Klopp: We still have lots of things to improve
Liverpool's impressive 5-0 victory against Napoli on Saturday did not distract Jürgen Klopp from the areas in which his team need to improve for the new season.
A week after putting four past Manchester United in Michigan, the Reds went one better at the Aviva Stadium and showed glimpses of the free-flowing football that catapulted them to the Champions League final last term.
But Klopp was not entirely satisfied after the game and with one more warm-up match to go – Torino visit Anfield this evening – explained where Liverpool can make gains before kicking off the Premier League campaign at home to West Ham United.
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“I saw a lot of things we were good in. I saw a lot of things we have to improve – not we should, we have to improve,” the manager told Liverpoolfc.com.
“In different moments we lost our compact formation when they played football. 5-0 sounds really clear and it is clear, but we all saw in the first half they had a lot of moments where they were in our box.
“Being in our box three times alone in front of the goalkeeper should not happen. It was only because of the formation, we were not compact enough in these situations.
“But football playing-wise, a lot of moments were really good. Now we need to get back the freshness, for one thing, and the other thing we still need to work on is endurance. The boys are not all on the same level, you can see that.
“The boys who trained from the beginning could go 90 – Millie could have gone 90, Gini could have gone 90, but you saw Sadio, Mo… Bobby was not allowed to go more than 45, that was already at the edge. He needs training now and maybe he needs the game on Tuesday.”
Dejan Lovren’s return to Melwood on Monday means Klopp has his full squad together again ahead of the friendly with Torino and the league opener against the Hammers.
“We need to play the first game somehow,” he said. “Then we have another eight days because we play on Sunday and Monday. That is another pre-season week, I cannot change that. That’s the challenge we have now.
“First of all, we have to make sure we have a good team for Tuesday and then for Sunday, then we have to prepare the next one. There’s still a lot of work to do.”
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