Klopp On Preparing For Manchester City

As the calendar turns to February and Liverpool find themselves in fourth place on the table, Reds’ manager Jürgen Klopp has to juggle bedding in some crucial new players and putting together the best plan to face Manchester City on Sunday. The current league leaders are always a tricky prospect, but that’s especially true this time, as the Reds have struggled their way through an underwhelming winter.

“There are different moments before games against City like before all the other games,” Klopp explained when asked about the intricacies of playing against Pep Guardiola’s men.

“It depends on your own situation, who is available, who is in which shape, what you can do and all these kind of things. Last time, when we played at City, it was a nice idea and it worked really well for around about 25 minutes or so, and in the end it became an open game again, which is completely fine. This is not the place where I will talk about what we will do against City, but that we’ll try and think to do the right things, you can imagine.”

The good news for Klopp is that Jordan Henderson will be able to retake his place in the midfield while one of the new recruits slots in the defense. Which of the new players Klopp will choose is an open question, and one everyone will be looking at on Sunday.

“They are special games, that’s how it is,” Klopp admitted of Sunday’s match. “But in the end it’s for three points. Obviously City in the moment are in a slightly different moment than we are, we should not forget that as well, but one thing is clear – if you don’t defend on your highest level against City, you don’t even have to think about getting anything out of the game.”

Yeah, that’s what we’re all afraid of, boss. Hopefully they’ll find the right special combination to see this match out for a happy result.