Klopp: Reds prepared for Sunderland response
Jürgen Klopp expects Sunderland to provide a stern test as they look to bounce back from a disappointing weekend result but insists his side are ready for what they will encounter at the Stadium of Light on Wednesday evening.
The Black Cats suffered a 4-1 defeat away to Manchester City on Boxing Day, a result that leaves them five points adrift of safety in the Barclays Premier League.
But Klopp is anticipating a better defensive display and performance in general from Sam Allardyce's team when Liverpool travel to the north east.
Speaking at his press conference to preview the fixture, the German said: “I think Sam Allardyce said after the last game against City, not only about three goals in ten minutes, but talked about what they have to do in their next game as they lost concentration in defence.
“Everybody can imagine what will happen at Sunderland. I think they will go back to the roots and we know what is waiting for us. We will be prepared.
“What we saw with Leicester was how it’s always about fighting for second balls and [how] they are really strong when they win these. They are really quick in transition and in mind with really good solutions. I think second balls will be a big thing to think about for Sunderland, too.
“We had to learn to play like the way we did against Leicester. If you try to improve your style or try to get better in whatever you want to do on the pitch, you cannot do it all together. You cannot say ‘let’s work on possession play, pressing, counter-pressing’. Sometimes you have to do ‘this’ and then you say next game we have to do ‘this’.
“After Watford, it was clear what we had to do, it was really clear because we had these problems in the games against West Brom and Crystal Palace but not against Leicester because we reacted and that’s really good. That’s what I’m really satisfied with.
“Now we have to play Sunderland, we don’t want to go there and show how football should be [played]. We go there and want to win, that’s the only reason why we travel there.”
Sunderland currently sit in 19th position in the league, but Klopp isn’t worried about the prospect of any complacency creeping into his side and has relayed the importance of building momentum over a busy festive period.
“There’s no reason in the mentality of the team to think, ‘oh it’s only Sunderland’.” he added. “I know them and nobody in the team is like this.
“We want to improve our situation. We want to develop and get more points in this very important moment in the league. There are so many points in December and January, it’s unbelievable.
“The next destination is Sunderland and we have to go there and be concentrating from the first second like we were against Leicester. It was a really good start to the game and that’s what I was happy about. Now we have to do it again. If you do this then you can get results in a row but it’s no present. You have to work for it.”