Klopp on Arsenal analysis, Salah landmark and Lovren role
Jürgen Klopp outlined what he expects to see from Liverpool in the final three Premier League matches of the season as he previewed Wednesday's trip to Arsenal.
The champions’ penultimate away game sees them travel to Emirates Stadium, where Mohamed Salah could make his 150th Reds appearance since signing in 2017.
At his pre-match press conference, Klopp analysed the clash with Mikel Arteta’s Gunners, reflected on Salah’s stellar form for the club, and discussed Dejan Lovren’s role in the squad.
Read his answers below…
On the differences he sees in Arsenal under Arteta and if the Gunners will be challenging again in the future…
Unfortunately, probably yes! It looks very much so. Mikel is part of this very exciting new coaching generation, or manager generation. Really exciting to watch; you can see the ideas behind obviously, influenced by Pep [Guardiola], he worked together with him. Probably they had the same idea already before, when Mikel was still a player. Yes, you can see a massive influence of him. On top of that, obviously at Arsenal [there is] a really exciting squad, all the different offensive [players]. They have more experienced offensive players with massive quality, and then coming up a lot of really, really good ones. So, yes, it looks like Arsenal will be a proper challenger again.
On Salah being on the verge of 150 Liverpool appearances and his memories of identifying the Egyptian as a player he wanted in 2017…
First and foremost, that means he played 50 games a year, each season, 50 games, and still counting. Unbelievable, that’s a big number. Obviously he was lucky and we were lucky that he could play all these games because he was not injured, which is good. I was very positive in the moment when it was clear that we have him, that we signed him. I remember our talk, when we first met face to face, when we spoke. ‘What’s your favourite position?’ ‘It would be right wing, but Sadio Mane is playing there and he played a pretty good season.’ ‘Yes, he does, but he can play the other wing as well.’ That was pretty much the start. The idea was clear how we want to play with the boys up front, but it worked out in a manner which we couldn’t have expected. They scored now 250 goals since they [joined the club], that’s an incredible number. It was a good day for Liverpool [when he signed] and a very good day as well for Mo because it fits really well and that’s very important in life. You cannot change the world alone but together with the right people around you, you have a better chance to do it.
On speculation regarding a contract extension for Lovren and the defender’s future…
First and foremost, 15 appearances [this season]; a couple of times injured, once for sure, and was not available. Dejan played outstanding games for us, is a very important part of the squad, absolutely no problem. It’s always like this – we have four centre-halves and we play usually with two of them. But we needed all four always, so a very, very important role. He played the Champions League final for us, played a lot of big games, and was always a very reliable player. So nothing else to say about it, to be honest.
On the value of Lovren’s experience…
Yeah, absolutely. Since I’m in, Dejan was always either in the team or close to the team, or not available. There was nothing else, we never had problems. It’s all good. But nothing to say about the contract situation because it’s nothing to discuss in public. It’s just how it is. The situation is absolutely clear – Dejan is a player of LFC and we need him. In this moment again, with Joel [Matip] injured we have again only three centre-halves. So one more injured – and Dejan had a little problem the last two weeks, not massive but little, he is now available again – [and] that’s what you need. You need the quality we have on the centre-half position to be successful, and that’s why there’s nothing really to discuss.
On whether there’s any tactical specifics he’s looking for in the last three games of the season…
Look, that’s difficult because a Premier League game is so demanding, so making steps when you play every three days is really difficult. The most important thing in this moment is that we are really competitive because our opponents obviously play for everything; Arsenal want to qualify for Europe and we will feel that. That’s what we have to make sure. It’s good, that’s good for our development as well because making sure for ourselves we are ready in each game, even if we don’t play for ‘anything’ apart from points, which for us is the main thing – the three points – and the boys showed me that all the time. That’s why I was again really happy with the Burnley game, because of all the Burnley games I played so far with my team it was one of the better ones for sure, we just didn’t score the goals. And then you will always struggle against Burnley because they believe in this one chance and they got it. That’s why they could get a point. But that’s what we have to show – the attitude, the desire – that’s what we have to show.
Inside Training: Rondos, goals and Arsenal build-up
Football tactics, [if] I say, ‘Now let’s change this and that…’ For changes, timing is extremely important because you have to speak about them and ask for them in moments when the boys are ready for that. It was all a difficult time, with the lockdown, coming back, everyone was happy to play again, try to find your feet again. We did that, great. Physical status is great. That was very important as well because it showed us the boys when they are at home – OK, we observed that obviously – but they did all the necessary stuff. And now we have to finish this league in a very, very difficult schedule. Fixtures with Arsenal and Chelsea, with the result last night especially, it’s a proper fight for the Champions League. So we will get the trophy that night and Chelsea fight here with all they have for the Champions League. That will be an interesting game as well. The last game, Newcastle, which I know meanwhile for some reason is a pretty intense game. That’s how it is. So I don’t ask for changes, I ask for consistency. I want to see us consistently performing on our highest level. Then it’s always like this: if you don’t score – and that happens in football – then you have to invest even more. If you score, maybe you can make your life slightly easier. But without scoring, football will always stay a proper fight. So far, the boys were really ready for that so I’m fine with that.
