Press conference: Klopp on fixtures, Napoli challenge and group situation

The Reds pick up their Champions League campaign by hosting the Serie A outfit, knowing a win would secure both qualification for the last 16 and top spot in Group E.

But Klopp insisted nobody is considering anything beyond the task of finding a way to beat Carlo Ancelotti’s side, who were 2-0 victors in the reverse tie in September.

Read a summary of the manager’s pre-match press conference below…

On how he feels about Liverpool’s decision to have two different squads competing in the League Cup and FIFA Club World Cup next month…

I am fine. We had to make a decision, we made that decision and that’s how we did it. It’s all good. We knew about 90 per cent of all the games we have; there were two games which we were not 100 per cent sure, that was the Club World Cup and we decided to go there. Then we had to make a decision about the League Cup, that’s what we did. Now it’s exactly like we knew since a couple of weeks [ago]. It’s a tough programme of course, but we don’t think about the fixture list we have in the next weeks or months, we think about Napoli tomorrow. After that, we will see how we deal with Brighton, after that how we deal with Everton, after that Bournemouth, then Salzburg, then Watford, and then Qatar. There is a lot to come but in the moment my only concern is Napoli.

On the potential to win the group by beating Napoli on Wednesday night and the impact that would have on the final game against Salzburg…

The biggest mistake we could make is thinking about we’ve won it already and what would happen if we win it. If we win it then we have to think about all the other things. That’s the target actually, but it is the same for Napoli. If Napoli win the game they are through and we are not. All of these things are not really in our mind. There are two weeks between tomorrow night and the Salzburg game and three games in between, so why should I think about the Salzburg game? There’s absolutely no reason for it. Tomorrow night, of course we try to win that game, which would be massive for us for different reasons. After the start we had in the group, that we could do that. But we don’t feel like we are halfway through. It is really difficult. Napoli, with all the things even here everybody could read about, are a very, very dangerous opponent tomorrow night, very strong. They won last year against us at Napoli when we were really bad. This year against us when we were not bad, but not good enough to win the game. And they gave us a proper fight when we played them here at Anfield. That’s what they will do tomorrow night at Anfield again. That’s all I’m thinking about, not about the games coming after that.

On how he plans training sessions around the busy fixture list…

We have plans for everything, as you can imagine, and we change them constantly. I have two smartphones and when one of them is ringing it is really rare it is good news! You only get the messages when a player is not fine, so then we have to make new plans and we don’t know exactly how many players we’ll have to train. We know in the long-term what we have to do, we know that’s all set. The athletic part of the sessions, we try to adapt to the specific situation of the players; the tactical things depend on the games we play because of what we have to make clear again, what we have to work on, what we have to put the focus on. That’s our life but it always leads to one highlight and that’s the next game. We try to do as much as possible but not too much in the sessions, just that the players are as fresh as possible in the games. That’s the job.

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On what he is expecting from Napoli...

I expect them really strong for different reasons. Reason No.1 is that they are a sensationally good football team. Yes, they didn’t have the results in the last couple of weeks maybe like people expect. I have no idea about the reasons or whatever. We could read a little bit about things that happened there but now they are not in Italy, now they are in Liverpool, now it’s a different competition, now they feel maybe – I’m not sure – kind of relief that they can play completely free in a game like this. We have to exactly expect that and that’s what we do. So, whoever will play for Napoli will be an outstandingly strong player. If there’s any manager in the world who doesn’t need any advice from anybody – for sure, not from me – then it’s Carlo Ancelotti. Hopefully I will have a chat with him before the game, hopefully I will have a chat with him after the game. But none of them will be about what he could do differently.

On the game...

We have to make sure tomorrow night from the first second that this is a different place again. We are ambitious in the Champions League, we want to go as far possible again in the Champions League and that means we have to win football games. Tomorrow night is a football game and [like] any other team we have the chance to win that. That’s what we are concerned about, that’s what we are thinking about – what do we have to do, how do we have to face Napoli in specific moments? They are experienced, they are tactically strong, they have super players, they have speed. So that means that’s a really difficult game for us and all the things around will not have influence on that – for sure, not on us, and I don’t think on Napoli really. That means we can focus on football, they can focus on football and that makes a proper football game. That’s it.