Jürgen Klopp on Sydney win, coaching legends and transfers

Jürgen Klopp was impressed by Liverpool's approach to their post-season friendly with Sydney FC, which saw the Reds run out 3-0 winners at the ANZ Stadium.

First-half goals from Daniel Sturridge, Alberto Moreno and Roberto Firmino earned Klopp's team a comfortable victory in front of around 73,000 fans Down Under on Wednesday.

After the game, Klopp addressed the media and discussed topics ranging from the action itself to coaching the likes of Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher, as well as providing the latest news on Liverpool's transfer plans.

Read on for a transcript of the boss' post-match press conference...

On whether he was surprised it was such a comfortable win...

When I saw the game, no. I had no idea how we would come into this game because I never did [this] - flying 24 hours, going to the hotel, then we had nothing really to do. Some of us got tired, some of us tried to sleep, then you come here another one hour 45 minutes from the hotel. It was the most intense football trip for an away game I ever had! I had no idea how the players would do it but then I was surprised that obviously they enjoyed the game. I didn't say a lot before the game to be honest but two things [I did say] were that it would be cool if we could show character and that we love football. I saw the boys showed both and looked really well - the goals were really difficult to defend, it was brilliant. I enjoyed it, that's also important.

On whether he expected more from Sydney FC...

No, because it was a difficult situation - they won the double two weeks ago. [This game] is good for Australian football but we have a better football team than Sydney FC, that should not be a surprise. If we did not, we would make a lot more mistakes. We came here to show ourselves, the club, Liverpool FC. We are really thankful that Sydney gave us the chance two weeks after the season, so nobody should talk about them. They missed a lot of players, I think six or seven players were not involved because they were already at home. Sydney FC, the second team, should be better than Liverpool? That's crazy. We need to win this game, it could have been more difficult in different situations but I'm happy it was not too hard. And we showed our fans that we are really thankful for their support, that's why we're here. We could have done other things, we could have been already on holiday if we want, but we came here because we want to be together with the Liverpool supporters. That's good.

On the response he got from the players following the game...

It was good, they enjoyed it - you could see it, it was nice. [They] played the game concentrated, focused, and in a few weeks if you watch back you can say that [the build-up] was so strange and different to what we usually did but still we can perform. So, in a normal circumstance, we can perform also.

LFCTV GO: Liverpool 3-0 Sydney in 90 seconds

On coaching Gerrard, Carragher, Steve McManaman and Daniel Agger...

I had them on the plane and we had a five-minute meeting. They know all about football and it was not too bad, hey?

On whether he'll take things from the game into next season...

Not really, why should I? This was no test for any players. I knew before that they can be good. It was not a bad performance but it was not that everybody could shine. We knew that they are good, so perform if you can and if not stay out of the game.

On whether he plans to add a specialist defensive midfielder to his squad...

Second balls after set-pieces, another defensive midfielder would not really be around this situation so it does not help a lot. Half-spaces when counter-pressing does not work, another defensive midfielder [does not help], it's all about organisation. We did already much better in the last few games and we improved around set-pieces a lot. Simon [Mignolet] did a wonderful job, especially in the second part of the season with all the crosses he caught. The good thing is now we know our mistake, we know our weakness, so we will work on it 100 per cent, you can be sure.

The season is done, we have a little work to do, transfers and all that stuff, and then the beginning of July we [will] start with pre-season and we work on things and keep the things that were good and try to play like we did in a few games. In a few games, we were outstanding, if we could have done this more often I think we could have had a few points more and it would have been a different picture in the table. For now, it's OK, we have a lot to improve and we will.

On when new signings will begin to arrive...

I wish tomorrow but unfortunately that's not really likely. The best scenario is that you have them for the start of pre-season but I'm not sure if it will happen this time. It's different with all different players so we will see. That's not a big problem because we all know if they are fit and healthy we have a really strong squad and that means we could start with this squad. But that doesn't mean that I would prefer this, I would love to have them in as soon as possible but we will see.

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