Jürgen on Palace clash, Bolasie and consistency
Jürgen Klopp previewed Sunday's Barclays Premier League clash against Crystal Palace with a press conference for reporters at Melwood on Friday afternoon - read on to see more of what the manager had to say...
On Palace and the return of Yannick Bolasie...
In the last two games when he [Bolasie] was involved - the first game on the bench he came in and with him they changed the whole game, after [being] 3-0 behind then 3-2. I would say in this moment they have four goals in the last two games. That's a big difference because he's a quality player and together with [Wilfried] Zaha that's pretty good. But in the end, what can I say about their situation? I know about the situation but it changed a little bit, so I would like to say 'they have no self-confidence and nothing works there' but that's not the truth. The truth is that, of course, they try everything to change their situation. I know Crystal Palace only from the first game and watching a few other games, so it's not the easiest way to collect points. Crystal Palace is not where you should go if you want easy points.
We have to show that we are ready for this game too. That's how it is, maybe it sounds too easy but this is the first thing because we had a few not-so-good games and then always the problem was the same - we had no good start in the game. But it doesn't mean you have to score in the first minute, it means you only have to be concentrated in the first minute. That's what we have to be there [at Selhurst Park] and hopefully we show that we learned this in the last six months we have been together now, or the nine months of this season.
It's a big chance for us. We have to try everything to take it and we only have to talk about things like this. I think you smile by yourself when you think about last week we talked about no goals in the last five games and no win in the last four games. But now one win against Manchester City, [we talk about] now only six points from the [top four]. Who will understand this? But it is our fault and mistake. We have to make it easier for you so that you can all ask the same question and not jump between [topics]. That's what we try.
On the consistency of the team after the win over Manchester City...
If you want our two best performances in this season, it was not only these, but the games were easy to see that [they were] Man City [away] and Man City [at home], with different systems, different formations and different everything. Both games were very good with a few months in between. We had a few good games in different formations and systems so the only thing we have to do is prepare ourselves for the special questions at Crystal Palace and who is fit, who is available and other things.
It's not that we try to push 11 players through, that's not what we have to do. We had a few changes and I think it was the right decisions for the second Man City game, so we have to make a few other decisions. But I didn't do that until now because today it was winter in Liverpool. The only weather we didn't have since I'm here was snow, thank you! In March, I can't believe it! Everything can happen, ice and things like this, so we will see what comes tomorrow and then we make [the] last training [session] and make a squad then we're ready.
On overcoming inconsistency...
We are always trying. We had our moments and showed them what we did until now and said 'that was good' and 'that was bad' but consistency is not overnight. It's not a problem. We didn't always play badly after a very good game, it's not like this. Now we only have two tournaments left and now we can be fully concentrated in this tournament [the Premier League]. It's the last few metres. It's the truth that we were not too consistent until now, that's one reason why we are not in a better position in the table but from now on it can be completely different.
We need to stay angry, that's it. It's not that we were always looking for our game. [Man City] was an extremely lively game with no thinking about 'how long I can run'. [It was] the demonstration of how mentality can beat tired legs because both teams had the same things to do in the last few weeks, the same number of games and things like this. But in this game we were the better side because nobody thought about how many games we had. We only thought about this game and what we can get.