'Anfield is our only advantage' – boss previews Merseyside derby

Jürgen Klopp wants Liverpool to harness the power of Anfield when Everton arrive on Sunday for the FA Cup third-round meeting.

It will be new Blues boss Carlo Ancelotti's first taste of the Merseyside derby as the local rivals battle for a spot in Monday evening's draw. 

Klopp detailed his incredible amount of admiration for Ancelotti, who managed Napoli when they beat the Reds in the Champions League a few months back, before previewing the much-anticipated cup tie. 

Read on below for a summary of the Liverpool manager's pre-match press conference at Melwood on Friday afternoon...

On the derby and team selection...

How can I rotate? A little bit. We will see. For us it's still the day after the game, so that means we are assessing the boys, how they feel, how they reacted on the game last night. It was an intense game last night. The boys played an incredible game and it was only possible because we invested a lot, we were dominant, ran a lot and all that stuff. We have to see. I couldn't make a line-up in this moment even if I wanted to and that's what I said last night. I have to make sensible decisions obviously about these things. Can I force anybody in that game and say, 'Whatever happens, I don't care, it's the last game of the season'? It is not, but that's always like this. If it would now be a league game against Everton or if it would be another game, if it's not the last game of the season, you have always still the same things to think about and that's what I have to do still. I couldn't finish that thinking process so far. We will see. What we try to do is that we bring in a team who is capable of doing the physical stuff in that game. 

I heard a little bit what Carlo said this morning and they are obviously on fire, no surprise. We have to make sure we are ready for that. That's why I said last night that we need the crowd because that's the only advantage we have really in this cup game. There's no favourite, there's nothing, there's just two teams that play each other. In this case, two teams from the same city, so it's a derby, it's a big one. But how I said, the only advantage is that it's in our stadium, so let's use that and give your everything. That's the plan.

On Ancelotti's positive impact since taking over at Goodison Park...

That's management. It doesn't say anything about Marco Silva, for example, it's just things are like this from time to time. But Carlo Ancelotti is one of the smartest people I ever met and he would not have taken the job if he wouldn't have had a good squad. We were always convinced that the Everton squad is good, it's really, really good. They invest in a few years really a lot in the transfer market. They brought in really good players and it didn't work out for some reason. But the combination of a good manager and a good squad helps from time to time in football. Carlo is obviously somebody who can lift a group in the moment when he enters the room. So you have now had the press conference this morning and I'm pretty sure you left the press conference in a better mood than you came in. When I heard it I thought it's a proper combination. They will do well, 100 per cent, especially over the season, it's clear. But it's still a big challenge in the Premier League because the other teams are not doing too bad as well. We have to see. I'm not too concerned about what Everton is doing but in this moment of course because we play them in two days. I'm happy to see him again, to be honest. Without meeting constantly, we always had a good time.

On Ancelotti's qualities...

Carlo had, for sure, plenty of biographies, autobiographies, so read them and then you will know it. It will take too long to tell now all the qualities of Carlo Ancelotti. We lost that game in Napoli because there was a penalty which was not a penalty. We didn't play that bad and that's how football is – you can lose a game. But it wasn't that they outplayed us constantly or stuff like this. Yes, last year we lost there as well, but there we were not good, so that's always a reason as well. We try to be good on Sunday, to be honest, so that makes life already slightly more difficult for them. But it's just football understanding, what he knows about the game, how he wants to play. Meanwhile, how he sets up a team mostly in a 4-4-2, good organisation, using the players in the right positions, creating a very good atmosphere and giving the group a good feeling about themselves. He believes in them as a world-class manager, what Carlo obviously is, and it's easier for the boys to believe in them as well. That helps and that's obviously what happened so far.

On whether playing Everton further influences his team selection... 

No, that would not be sensible and I have to be. In the moment when I start getting emotional and it's not during the game then all of us being with Liverpool have a problem. I'm usually not emotional. I try to make decisions because of the situation and not because of the opponent. We respect them, how you can imagine, we respect the competition, we respect what the people want us to achieve, that's a very important part of it. But I cannot do things because of the name of the opponent.

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