The Reds can reclaim top spot in the Premier League this weekend by securing a positive result at the home of their arch-rivals on Sunday.
United have won eight and drawn one of their nine league matches since Solskjaer was installed as caretaker manager, shortly after Liverpool had won the reverse fixture 3-1 at Anfield.
At his pre-match press conference, Klopp assessed how the opposition have changed in the past two months, how his team can win at Old Trafford, and more…
On what this weekend’s game means to him…
A lot: it’s the only game we have at the weekend and it’s against Manchester United. It’s a big one, absolutely a big one, and we know it is a difficult one as well. They are in a good moment – a really good moment – they are physically strong, they defend well, they attack well. Against Chelsea [in the FA Cup on Monday night], I saw the game and Chelsea were not as bad as everyone made them out to be after the game, but United scored in perfect moments and scored two brilliant goals. They are full of confidence, all that stuff, that’s how they’re going at the moment, that’s clear. We will go there and be as good as possibly prepared and try everything to get a result there, that’s the plan. You never know. Two strong teams will face each other and so it’s open until the final whistle. We try to use that time.
On the difference between this United team and the one Liverpool played in December…
The way they play is obviously different, but everything I will say or could say now, people would make a story of it that it sounds disrespectful to Jose Mourinho – and there is no reason for that because he is an outstanding manager. It looked like in the end, they had a difficult time together. They found a solution for them how they want to improve that situation and that obviously worked out. Since Ole is there, pretty much everything changed. We see the Pogba Man United signed a couple of years ago, Herrera is in outstanding shape, all the offensive players were all there and were all good before but now they are full of confidence and use all their potential, so that makes a big difference. Sometimes it is how it is, you need some changes and in football it is very often the manager and it helps. It doesn’t always help, but sometimes it helps, in this case obviously it has helped. It is a different side, a different style, but still United and so they have all different ways in their toolbox to get results. They can still defend deep and all that stuff, they have to sometimes, and they play high pressure in different moments, so it’s all there, that’s good.
On Liverpool’s current run of fixtures and teams trying to ‘stop them’…
There is Watford in the middle of the week as well, so we should not forget them. It’s how it is. With Bayern for sure, it’s nothing personal – it is that they want to be as successful as possible. I think for Man United it is the same. If they have as a little plus that with three points against us we cannot be champions or whatever, I don’t know if it is like that, if it is the case. It’s a big game anyway, it was always a big game and will always be a big game. We are always looking forward to playing there; it is a good atmosphere, it’s very exciting, all the stuff around, a lot of talk before – I don’t like it too much, but it’s normal. Then at the weekend [it is] Everton after Watford, which is difficult enough. Everton have their own situation and I don’t think they think too much about our title chances, they have to sort their own situation just as all of us have to do. To be honest, I didn’t think a second about Watford so far, not a second about Everton and didn’t think anymore about Bayern since yesterday. We play United and that’s tough enough.
On whether Paris Saint-Germain provided the blueprint for beating United…
Result-wise, it was the only team, but Tottenham played a pretty good game against United, to be honest. What is a blueprint? They were pretty cool with the ball, they passed a lot, they were really confident, good positioning, passing between the lines, and scoring in the right moment. You saw against Chelsea that United can play very, very well without Lingard and Martial because that was a proper line-up with Mata and Lukaku. But in the game when you have to change it, that changes much more, you cannot really adapt. They played the last five or six games before that with the same line-up and then you have to change like this in 15 minutes. That obviously didn’t work out and PSG used that. It was a bit of luck for PSG but they played a really good game, very demanding and looked in charge in most of the situations, they didn’t give a lot of counter-attacks away, which is a massive thing to do against United because whichever line-up they have, how they attack with whoever it is, will be quick on the offensive wings. From time to time they leave a player up, or two. You need to be 100 per cent concentrated. PSG did well, scored good goals in the right moment, and that always helps in football.
On the job done by Solskjaer since taking caretaker charge of United…
That’s probably the best record a manager ever had when he came in [during] a season. When we start the analysis, you get the last 10 games and winning is green – it was pretty green, to be honest. They had a few good results since he was in. I said it already, we are not magicians but the potential of this Man United team is good, that was always clear. It didn’t work out for different reasons and all that stuff, and he came in and obviously found exactly the right words and did exactly the right thing in training. I’m really happy for him that he got the opportunity to show his quality. He is doing it obviously. It’s not the best news for us but for Man United fans it’s obviously brilliant. He has all the things Sir Alex Ferguson stood for, because he was experienced in that time, with all the new things in football. That’s really good and makes them a threat again. They were always a threat in specific games but now, of course, they are really back on track. Everybody sees that – good for them.