Boss on transfers, improvement and Crystal Palace clash
Liverpool's clash with Crystal Palace, the latest on the transfer window and how the Reds can improve were all discussed by Jürgen Klopp on Tuesday.
The manager fielded questions from the media at a press conference in Hong Kong, where his team will face the Eagles in the Premier League Asia Trophy tomorrow.
Klopp was asked about the game, whether there was any fresh news on recruitment, the importance of retaining the core of his squad and more.
Read his answers below…
On the approach Liverpool will take against Palace…
It’s the highest quality you can get in this part of pre-season, but we don’t think too much about them. We play Crystal Palace on the second matchday [of the Premier League] – you would not choose this if you had influence on it. Now it happened in the tournament. It’s not a big thing between this game and the next game, three-and-a-half weeks or something like this. So that’s long enough, it’s no problem. It doesn’t change anything. We need to be focused, we need to try to be as good as possible in this moment, using the circumstances and making the best of it. Probably for both teams it’ll be a pretty intense game.
On transfers…
Nothing new to say about this. I cannot clarify anything. It is like it is. It’s the transfer market, so everything is open until [August] 31. It’s the market, you go for things – sometimes they work out, sometimes not. That’s how it is. It’s nobody’s fault, it’s like this. I’m still relaxed.
On the importance of keeping players like Philippe Coutinho…
Not only Philippe, but it’s a good thing to talk about because in the transfer window, if the world thinks about improving a squad it’s all about bringing in new players – nobody thinks that the players could make the next step and it would also be a nice idea. Yes, we use the transfer window of course because we have the opportunity. But the main thing I think about is how we can make the next step with the players we had last year. The good news actually is that we didn’t lose – and will not lose – a player we want to keep this season. That’s very, very good, the best news. Then we can see who we can bring into the squad.
LFCTV GO: Klopp's Hong Kong press conference
On where the Reds can improve…
I expect a lot of progress from the players based on the experience from the last years. Last year was good as a group, the last years were good for the individual players because that’s when they [joined] Liverpool. I’m looking forward to this; that’s what we actually need to do. We know where our problems were. We conceded the kind of goals we didn’t like to concede – a little bit about concentration, a little bit about focus. It’s always discussed like it is quality. It was never quality. It’s the two things I said, losing a little bit in the moment, like second balls after set-pieces or things like this. That’s the thing. I know it doesn’t work like this in football but if we concede 10 goals less, it looks completely different for us. That’s the first thing we are thinking about – how can we get stronger in this part of the game as a team? We will see, but I’m really positive about this.