Klopp Talk: Everton Will Want to “Strike Back” Against Liverpool

The results haven’t come for Everton of late, but Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp doesn’t think it’s been because they’ve been playing especially badly—particularly in their most recent game, a 2-1 stoppage time loss to surprise title challengers Leicester City.

“The last one against Leicester they looked really good, caused them a lot of problems,” Klopp said at his pre-match press conference. “In other situations that would be a positive sign. I’m not sure how they see it at Everton but we have to make sure we are ready.”

Looking at the table position, with Liverpool in first with 40 points while Everton languish in 17th on just 14 points—just two points clear of the relegation places—it looks as though it should perhaps be an easy match. Or at least as easy as it gets in the Premier League.

Even without the warning of that strong performance against Leicester, though, that’s never the case when it comes to Everton. Not when they’re taking on Liverpool, at least. This is a game where, no matter the respective table positions, they bring their best game.

So Klopp and his players won’t be looking at the table. Instead they’ll be looking back to past games against Everton, first hand experiences they’ve all had with this particular opponent in this particular derby match. They will be expecting a very difficult match.

“Go through the Everton squad and you’d say that it’s a really good squad,” the Liverpool manager added about his upcoming opponents. “Why it’s maybe not clicking 100% so far I can’t say, but they’ve had some injuries and missed key players so that’s just how it is.

“Everton will want to strike back now, to feel like they’ve solved a lot of problems in one game maybe. This is a game where whichever situation you’re in you want to win and feel you can win so we have to be ready.”