NewsJürgen Klopp press conference: LASK, Kelleher chance, Tsimikas form and more

Having taken nine points from four fixtures in Group E so far, the Reds know a win or draw in this game will secure qualification to the knockout phases.

At his pre-match press conference, Klopp discussed the challenge he expects from LASK, the situation in the group, an opportunity for Caoimhin Kelleher, Kostas Tsimikas’ form and more.

Read a summary below…

On the importance of having Kelleher in the absence of the injured Alisson Becker…

Exactly that, that’s why we knew we wanted to have Caoimhin here – for these moments. Nobody, Caoimhin [included], wanted Ali to get injured but if these kind of things happen then you need the strongest possible option and that’s Caoimhin for us. That’s the only positive about that, to be honest, we can put in Caoimhin and that’s fine. Now he gets the opportunity, which he deserves anyway, he would have played tomorrow night anyway, that’s clear. But now he will have a few more games and hopefully he can show his full potential.

On what he wants to see from the Reds on Thursday night…

We are in the beginning of the most intense period of the whole season, that’s how it is. We play now Thursday, Sunday, Wednesday, Saturday – that’s super-tough. And then I don’t know what the next game is after that but that’s probably Thursday again? Crystal Palace is the last game of these four games in a pretty short period of time, so we have to make decisions and I have to make decisions, that’s clear. But it’s not about qualifying [for the Europa League knockouts], or whatever, it’s about winning a football game and against a really good opponent. We won there, yes, but we had our struggles in the game, we didn’t forget that. And more important, LASK play a really good season. They have a good way, they look well set up and these kind of things – and we respect that, we always did.

But what we have tomorrow, and what we have to make [the most] of, is an atmosphere. So if people are here then we have to make sure this is a European night. That’s what I expect us to do, a European night, a proper European night at Anfield, really going for it. I will line up a team – I didn’t hear anything yet that I cannot, all the others besides the injured players – [so] I will line up a team who has fresh legs, who will go for it, who want to enjoy the game and will really fight for a result. And if Anfield wants to do that as well, that would be massively helpful. Because the only problem in this competition could be from time to time… if we have tomorrow night or tonight a Champions League game, I don’t have to talk about these kinds of things, it’s just clear, bam, go for it. But we as a team we 100 per cent arrived in this competition, already last season when we realised we will qualify for the Europa League, we were really happy about that and that’s what I want us to do, that we really don’t go in the game and if we play a bad pass or whatever then the atmosphere is not there. We need to make a special night of it because it is a difficult game; the opponent has a chance themselves, not to qualify tomorrow night but to qualify in general for the next round, and that would be massive for LASK, I know that. And we have to make sure we really show a Liverpool package that is a wonderful place to come but a horrible place to come as well in the same moment.

On whether the defeat at Toulouse on matchday four was a helpful reminder of what this competition requires…

No, I didn’t need that, I would have loved to win that game, I would have loved to play better. But we didn’t. It was not needed. It wasn’t helpful. Three weeks ago – since then there was an international break, a lot of things happened since then, I’m not sure I will mention that again. No, it just made the situation more difficult, that’s how it is. So, we want to win tomorrow night and then we want to win in Belgium as well. If we don’t win tomorrow night, the game in Belgium in a super-intense period will be even tougher, so it’s really all about performing tomorrow night and really going for it. That’s the idea: put the opponent under pressure, with intensity, with all these kinds of things. Good football, yes, but top protection and be super-aware around set-pieces, how they scored their goal [in the away game], stuff like this, that we are really there. And the boys were so far. Toulouse, that was maybe a one-off, performance-wise, Luton around was not too great as well but this was in a very short period of time. Besides that, the boys usually perform and that’s what we should concentrate on.

On the importance of Liverpool maintaining their standards throughout the group…

Yeah, has to. So, we have now nine [points]. Toulouse has seven so if we win and if they win, theoretically, at home… it’s the situation in the Europa League, it’s important as well if you are top of the group or second in the group. One you go through, one you go into a qualifier. These things are all very important. We didn’t make any difference in any competition; we have only played three but in all three competitions we didn’t make any difference.

We have to share intensity, that’s it. We don’t make decisions because of a lesser-important competition or whatever, we don’t have that, we just want to go for it. But in this busy time we need all the boys available and now we already have a lot not available. We don’t speak [about it] anymore because it’s already a long time but Thiago and Robbo are out, and now Diogo and Ali. That’s massive and it would be great if nothing else would happen but it’s unlikely, so we have to make sure we really share the intensity between the group.

On Tsimikas’ recent performances…

Kosti needed obviously rhythm as well, it’s not that he was now flying since he came into the team but he knows that himself and it’s very important for a player who was waiting that long for a run of games, stuff like this, then you think just because you have the run of games, now it will work out. But it’s not like this. But he improved now, the last two games were really good. The game before the international break, Brentford, you could see how big the change was after he set up the goal, he was involved in Diogo’s goal as well and, yes, was much more stable as well. And we all know if he is stable then he can produce some beautiful things, especially crosses, set-pieces and all these kind of things, we need that. So, yeah, really, really happy.