Press conferenceJürgen Klopp discusses FA Cup, Wolves selection plans, Gakpo and more
Jürgen Klopp held a press conference on Friday afternoon to preview Liverpool’s Emirates FA Cup meeting with Wolverhampton Wanderers.
The Reds’ defence of the crown begins with the visit of Julen Lopetegui’s side to Anfield on Saturday night.
Klopp confirmed Cody Gakpo could make his debut for the club in the third-round tie after the formalities of his transfer from PSV Eindhoven were concluded earlier in the week.
Read on to see what the boss had to say about the new No.18 and the encounter with Wolves…
On the passing of Gianluca Vialli...
I never met him but in this specific case everybody knows what a player he was and when you see the reaction of his former teammates, former colleagues, then it says a lot about what kind of person he was. Really sad. I think it's pretty rare that somebody thinks, 'OK, he was old enough' – but with 58 definitely not. When you are yourself 55, then you realise, oh my God, it's coming closer, let me say it like this. But it's really tough and the reactions say everything. I didn't know him personally, I only knew him as a football fan and he was an outstanding player obviously. I wish his family all the best, his friends all the strength necessary to get through this. He will be remembered in the best possible way, definitely.
On whether the approach for this Wolves tie has changed after the defeat to Brentford...
No, it doesn't change. What always changed [it was] the amount of games you have around. So if you play Wednesday-Saturday, Tuesday or whatever, these kind of things, then you have to think about it. But in our case we played Monday last time and now Saturday and then I think again Saturday. So it was always clear we will line up as good and strong and experienced as we can – but we actually always did, just it looked sometimes a bit different. But always the best possible line-up for the specific game. But with Monday-Saturday, it will not be rotation because of the competition or whatever.
Inside Training: Watch as Cody Gakpo joins Reds in Wolves cup tie preparations
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On Gakpo's potential impact and similarity to Luis Diaz...
It looks really good, it looks really promising. He looks fit. That's all good. Is he at 100 per cent fitness? I don't know. He trained now, he had a few days where he was allowed to train but not with the team. Now two days with the team, I think the sessions you could see they are intense for him because [it's] different. Not more intense, but everything what is new, you feel it a bit more. Very positive about him, very. But I’m not sure if it’s now helpful that we compare him – Lucho's impact was really special, to be honest. We could swap round a little bit, we had difficulties as well injury-wise – that was extremely helpful. That's how it will be in the moment as well. But Cody gets the same amount of time like each player here to settle in. Offensively it's not that easy, he comes from a different league – that's always difficult. It was for Lucho as well but then you don't have to compare them. But we expect a positive impact, definitely.
On whether he met with Gakpo like Georginio Wijnaldum and how important a player's personality is...
It’s very important for me, absolutely. But it was not exactly like that. Gini was in my house, [that] was not possible with Cody, so we had a phone call, we had a long conversation in the moment we are allowed to do that. So that's obviously slightly different. When you sit together in a room alone then the conversation you have is different. That's clear. But it was not possible in this case, we had to do it differently. All the things you can know about Cody Gakpo describe him as a very, very good person. He is born and bred Eindhoven – there for years and years, [I] don't [know] exactly how old he was, eight or nine years when he joined the club, going through all the teams, all the ranks, becoming captain at the age of 22, 23. That all says a lot about him.
That's what I knew before, then you speak to the boy; perfect English, obviously a lot of Dutch guys really speak incredible English, so [it] makes the conversation really easy in that moment. Then you see his face, his smile has the warmth in there. We had obviously information from Virgil as well about him as a person, so there were not only not a lot of doubts – there were no doubts at all. And, yes, personality is very important I think – not only in football, generally in life it’s important. So, very happy with the signing.
On whether Gakpo’s choice to join Liverpool says more about him or the club...
Both, I think. I think there were easier moments, if you want, to join Liverpool. Last year, I'm not sure we were qualified for the Champions League already, but it looked like it would happen. This year we cannot guarantee that but Cody never asked. It happens from time to time that players ask, 'Do you think we'll make the Champions League?' Stuff like this. He can read the table obviously himself, so he knew that will be a bit [of a] tight decision. But what I really like about this is he's obviously a guy who doesn’t want to jump on the running train, he wants to push the train. So, I like that a lot. Good for him as well because it always helps in life if you are [a] little bit like that. I'm now seven-and-a-half years inside, I don’t see the club from [the] outside anymore, but you know that Liverpool is a massive club. It is.
What we can give to players is the size of the club, but the feeling inside – we are really close together. That's how it is. We describe it internally as a family. We don't go outside and tell everybody that it's a family or whatever, but internally it's exactly like that. We sing birthday songs for everybody, we do all these kind of things, everybody gets flowers in the right moment. We don’t forget the personal thing and that [is] probably [something] Virgil told him. It wasn't [something] necessarily I told him. So, could we be more successful in the moment on the pitch? Yes, definitely. No doubt about that, but everybody knows we fight with all we have for getting there again. We will get there. But it’s always tough in these moments. I really like the fact he decided pretty quickly, ‘Yeah, that's the right club for me’ and that speaks volumes about him.
