Press conferenceJürgen Klopp on Brighton, transfer window, Mo Salah milestone and more

The Reds travel to the American Express Community Stadium on Saturday afternoon, with kick-off set for 3pm GMT.

Klopp covered a range of topics during a media briefing at the AXA Training Centre ahead of the Seagulls clash, including the importance of this upcoming fixture.

Read on for a summary of what the boss had to say...

On the importance of the Brighton game...

Yeah, for us, can we make any difference between the games? I'm not sure. All the games are really important and it's a very, very important game for us for different reasons. So, it's interesting that the second part of the season, after the World Cup, we start now with two wins [and] then we lose a league game and then we draw a cup game. The results are the results but, of course, there were parts of performances [that] we didn't like. That's true as well.

Yes, we have problems, everybody knows with [the] injuries [and] these kind of things, but we still could've done better. We could have used our opportunities better and all these kinds of things, so that's what we are constantly working on. Obviously it's really tricky that the squad is not the biggest in the moment. We have to be really careful with the games coming up, but still the training week was really good, I liked it a lot. And Brighton requires a specific kind of respect because I don't think anyone underestimates them anymore, but it's still important to know [who] they are, and who would have thought that the possession stats could increase after [Graham] Potter happened? Mr De Zerbi obviously loves to have the ball as well, so they are really playing good stuff and full of confidence. If you want; no pressure, if they would qualify for Europe it would be massive. Absolutely massive.

It's a different situation, for sure, but we have the opportunity to go there and cause them real problems. In our best seasons, always Brighton was a tough place to go. It was not we arrive there [and] just won the game. If we could get something there, we had to dig in really deep and that's what we have to do again and that's the plan.

On whether he is 'seeing any opportunity opening up to move in the transfer window'...

I don't think so, it's just the situation. It's like it is. I have to talk about it because you ask me about it, so that's it. In the end, my job is to use the boys we have, so that's it. Absolutely no problem, I like the teams we line up, all these kinds of things. But when we start changing, you realise up front we don't have now three, four, five options. And if we have options, they get pretty young immediately, which is fine. But that's the situation and you cannot solve all problems in the transfer window. I know in a dreamland you would just buy now players and bring them in, but I don't see that coming.

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On the impact of Roberto De Zerbi at Brighton...

It's proper. Before they played Potter-ball, now they play De Zerbi-ball, that's how it is. It's what he did on that day [at Anfield]. I think he was smart enough not to change too much. I'm not sure how many days before he came in but three, four days – in the week before, I think. So, that's always tricky. They did obviously pretty well but since then I respect that a lot. So, pushing through your ideas and changing what probably everybody thought at Brighton worked out pretty well, and then to still put on your stamp, it's a really good job he did there, I have to say. But you see the difference, that's how it is. It was a smart decision from Brighton after Graham to bring him in because the ideas aren't completely [different], the philosophy, possession-based philosophy, is very similar. So, a very smart decision.

Obviously he is doing incredibly well and you can see when things are clicking everybody is 10 [or] 20 per cent better all of a sudden again. It's like confidence changes everything in football and they are full of confidence. We saw the Arsenal game when they lost 4-2, it was a top game. I think they had 67 per cent possession or something like that. Arsenal scored three counter-attacking goals. The pitch at Brighton, on top of that, is a little bit, not bigger, but at least wider and so there's a lot of space to cover and to defend as well. It's a tough one but I'm really looking forward to it because we had a good week. I hope the players who were available during the week at least will stay available and then we are ready for a fight.

On Mohamed Salah potentially playing his 300th game in English football...

A few things happened in between. What a journey! I would say his dreams and our dreams came true in that period but it's not over yet. Mo looks sharp, he's fit still after all these years, after all these games and that's very important. The most important thing is that he's really available pretty much always. But that means, of course, if you have to play that amount of games that sometimes your performance drops here or there, but it doesn't happen too often. So, I think it was a perfect match. Nobody knew that [when he arrived], but we were all hoping for it and obviously that happened.

On what is needed to improve recent performances...

How I said, the week was really good and obviously we put a finger on that. That's clear. So, I'm not 100 per cent sure, because I am German not English, so I want to win the ball in these moments, so not knocking down somebody down – that's very important. The way we play, and it's ball-orientated defending, I think that's no secret. That means whoever has the ball on the pitch he should face one in an ideal world, two in a perfect world, three players... one has to challenge, win it or lose, but if you lose then the next one is there, picks the ball up and we go from there. So, I've explained it in a very simple way, but that's how it is.

If you don't win the ball there, if you put that much legs on that side where the ball is, and you don't win the ball, players can get out. Yes, then the pitch looks incredibly big and that was obviously the situation we had too often in the last game. We were there, everything was right, three players, and still the Wolves player could get out. So, in one-v-one situations we lost challenges too easy, or didn't tackle, I don't know exactly how to explain it but you know what I mean. You cannot win a football game without winning challenges, it's absolutely not possible, and we drew a football game with not winning a lot. That shows already if we would win more that would be very helpful, and that's what we have to do. My job is to help the boys to bring them in the right spaces where they will have the challenges. But I cannot win challenges for them, that's now not possible. I cannot do that. That's obviously what we're clearly talking about and it's something we have to do, and that will change a lot. Especially now against Brighton, it's really important.

But again, we will not change now the way we play just to knock them constantly down and get yellow or red cards. We never had that. We just want ask ourselves to make this last step into a challenge, block the ball or then the ball is out, fine, there's a throw-in or whatever. But then we are really there more present – that's the idea. If we can do that, against a team who is really playing football, who has ball-playing build-up from the goal-kick, in open play, in all these kind of things, super drilled, two sixes, two 10s, no real striker – there's a striker, of course, but it's not really that he's always in the last line – they're all everywhere and that's where we have to be really aware. There are ways to defend it – other teams did it as well, we found our way as well, we just have to execute it now. It's a basic thing to win challenges and that's why we were talking a little bit about it.