Klopp's Napoli analysis: 'It will be interesting...'
Jürgen Klopp expects an 'interesting' test for his Liverpool team when they face Napoli in the Champions League on Wednesday night.
The Reds top Group C ahead of the game at Stadio San Paolo, where Carlo Ancelotti’s side have a 100 per cent record so far this season.
Onboard the club flight to Naples on Tuesday afternoon, Klopp spoke to Liverpoolfc.com about the latest condition of his squad and the possibility of changes to his XI.
He also gave an assessment of Liverpool’s opponents, reflected on his previous experience at the venue and explained why the pre-season clash between the teams will have no influence on this match…
On Liverpool’s form during their run of seven games in 23 days...
Performance-wise, for sure it has been really good; result-wise, it has been nearly really good. It was always clear the two Chelsea games would be two tough ones, but I think especially the second game showed we were unlucky in the first game against Chelsea. We could have won that game. It’s very important. Performance-wise, we are pretty stable so far, we’ve got better and better and better – but our opponents have got better as well. We still have two tough games to come, then the international break and then the boys will play really tough games in the internationals – I think Holland play Germany and Belgium, that’s like Chelsea and Man City again! That’s life!
On what he expects from Napoli…
They are a good team in a good moment. Even the last game was not bad against Juventus. They are in good shape, second in the league, impressive results. We played against [Maurizio] Sarri and his new team on Saturday and now we play against his old team, so it will be interesting. It’s not exactly the same anymore because they changed style and lost Jorginho, but they’re very quick up front, have good footballers, a good counter-press, a good counter… it will be interesting.
On his previous visit to Stadio San Paolo with Borussia Dortmund and his memories of the atmosphere…
I was there, yes. It was not my best game, to be honest! The atmosphere is very good. I only had the first half of the game in the stadium that day; I watched the second half with the groundsman in his office! I got a red card that night… so in the first half that day I can remember the atmosphere was very good, very emotional.
On whether playing Napoli in pre-season will have any impact on this game…
They played a good side and it was a good game. It was 5-0 but they were really good and we were lucky in one or two situations. Alisson’s first game, a few good saves. Not all players involved [for Napoli] or for us as well, but it was not a typical 5-0. We don’t use it, we don’t even think about it. We have enough games they’ve played this season that we can use for the analysis, but for sure not that game.