The manager on Jose Mourinho and Tottenham analysis
Jürgen Klopp expects threats from all areas of the pitch when Liverpool take on Tottenham Hotspur tomorrow night, but is ready for the challenge of toppling the Premier League leaders.
The Reds trail Spurs on goal difference at the summit with 12 games played this season and next host Jose Mourinho’s team at Anfield, with 2,000 supporters set to attend.
Klopp was asked a series of questions about Wednesday’s visitors at his pre-match press conference and provided his analysis of the opposition in detail.
Read the manager’s responses below…
On whether it surprises him that people might have previously looked to ‘write off’ Mourinho and how impressed he has been by Spurs this season…
I’m not surprised because that’s the world we are living in. You are very successful until yesterday probably; if you cannot prove that today then people go for you. That’s how it is. I don’t think he was surprised. But he showed comeback – if it was a comeback, I don’t know – skills. Very impressive, very impressive what he did now at Tottenham. The way they play this year is really good. He turned them into a result machine. They got results, they have good performances, if they are not on their top, they still win. They defend collectively, all this kind of stuff. So, very impressive.
On the congestion in the top half of the table and if it will be a close title race…
It looks like but I don’t know how it will be in February, March, April, May. I don’t know. But in the moment it looks like. There are always good teams in the league but some of the teams have a run, this year obviously not so much. That keeps us all together. Nice for the people.
On the importance of keeping Harry Kane and Son Heung-min quiet on Wednesday night…
Yeah, but then unfortunately, if you keep them quiet there are still a lot of really, really good players. How I said, that’s now a proper team. Threats from a lot of areas on the pitch. Bergwijn plays an important role, especially in their counter-attacking moments. Ndombele needed probably a little bit longer to really settle at Tottenham but is now 100 per cent there, shares a little bit the job with Lo Celso. Sissoko, Hojbjerg was a proper unit together in midfield and the last line obviously works pretty well together. On top of that, Lloris a top-class goalie. With Gareth Bale, I think he was ill in the last game, if he is fit again then another threat. And all the other guys they have. They are doing well. Harry Kane, yes of course, in all times when you play Tottenham it was always clear you have to make sure he’s not too much involved in the game, which is difficult. And with Son it’s the same. The working relationship they obviously have in the moment, it clicked properly. A lot of good things to say about Tottenham, that’s how it is. In the end, we still thought we try to play them and try to win the game, even when they are in a really good moment.
On Tottenham’s style of play and how they have closed the gap to the Reds so far this season…
That’s now really funny you ask me about last season. We had obviously some injuries and we didn’t lose a lot of points yet. We lost some games, that’s I think somehow normal in the situation we are, but we are still level with a few clubs in the league. I’m not surprised about the Tottenham development. The style of play, I see a lot of similarities with us, to be honest, in the way they set it up, the way they build up. They play football actually. You are right, they are not bothered to sit back on top of that and defend the result and go for counter-attacks, but that’s not the only strength of Tottenham. If you only read newspapers about Tottenham games that could be your impression, but if you watch their games you see they have a proper football side and play real football. You see now Kane dropping probably in a way Bobby Firmino did it, then the two quick wingers right and left. To defend Kane in these areas is really difficult. Then a very offensive midfielder, like a second No.10 if you want with Ndombele or Lo Celso. Then two physically really strong midfielders but football-wise strong as well, Hojbjerg and Sissoko. That’s football that they play, not only counter-attacking. You cannot be top of the league with just counter-attacking. That’s why I just see what I see. And what I see is, unfortunately, pretty good.