Jürgen Klopp met with the media ahead of the Reds EPL tie with Wolverhampton today. The boss discussed the encouraging signs he saw from the club vs Brighton in the FA Cup in spite of the loss, the challenges of facing the same club in rapid succession and the tough schedule Liverpool has looming on the horizon.
In spite of being knocked out of the FA Cup by Brighton in their last game, Klopp was encouraged by his club's performance, but also admitted there were some mixed feelings.
“Yes, it did (give encouragement) – and no, because first and foremost we want to win football games,”Klopp said. “I think it was possible [in this] game; that's good. So, it was not possible in the Brighton game we played before that with the performance we put in, but that day it was absolutely possible we could've won it. [We] shouldn't have lost it, but did – that's true as well. After the game directly the disappointment is massive, emotions are involved.”
Including their first FA Cup match and the replay, this will be the third time the Reds and the Wolves have met on the pitch in less than a month Klopp says that this can be challenging, but familiarity with a team can also make some things easier.
“Yeah, we had Brighton and Wolves. So, in between Chelsea, yeah, true. It's not a massive challenge to be honest with you,” he said. “There are obviously changes possible which makes it different... it happened quite frequently, we played Arsenal twice in a row and stuff in different competitions. These kinds of things happen quite frequently. Yeah, three times, but it was not in one week, so we had time in between. They played games, we played games in between, so that's what we use for the analyse. Both teams know each other probably after these weeks now pretty well. They're doing well and they work now longer together with the manager again and again and obviously we will see that. [They're] very competitive, in all the games they were competitive. Let's give it a try again.”
It's no secret that the Reds have been struggling and that is not good news considering that Liverpool have a tough stretch in the schedule coming up. Aside from tough League matches with Everton and Newcastle, the Champions League showdown with Real Madrid is looming on the horizon. However, Klopp prefers to focus on the match directly in front of him.
“I don't worry about the run of fixtures, not at all,” Klopp said. “We have to use the time we have in our hands to improve, to play the football we have to play, to work on things we think that are necessary or massively necessary for the way we want to play football. That's what we did now all the time. I understand 100 percent... we saw steps, definitely. We were much better in a lot of areas. Then in the end when the result is not right that overshadows everything. But we will fight for results, there is a lot to go for, we have half the season only played, which is crazy, but it means we have the second half of the season.”
Jürgen Klopp hit all the right notes in his press conference. He praised the improvement he saw in the club while admitting they were overshadowed by the loss to Brighton. He also pointed out that even though it feels like a long season already, Liverpool has just reached the halfway point of league play. He reminded everyone that the Reds still have plenty of to make up a move up the table. It was good to hear that kind of optimism and it has encouraged the players as well.
