Press conferenceJürgen Klopp on Reds' second leg with Inter, approach, rhythm and more
Jürgen Klopp touched on a range of topics during his pre-Internazionale press conference on Monday afternoon.
The Reds boss spoke to journalists at Anfield to preview the second leg of the Champions League last-16 tie with the Serie A champions.
Klopp was asked about facing Inter with a two-goal advantage, the rhythm his side are in, the Premier League title race and more.
Read on for a transcript of the media briefing...
On the danger that remains in the tie, despite being 2-0 up from the first leg...
The danger everybody knows about. It’s 2-0, the lead I think which got turned over most often in the history of football. Because if you enter half-time 2-0 up and you have a team who thinks we are halfway through then you are already on the wrong path, so we are long enough [in the competition] and we know that. It’s a much better result than I would have expected, to be honest, before we played there. The game didn’t look like we will win it 2-0 for most of the time. It was a really tough tie and a really difficult game to play. We knew before they had real quality. After that, we knew they had real quality. Now they will show up here and they won the last game 5-0. Yes, against the team bottom of the table but still really impressive. [Lautaro] Martinez scored, [Edin] Dzeko scored, [Robin] Gosens is back. We saw the game and we’re really happy [Nicolo] Barella is not playing because he set up I think three or four! That’s a really experienced team and they don’t come here as tourists, I know that they want to chase the game. That’s what we want to do because we are not a team who defends results, or whatever, or tries to get through somehow. We want to attack the game again and let’s see what we can get from it.
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On whether the number of games in quick succession is helpful to the squad...
Only when you can make changes. If you cannot make changes, then no. We played now the final on Sunday, then Wednesday, then Saturday, now Tuesday. That’s actually a horrible schedule. So, if we can make changes in decisive positions like in the machine room, midfield, or these kinds of things, then it’s possible. If not, then not.
Maybe I start out of the blue with it, but it is essential at one point that we go again for the five subs in the Premier League. It is. Because we have three competitions where we have five subs and one [where] we don’t have that. If you don’t have three competitions or only two, it makes so much difference. I don’t understand why it takes that long to understand it, because the Premier League has to save their top-class players as well. It cannot be that we do it because some clubs think it would be an advantage for the bigger clubs. It’s not about an advantage, it’s about the game. You keep the players in a better place, you’d get much less injuries, definitely, over the year if we finally introduce it. That has helped as well. We had, obviously, five subs in the final, five in the cup and three now at the weekend – that’s really important. The schedule is fine for us, we are used to a tough rhythm, that’s not a problem. But Sunday, Wednesday, Saturday, Tuesday is really tough and it’s not perfect. But we could make changes, so that’s why we will be ready again.
On the decision to substitute Mohamed Salah in the second half of Saturday’s win over West Ham United…
It’s exactly the same substitution, like it’s for all other players. Usually you leave Mo on because he is obviously that desperate to score a goal, and if the situation gives it to us that we have counter-attacking then it makes absolute sense to leave him on the pitch for this one thing. Mo always defends until the end. We just had the opportunity to bring on a fresh player in Diogo Jota, obviously, and that’s why we made the decision this time like this. But no further reason.
On Pep Guardiola calling Liverpool the ‘toughest opponent’ he’s faced as a manager...
I can give that back, hey?! Easily. I could say City is the toughest opponent I ever had but I should not forget I faced him already at Bayern, so I cannot say that it was much easier, it’s just a different situation. I know what he means – we push each other on insane levels, we pushed each other on insane levels in the last few years. The amount of points both teams collected, OK, we couldn’t cope with it last year for obvious reasons, but in the other years we were really around. How I said, I don’t think City would get the amount of points they will get this year if we wouldn’t be around, and the other way around is pretty much the same. It’s good but a lot of games to play, so we will see where we end up.
On how he feels about meeting other English teams in the latter stages of competitions...
Let me start with the Inter issue we have. We should not forget, I think when we saw the draw, when you all saw the draw, you thought as well, ‘Oh, that’s the toughest one probably you could get.’ And for us, it’s just normal. I can’t remember a kind of draw where you thought, ‘Oh yeah.’ I don’t think these things usually but even I’m a human being and I think, ‘OK, that’s doable’ or whatever. But it’s always like this, you always get these kind of opponents, and in the Champions League it’s Inter. And yes, in the Premier League and FA Cup and in all other competitions, it’s not only City, not only Chelsea, we play so many other teams as well. It’s the strongest league in the world – no doubt about that – where we’re in, so there’s no easy games. But it’s the challenge and actually we enjoy it.
We spoke in the press conference about it, I think if we wouldn’t be here this year or two years ago or three years ago then City would have been champions in February. Because we were around, it was tighter. If City would not be here, I think we had a good chance that we would be champions. But we are here and they are here, and the other teams are here as well, so it’s completely hypothetical and not interesting. It’s a challenge but we like challenges and we are used to it. We play the strongest teams in the world and in a specific point in each competition, you will face the strongest teams in the world. I didn’t watch the last few Carabao Cup finals, to be honest, before we played now, but this game we played there was a completely different level – it was unbelievable, the intensity, 120 minutes like this. That’s because Liverpool and Chelsea faced each other. It’s great for the supporters, it’s great for everybody involved in football that you can have games like this. Usually finals are kind of not so exciting, a lot of tactics, stuff like this, but when these calibres face each other then it’s all in. I think that’s really good for football. And I come back, that’s why we need five subs. I tell you and I don’t know why you are laughing, it’s not funny. We need five subs.