Jürgen Klopp spoke to the media ahead of Liverpool’s game against West Ham on Sunday at 14:00 pm (UK time) as the Liverpool manager touched on several topics including how new signing Alexis Mac Allister has fit in at Liverpool.
While Liverpool had endured an unbeaten start to the season, they suffered their first loss last Saturday at the hands of Tottenham Hotspur. They sit fourth in the Premier League table and are two places ahead of Brighton.
Liverpool have had struggles against their opponents on Sunday in recent years and Klopp opened up on how his side will make sure that they don’t get off to a rocky start like in previous seasons.
“Whichever options you have, if you play like you played last year, you will get a massive knock again,” the manager said. “That’s how it is. So we should play better and I think we can play better, that’s the first step into the right direction, that’s what we have to make sure.
Among the battle on the pitch, the Amex Stadium will surely welcome back Alexis Mac Allister well as the midfielder makes his first appearance back at his previous club after joining Liverpool in the summer.
It’s been a positive start to the Argentine’s career at Anfield but his lack of minutes at his favoured 8 position has left fans a bit frustrated that they haven’t been able to see the best of the 24-year-old yet.
Klopp remains easy about the situation and says he hasn’t even tried to look for Mac Allister’s best position in the midfield and admitted he loves everything about him. “I love everything about him, super-smart, tactically and off the pitch as well,” Klopp said.
“So that’s really, really nice to work with him. If we as a team defend well, he can play definitely the six, definitely. Did I know that before? I had a guess, but I was not sure because I didn’t know exactly how all the other boys will do defending and because we defend more compact and better than we did in our bad phases last year.”
With Curtis Jones suspended for the game due to his red card against Spurs, a first Premier League start for Ryan Gravenberch could be in the offing as Klopp waxed lyrical about his new signing and how he’s settled at the club so quickly.
“He can see what the other boys do in similar positions, he can watch it, he learns from it, he’s a smart boy. So, everything goes in the right direction, that’s really, really nice to see. Assists in the other games and now he has his first goal. It’s good – long may it continue. Very important for us,” the German continued.
