersfield are long enough in the Premier League to compare them immediately with Burnley. I think if you compare the possibilities that Burnley has with Huddersfield, it's like with maybe us and Burnley, it's a big difference. They've [had] one year in the Premier League and not a few years, so that makes all the difference. Sean Dyche and Burnley are doing a fantastic job there but we cannot compare different clubs. That's of course the chance they have, to stay in the league and use the situation one more time and then to stay there again. It's always possible, it's nice it's possible but, unfortunately, from our point of view they have to do it without any points from Liverpool. We have our own targets and for them we need the three points.
On Liverpool's recent defending...
[The goal] against Swansea? That happens in football. That's not chaotic defending, that's a rather good attitude. Yes, we could have done better but that's normal when you involve a new player in these situations. I think Virgil is a logical taker of these situations with headers, so if he is reacting in one way that needs to be tuned [with other players] if you want. The last game, we watched the goals back in this room, and when we spoke about defending we didn’t speak about the centre-halves or the last line in these situations. They are always involved because they should be around when somebody scores a goal, but I showed the boys where we should have defended, where we could have reacted much better. In the end, it's clear, we twice had Rodriguez in a good situation and if we had a better position [as a] team then we can avoid this goal easily. The first one, the second one for sure as well, we lose him in their build-up, in the last few passes, Rodriguez in the end has a free run in the box. The second goal, Trent tries to deny the cross, Joel is in the space he has to be with a man, then there is a gap and this gap should be filled by another player because Virgil is with another player in a man-marking situation. We didn't fill it up because a second [before] Emre jumps in a situation in midfield where he wants to win the challenge, loses the challenge, Gini doesn't come inside, Alberto is not close enough and both wingers are not even involved. So, a lot of things happened, and that's how defending actually works. In a moment when we again [get] back to the mood of defending that everybody – really everybody – is responsible for these things, then we will defend immediately better again. That's why we showed the boys, it was not about that I blamed a player, it was about showing what really happened. The players probably will not look back on a game like this, they try to ignore it, and this time I didn’t want to give them the opportunity to ignore it. Now we have to do it better.
On not allowing two poor results to turn into a slump...
One hundred per cent, but that’s football is and how life is. It's two weeks ago that we had an 18-game unbeaten run or whatever; then you lose twice and everything feels different, that's absolutely true. That's OK because, for us, it's very important that you feel it and don't think it's not too important - no, no, it’s very important. It was two really harsh defeats for us, they felt really hard, and that's good. But, now we have to immediately show up again, that’s for sure as well. It's a part of the season where you have to build on the basis you created so far and not to gamble with it. I don’t think the boys gambled, but it looks like we gave two big opportunities away. So we have to show that we understood what happened in these two games and then make it much better from now on. If you use a defeat to learn from it then it's still a defeat, it feels bad, but then it's OK. But if you don’t learn from it you are a silly, so we should show that we not silly, we want to be back on track immediately and hopefully we can show that tomorrow night.
On whether tomorrow's match feels more important after recent results...
I don’t think so to be honest because I don’t look ahead four or five weeks and think, 'that's an important game, that's an important game', because - as you can imagine - they are all important. It didn’t change for Huddersfield but maybe the view from outside [is that] because we wasted three points at Swansea [it is]. But if we would have won against Swansea, I think we go to Huddersfield and everybody expects that we really try everything to win the game, so it didn’t change. We need to show that we are really ready for that, that's how it is. They are all difficult; Huddersfield, special place now, the whole city fights for the league 100 per cent. They don't expect brilliant football or anything, they expect a proper fight and that’s what Huddersfield Town is ready to deliver. We need to be there and need to deliver as well.