'We have six finals left and need to win pretty much all of them'
Liverpool are viewing each of their remaining six matches of the season as must-win finals, Jürgen Klopp stressed.
The Reds' push towards a top-four finish in the Premier League continues on Saturday lunchtime when they welcome Newcastle United to Anfield.
They currently sit two points adrift of the Champions League qualification spots, though the battle for those places could take another turn when West Ham United face Chelsea at 5.30pm BST on Saturday.
Read on to see what the boss had to say about the meeting with the Magpies at his pre-match press conference...
On another important game coming up...
We only have important games left, massively important. We have actually six finals, if you want, and we have to win them all pretty much, and we better start tomorrow. We know it's a tricky one, we know what Newcastle is going for, they fight for staying in the league, that's clear. Maybe with three points tomorrow they can not make sure already but it would be a big step for them. But we have our own targets and we have to offer a proper, proper fight tomorrow and we have to play football, and we have to score goals, and we have to defend and all these kind of things. That's what we have to do tomorrow for 95 minutes and that's what we try to prepare now.
On the 'problems' he faces when deciding which three forwards to start with and whether he's considering starting four...
It was not too often possible, to be honest, because of Diogo's injury especially I think. There are a lot of things. The intensity of the games before, we cannot ignore that, who played most of the games, blah, blah, blah. It's an intense season, so if we can rotate in moments that helps a lot. Which formation fits, that's obviously the main thing, or the best to the opponent we play, and how can we defend, how can we close the spaces they want to use in the best way. The front three for us obviously are really important as well. So, these are the things – no others. Like actually with the whole team.
On the threat Newcastle pose at the moment...
Yeah, they had already a good spell in the beginning of the season and then they probably dropped a little bit. They had injuries, COVID, everything came together, I would say, or a lot of things came together. So now they have, I think, kind of a settled line-up, even when they miss obviously key players still with Lascelles and others or Schar. But they have now five at the back and Steve likes to keep the structure when it's successful. So five in the back, that works well then with Shelvey, Longstaff, Almiron probably – not sure obviously, there could be some others as well – in midfield. Then Mr Saint-Maximin is a proper one and he was injured, that was a massive blow for Newcastle, I'm sure. [Saint-Maximin] and Joelinton, they played now really well together, to be honest, and Wilson is then not even on the pitch, and if he starts there's not a big drop, I would say, performance-wise. They have found their line-up, they have found form, they have found a way to play, so for them it's good. For us, it's the job to do.
On how big a weekend this is with West Ham facing Chelsea and potentially getting help from other results...
I said it before, the situation I don't like too much but, to be honest, it's anyway the situation because we are behind a few teams, so they need to lose points somewhere. We don't play them anymore, the teams around us – we don't play Leicester, don't play Chelsea, don't play West Ham anymore. We don't play these teams, so they have to lose points somewhere and that's the situation. But first and foremost, we have to make sure that we get our own points. If we don't do that, we have anyway no chance. So, that's the first thing I'm really concerned about, and all the rest, we have to wait and see. That's the truth.