'It's a tough one and they're contenders' - Boss analyses Leicester threat
Jürgen Klopp highlighted Leicester City's impressive flexibility and threat in front of goal ahead of Liverpool's meeting with the Foxes this weekend.
The Reds resume Premier League action following the international break with a test against the current leaders at Anfield on Sunday evening.
Brendan Rodgers' side are looking to build on their fifth-place finish in 2019-20 and have started this campaign extremely well by winning six of their first eight fixtures.
Read on for Klopp's thoughts on Sunday's opposition with a summary from his pre-match press conference...
On how much of a threat he sees Leicester being this season...
Of course, it's eight matchdays and Leicester not only showed last year how good they can be, this year again. They changed their style slightly maybe because of the injuries they had. Good example of how you can deal with an 'injury crisis'. Did really well, are in a good moment, have a clear idea how they want to play. It's a tough one and, of course, they are contenders for everything. They were last year for a long, long period and this year they are more experienced in situations.
On what makes Jamie Vardy so threatening in the final third...
His speed first and foremost, it's incredible. How he uses that, how smart he is, how he developed his game over the years – he's a massive threat for everybody. He gambles in a good way with the last line, he's taking a risk in these situations. But his technical level is really good as well – not only finishing, but first touch and all these kind of things. Jamie is a proper, proper player, I have to say. It's always a challenge to defend him and the only way I know to defend him is to make sure he doesn't get the pass he wants. That means we have to defend all the others as well.
On how important it is for Liverpool to have a style of play that runs through every level of the club...
Very important, very important but there's still, of course, some distance. Between the U23s and us, for example, you cannot play exactly like we do in the U23s for different reasons – what do the opponents do. But a lot of things should be very similar, if not exactly the same. So, yes, it's very important. In our situation it is the case that the boys know before they arrive in our training what we want them to do. But there's still distance. But the boys who came up so far were absolutely incredible. Of course we all know that Nat [Phillips] played a super game, Rhys [Williams] played a super game. Curtis [Jones] is maybe the main example but there are other boys in training at the moment and they all look really, really good. [Luis] Longstaff, [Paul] Glatzel, Leighton Clarkson, Jake Cain, they look sensationally well. Billy [Koumetio] is back as well after all the little, big issues he had. We are blessed with a lot of talent around us and some were not in training but are already maybe on their way. Yes, the door is open. In our situation especially, the door is open – but the door is always open. It helps when you have the same idea in football.