Press conferenceJürgen Klopp on Aston Villa clash, Premier League return, January transfers and more

The Reds travel to Aston Villa on Boxing Day for their first top-flight match since mid-November following the mid-season pause for the World Cup.

Ahead of the trip to Villa Park, Klopp held a press conference at the AXA Training Centre.

Read a summary below.

On whether Villa are something of an unknown quantity under new manager Unai Emery...

Yes, but I think what you can expect is that Unai stands for a specific kind of football and was really successful and did an incredible job at Villarreal, not only there but now recently there. What you saw in the first few games they played and the games we could see in this ‘pre-season’ now, it looks quite similar because it is a good way to play and it’s his way and it’s how he wants to organise a team.

So, yes of course we don’t know exactly what to expect, like you never know exactly what to expect, but at least we have an idea how they will try to cause us problems. So, that’s what we prepare for. Our analysis obviously started already as well so now we have two days’ time to create a plan to cause them problems.

On the January transfer window and whether there is a possibility of incomings at Liverpool…

January, in our situation, I think what we always say in this moment because it’s true is [that] from the sports side we are always prepared, that’s how it is. It’s always clear what kind of ideas we have or how the necessity is from our point of view and that’s clear. But all the rest doesn’t lie 100 per cent in our hands, that’s how it is, and we always work with what we’ve got and that will not change. I think you can imagine with the situation we are in that we are probably looking [but] if something happens, we will see.

On the feeling in the Liverpool camp about the return of the Premier League…

We are really excited about it, we are really happy to go again. All the players who are back from the World Cup now and look really on it, that’s very important. I think some of them could really gain confidence even when it probably was not that low before, but a good World Cup, like for Hendo for example, is for sure helpful. So we are really looking forward to what is coming up but we know it is intense. There are never guarantees out there and we know that all the others… I can imagine at Arsenal that everybody is buzzing to go again, City you saw last night they have expectations and ambitions.

So that’s how it is and there are much more teams, we obviously left a gap between us and the much more exciting spots in the table, but we consider ourselves in the moment within punching distance and that means we have to chase and that’s what we will do. I saw good signs last night, I was not happy with everything, I didn’t like our counter-press, to be honest – it was pretty much non-existent, which I don’t like – even with a line-up which was only a few hours before the game clear how we have to play or will play. We had the time to adapt, it was clear we needed that, but City could have scored before they scored and that is what I didn’t like. After that we found a way in the game, that’s positive. The game last night is against a super team, so if we play our best football they cause us problems in moments, that’s clear. But, it’s the case that we are really looking forward to the games coming up.

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On whether the World Cup break will have an impact on the remainder of the season...

It could, but we don’t know yet. What can I say? It would be just guessing, we have no idea – we will see. We hope it has a positive effect, even though our last spell before the break was absolutely OK. I don’t think about these kind of things, but I think we won eight out of 10 games, I read somewhere, so that’s good. If we would have done that in the 10 games before we would be in a different situation. There is a lot to come and we don’t think about the break anymore, really. For us, it is now the start for something new, building on the things we did so far, knowing we can do better, expecting from ourselves we do better. Find a way to win a football game and start with that on Boxing Day.

On whether the break will make it difficult to get going again...

I don’t know, we will see. I wouldn’t see a reason for it, or cannot see a reason for us, but we will see. We have players, they have rhythm, some. Hendo had rhythm in that period – training [and] games. Ali had probably rhythm. Ibou, maybe, can say he has rhythm. All the others had a break. Although they were at the World Cup, Fabinho and Trent played minutes there but was training more or less and then a week off. I cannot see a massive effect. Virgil obviously has rhythm. For the players who played a lot during the World Cup, the whole year will be incredibly intense because they have now three or four games more now in a fully-packed schedule anyway. That’s really, really, really tough. For the moment, we have to see how we deal with that and we will be really careful with all the information we get, but for the moment everybody should be fine.

On whether any of the players involved at the World Cup could be impacted by their respective countries’ performances in Qatar...

I don’t know who that would be. Virg played a good World Cup but they didn’t go that far, for example. I don’t think Fabinho or Trent lost any kind of confidence just because they didn’t play now that many minutes. It is not about that. Darwin, no sign for that and all these kind of things. For some it is a boost and for others it is a normal situation. Footballers are used to dealing with setbacks or with missing expectations or targets. That happens every year pretty much, so we don’t carry that with us too long. No, I am not worried about it.

On Julian Ward’s decision to leave the club at the end of the season...

It was a surprise when Julian told me, but we [will] work completely normal together until the day when he will leave. Julian is 100 per cent committed and everything is fine. We never had a problem [and] will not have a problem, so it is all fine. I think he told us after the Southampton game, so I was surprised in that moment but it’s his decision and that’s OK. It will have no impact for this period, not at all.