'Not a holiday' - the manager analyses Burnley challenge
Jürgen Klopp's knowledge of Burnley means Liverpool are preparing for the 'hardest work you can imagine' at Turf Moor on Saturday.
The Reds have won two and lost one of their away clashes with the Clarets under Klopp, with a slender aggregate advantage of 5-4 in those games.
The manager is therefore in no doubt about the challenge awaiting his team this weekend as they aim to register a fourth successive Premier League win to start the season.
Asked at his pre-match press conference if he relishes such fixtures, Klopp replied: “Yes, of course. It’s great. Turf Moor is a really tough place to go.
“We had pretty much all weather circumstances there. I think my very first game there was one of the hottest days in England I ever experienced. Then we had wind, rain, everything.
“In all the games it was difficult, it was always difficult. We once played there on January 1, I’m pretty sure, when Raggy [Klavan] scored – that’s how a year should start! Tough place and they do an incredible job, to be honest.
“Probably everybody will write that it didn’t look like Sean Dyche and I were best friends after the last game; it was an intense game, Joe Gomez got injured, we had a couple of discussions. But both coaching staff, myself and Joe are just proper competitors, so we don’t hide our emotions obviously. That can happen.
“But from my point of view, it was always completely respectful because I respect them and I respect Sean a lot, what he is doing there, to keep a team like Burnley really always on that level of motivation, determination and desire and all that stuff. It’s so difficult and they are doing that.”
He added: “The way they play is pretty clear, they don’t change it a lot but they do it that good that everybody who goes there struggles. I can’t remember any team who won there high, it’s really rare.
“It’s not planning a holiday when you go to Burnley, it’s really planning the hardest work you can imagine and that’s what we try to be ready for.”
Liverpool’s 3-1 victory over Arsenal last time out equalled the club record of 12 consecutive league wins, previously set under Sir Kenny Dalglish in 1990.
But when the subject was raised during his Burnley preview, Klopp insisted those at Melwood are not concerned with statistics, only what is required to defeat the next opponent.
“We don’t think about it,” said the boss. “If nobody would have told me, I don’t think I would have known we had won 12 games in a row. I have no clue when we lost the last one, I have no clue who we played 12 games ago, we don’t think like that. We are completely in the next game.
“What you [the media] all do is [expect] we all will play the season of last season, and especially Man City will – we should expect that probably. But we cannot judge our season, our situation, in comparison to the situation of Man City… ‘If we drop a point there, then it’s done.’ Then we have real pressure.
“It’s still a football game and there are three possible scenarios. My favourite one is to win it; you can get a point; and unfortunately you can lose the game as well. We have to at least expect all three of them could happen but we have influence with our performance.
“So we think about the performance, what we have to do and how we have to face the opponent. We make an analysis of the other team but you always see them playing against other teams and not against us, so what do we do special that they cannot be 100 per cent prepared for what we are doing? That’s what our week is.
“We don’t count the points we collected in the last 12 games or think about the points we could get in the next 20 games. It’s really about this one opponent.
“This is the only time we always have; if you have three days or five or six, training-wise it’s a big difference but focus-wise it’s no difference because three days to focus on the next opponent is enough. I would expect if somebody told us, ‘You play them tomorrow’ we’d have enough time to focus. Analysis-wise it would be difficult but the focus I would expect at the highest level. That’s exactly what we do now.
“Since Monday we thought only about Burnley. Yesterday, when people told us who we would play in the Champions League, for a few moments it was the thing we were talking about. Then close that book again and it’s all about Burnley.
“For us, it’s the only way to do it. That’s how you keep things going: by constantly being focused and concentrated on the next step. Otherwise you will struggle.”