Klopp: We can use midweek info to 'do it better' at the Bridge

The Reds succumbed to a 2-1 defeat to the Blues in the third round of the Carabao Cup at Anfield on Wednesday night in a game in which both sides made eight changes to their starting line-ups.

They do battle again once more in London in Saturday’s tea-time clash, with Liverpool looking to extend their flawless start to the Premier League season by recording a seventh successive win.

Klopp previewed the contest during a media briefing at Melwood on Friday morning, during which he outlined why the analysis of the cup tie can aid Liverpool’s preparations for a fixture he predicts will be ‘interesting and intense for both’.

Read on for a summary of what the manager had to say, or watch his press conference in full in our YouTube video.

On the defeat to Chelsea in midweek…

Like a defeat is, it is not cool, not what you want and not what you’re going for. But we should not be surprised that things like this can happen, especially in a game against a really strong side. When you don’t use your big chances, you leave the game open and if you leave the game open, there is always a chance for the other team. That’s what happened, not more. Yes, immediately after a defeat the mood is not good but then you have two days in this case to find [your way] back on track. That’s worked so far and we will go to Chelsea and try our best again, but in games like this you can never be sure you will get the result you want to have – we have to work for it and that’s what we’ll try.

On the possibility of opening a five-point lead over Chelsea in the table…

I don’t think in these categories because it is difficult enough to try and win the game, or even to get a point at Chelsea. So, I don’t think about a five-point gap – and a five-point gap 31 matchdays before the end [of the season] is nothing. We play them again, so it is absolutely nothing. It’s only about getting points for our account. I thought the Chelsea game [in midweek] was just an unbelievably interesting game, in the analysis as well. We needed time to adapt, yes. We had a new formation, yes, and without the ball, against the ball in defending, it’s a little bit more complicated than with the ball.

For the boys it was a big challenge because I know how people see it: we gave five players a first start of the season and they need to be ready in that moment and use the chance otherwise they’ll never get another one, but that’s not how it is. It was a really difficult task, but I was happy with how we adapted in the game. With all the things Chelsea did, in the end they needed a free-kick - maybe offside, maybe not, it’s not important – and the world-class situation of Hazard to win the game. We had the bigger chances and that’s good news, but still we lost and that’s what can happen. The result is always the most important thing, but the performance is pretty important as well – and for analysis much more important.

We learned a lot in the game and it was interesting to see how we adapted in a pretty short period of time with a pretty much completely new formation. That’s good, but we have to do better because Chelsea will make changes and Hazard will not only play 20 minutes, so he will give us a few questions over 95 minutes. A lot of other players will come in - Jorginho, Kante and all these boys – so it’ll be interesting again and I am looking forward to it.

On whether Wednesday’s game can aid Liverpool’s preparations…

It will be tough, it will be intense for both sides. It’s a big one, it’s Chelsea versus Liverpool - that sounds already good and now we have to make sure it is good! For both teams, it will not be an easy game and both teams know that. But the best preparation for the Saturday game is the Wednesday game because you can never know more about an opponent than in the match you play against them. Of course, there’ll be a few different players on the pitch for Chelsea, but we try to use our information from Wednesday to do it better.

On whether Wednesday’s defeat provides added motivation for Saturday’s game…

For sure, but to be 100 per cent honest it is not that I come in on Thursday morning and speak immediately in which way we strike back and things like this. Obviously we want to strike back, that’s sport. You lose once, it can happen, if you play them again and try to correct that case and that’s what we try, of course. But today is the only session we have and then we travel, because for the team who played [on Wednesday] yesterday was for recovery.

The other boys had a proper session, a good session, and now today is a very important one to use the things we’ve learned about the opponent. Then, let’s go and try again. Hopefully they’re all fit and we then have real proper quality and that makes it interesting. Striking back is a duty in sports, it’s big part of what I love - in a season you always play twice. It’s quite difficult to play in August and then the next time in May and you tell the players ‘we lost against them!’, but in three days it is possible, so let’s try.

On the upcoming eight-day period that sees Liverpool meet Chelsea, Napoli and Manchester City…

Since the last international break we knew that we’d face all of these teams. So far, we played Tottenham, PSG, Southampton and Chelsea so we are half-way through, and so far we did really well. Performance-wise, very well, result-wise, very well. The last one, how it is always, it feels like it is the biggest impact, but I don’t think so. Before we started it was clear that a game against Chelsea at Chelsea will not be like a children’s birthday [party], that’s pretty intense. Then you go to Naples, which is a tough place to go, then Man City is coming and we all know how these games were. Maybe we won them last year but it was nearly always over the top what we have to do. That’s an interesting month to be honest, but so far so good and the boys are fully in it and ready to go. We are quite positive that we can get a bit of all these games.

On Eden Hazard…

I know exactly how good he is. Eden Hazard is a special player, obviously, and he enjoys these one-on-one situations or one versus two or three situations. I didn’t need that game [on Wednesday] to know about Eden, it was already clear.

We all know we could have defended that goal but still he scored. We had three challenges and yes he did well because nobody had him really. If we have one 100 per cent challenge, or four or five, then Eden Hazard can’t do what he did. But that’s not new, he used the situation that two players were in a bit of doubt - we never want to do that, never. We want one for the challenge and one for the protection and we had two for the protection three times. And then I would say it’s still not possible to score a goal, but he did and it was a perfect finish. I can easily respect that, but no player is not defendable.

It’s difficult but we are difficult to defend. If you give Sadio Mane the ball in the wrong space then you cannot get him anymore as an opponent, it’s not possible. So we have these players as well. So we have to make sure we close the right spaces and if we have a challenge, we should try to win it a bit more than we did in that situation.