Klopp: Salzburg are made for surprising people, but we're ready
FC Salzburg’s style of play is ‘made for surprises for bigger teams’, but Liverpool are full prepared for what they will come up against on Wednesday night, Jürgen Klopp insists.
The Reds welcome the Austrian side to Anfield for the Champions League Group E encounter, with the hosts aiming to bounce back from a defeat in Napoli last time out.
Salzburg, meanwhile, will journey to Merseyside having recorded an emphatic 6-2 victory against KRC Genk on matchday one.
Klopp is full of admiration for the approach of Die Mozartstädter; nevertheless, he used his pre-match press conference to detail why their threat has been well assessed ahead of the clubs' first ever meeting.
Read on for a summary of what the manager told reporters at Anfield…
On whether Alisson Becker will return to full training this week…
There are two opinions about that: one is Ali’s opinion and the other is the medical department! They are still a bit cautious, so we have to wait and so we should be [cautious]. We have to see, we have to see. The training he is doing looks really well, but it was a serious injury and we don’t want to take any risks, that’s how it is. For tomorrow, no chance because he didn’t train so far with the team. Then we have to see for Leicester and I then I think then the [Manchester] United game probably 100 per cent, but we will see.
On the impact of Salzburg’s 19-year-old forward, Erling Haaland…
Norway has good footballers, obviously. He is a wonderful player; very young, very confident, very quick, looks on the pitch clear minded, focused, a proper threat. He looks like a decent player and is in the perfect place at the moment I would say. It is really important for a boy in his age group that you can play as often as possible on the highest possible level and prepare for the next challenge in life. That’s what he is doing in the moment. He is not the only threat, unfortunately, from Salzburg, but he is a proper one and that’s it. The future of Norwegian football is safe!
On whether Liverpool ‘have a plan to stop Haaland’…
Yes. You have to watch the game tomorrow to see.
On Salzburg’s youth development and recruitment programmes…
They are really good at it. There are different reasons for it; the main reason is probably Ralf Rangnick, who started this co-project with a really smart decision from Mr [Dietrich] Mateschitz to employ Ralf Rangnick. If you want to have somebody who is good in delivering that message then they got the best one for it, 100 per cent. Outstanding manager, outstanding sporting director and I don’t know exactly which role he had in the other clubs, but a lot of roles and it is all based on him. The recruitment stuff, the Austrian rules make things a little bit easier to make transfers for these kind of players. For us in England, it is just not possible to get a hand on these kind of players that early like they’ve all got. I think when they sold Naby Keita to Leipzig, it looks like they have the next one already lined-up, a similar player and stuff like this. They look always prepared for these kind of things. [They have had] different managers over the years and have changed their style of play a little bit. Marco Rose was for sure more influential in possession, they played a different system but still with the philosophy of pressing, counter-pressing. That was obvious, but with the ball it looked different. Now it is going back to the roots pretty much. It is a proper unit; it is a young, exciting team; it is full of power; full of excitement about the opportunity to be part of the competition. For those who don’t know it, Salzburg had rather a sad story with the qualifiers for the Champions League and it was really hard. This year they are involved and you see that they enjoy that fact. They are really strong, really good, a really good opponent, very well organised.
On whether Virgil van Dijk is the best defender in world football and if the goals conceded in Napoli were of any concern…
Yes. I think so. I am really happy with all my other defenders I have, but he is probably the best in the world. No, he is the best in the moment. We conceded in Napoli but I still think it was not a penalty, sorry! We cannot change that anymore and I am not even angry or disappointed about it, but it is still a fact it was not a penalty. The second goal we conceded because we conceded the first one. Napoli has to come to Liverpool again and stuff like this, so it’s not decided yet and we don’t feel that. We lost the game and that’s a fact as well, so we have to start winning and we should not waste time. We have not even a little bit of a feeling that this game tomorrow is already halfway done, it is not. It will be really, really tough and they will surprise a lot of people, tomorrow night and in the future. The way Salzburg plays is made for surprises for bigger teams. But if there is anybody in the world who knows most about the way they play and how they do what they do then it is probably me. I have followed their way for a long, long time, had a similar idea when I started as a manager and stuff like this, so I know where the difficulties are. And I have a pretty good side as well and we want to be – and it was always our target - the most uncomfortable opponent in world football and if we are that tomorrow night then it is not easy for Salzburg and we should not forget that.