Jürgen Klopp on Wolves danger, making changes and talking goals with Firmino
Jürgen Klopp explained why he doesn't have to tell his players to stay focused as Liverpool turn their attention to Sunday's visit of Wolverhampton Wanderers.
The Reds were imperious at King Power Stadium on Thursday night to register a 4-0 win over Leicester City and extend their lead of the Premier League to 13 points.
There is little time to dwell, however, with Wolves next up at the weekend.
But in his pre-match press conference, Klopp outlined why there is never any chance of his squad – crowned world champions just last Saturday – resting on their laurels.
The manager also discussed Roberto Firmino’s form after a double against the Foxes, the prospect of making changes in the coming games and more.
Read a summary below…
On Liverpool’s 35-game unbeaten league run and whether it’s ‘a big deal’…
It is, it’s massive. I am a while in the business already and if you had asked me if it was possible, I don’t think [so]. At Dortmund I think we had 28, I don’t know exactly, we will find out, and that felt already absolutely exceptional – but only in the review. In the situation – a colleague of yours asked me what I feel when the boys step onto the pitch and if I see this kind of swagger and stuff like this – unfortunately I can’t see anything like this because I’m completely concerned about all the things of the game. I’m a very optimistic person but not before a football game; I know we can win it but I have never thought in my life we probably will win it. That makes life really uncomfortable sometimes. These numbers, I forget them now and if you tell me next time it will be again for me a big surprise the number is that high.
On how dangerous Wolves will be…
Very – very, unfortunately. I really think the job Nuno is doing there is incredible with all the Europa League stress. I think at the beginning of the season they realised a little bit, ‘Oh, that’s different’. But now they are settled completely there, they are there again, Jimenez and Jota are scoring again. They had to change a little bit the last line to last year; Bennett and Boly are not playing consistently so they had to change that, but they have good options there. Traore finally found his manager, who found a position for him – he started as a wing-back and now he can even play in the front three. An exceptional player, as a kid he was already exceptional when he played for Barca I think, probably the quickest player in the league. So, a lot of really good things there and that makes it really difficult to play against them, of course. But it should be difficult against us as well, that’s the plan.
On the desire of his players and how they maintain their level…
I am blessed to have a very smart team, that’s how it is. We don’t mention it constantly. It’s not that I have to tell them, ‘Stay focused’. They are, they are. We have so many good characters in the team and they tell each other how to deal with it. There is nobody who is flying, not a little bit. But even that was already like this two years ago and we didn’t have the same points tally. A few things came together, the quality and experience we made together. That we worked together longer obviously helps a lot, things are more settled and all that stuff. That’s all good. Now we play three games in a row at home and one of them is in the cup, and I can tell already we need massive help from the crowd – massive – because the period is so intense and we need to use each source we can use for these games. Hopefully our people are rested enough to be at their absolute best because that’s exactly what we need.
On how much he’ll try to freshen up his team in the coming games…
Fresh legs always helped us now since we changed a little bit more frequently. You could always see the boys who came in – like in the Everton game in the league, for example, we made five changes and they were absolutely necessary on one side but really impressive performance-wise. So, we will do that as well now, of course, we have to and we will. That’s how it is. We have four more adult players, plus Curtis [Jones] and Neco [Williams] in the moment; Harvey [Elliott] was not in the squad today, I think Rhian Brewster is close to being back. For the others it will still take a while, so that’s our squad and we have to deal with it as good as possible. That’s what we will try for the Wolves game, of course, and the Sheffield game as well.
On Firmino’s form…
Bobby, in the last three games he has now scored four times. Before that, it was a bit like – I don’t know exactly how – he didn’t score that often and a journalist tells me then, ‘Bobby Firmino didn’t score for a while’ and I don’t even realise. When I think about Bobby, I don’t think about scoring – I just think about how important he is. We had a little talk because, for the first time since I knew him, he looked a little bit concerned about that fact and I told him I am not interested in that number because he is the connector for our team. He is so important for us. He is not the only one who can play the position but he can play the position in a very special way. He doesn’t have to come [to the manager] after every goal but this time we had this little thing where he thought I was calm enough to leave him on the pitch in these games, which I never thought about, so he thought he had to say thank you, that’s all.