Jürgen Klopp on Man City, centre-backs and Henderson position
Jürgen Klopp discussed Liverpool's preparations and possible adjustments to face Manchester City during the second part of his media previews for Sunday's clash.
The reigning champions host the Premier League leaders at Anfield with the aim of reducing the seven-point gap between the teams in the table.
Speaking to reporters on Friday, the Reds boss was asked how he approaches meetings with City and whether this fixture will be influenced by the absence of supporters inside the stadium.
Klopp also talked about the prospect of Jordan Henderson returning to a midfield position following the signings of centre-backs Ben Davies and Ozan Kabak earlier this week.
Read a summary of his responses below…
On having more options in central defence and the chance to move Henderson back into midfield…
Yes, everything would help, everything helps. A lot of things happened in the last few weeks and we tried to sort it; sometimes we sorted it and sometimes not. But now of course we have different options and that’s good, the best news we could get. Now we have to make sure the new boys get all the information they need as quick as possible, because on another position you can [say], ‘Come on, play, try and we will see, we adapt a little bit to you.’ But in defence the things we do are really clear – it’s about holding the line, it’s about dropping in the right moment. A lot of things all teams do differently. We will see how quick we can do that. Today is an important session for that, tomorrow as well, then we will see what we will make of it.
On preferring not to play two new central defenders at the same time…
No – if I don’t have to, no.
On the impact on this fixture of not having supporters inside Anfield…
We will see, because we have to make it [difficult for City]. Our situation now is not talking about supporters in or out, because we all know how much they help. We know that, we knew it always. For a long, long time we could ignore that, at least result-wise. Now, not, in the last few weeks. It’s actually exactly the opposite of what we want. And we have to make sure that atmosphere, good or bad, doesn’t make a difference. So, it’s a football game – they don’t have an atmosphere, we don’t have an atmosphere. Let’s go for it with all we have, and that’s what we do.
On the nuances of preparing for matches against Pep Guardiola’s City…
There are different moments before games against City, like before all the other games – it depends on your own situation, who is available, who is in which shape, what you can do and all these kind of things. Last time, when we played at City, it was a nice idea and it worked really well for around about 25 minutes or so, and in the end it became an open game again, which is completely fine. This is not the place where I will talk about what we will do against City, but that we’ll try and think to do the right things, you can imagine.
They are special games, that’s how it is. But in the end it’s for three points. Obviously City in the moment are in a slightly different moment than we are, we should not forget that as well, but one thing is clear – if you don’t defend on your highest level against City, you don’t even have to think about getting anything out of the game. But then there are the other moments where you have to be brave, and that’s what we try to be as well. There are other moments when you have to control, not the game but the situation in possession, and we will try that as well.