Press conferenceJürgen Klopp: Our people want to see a reaction, we have to show it

The Reds take on local rivals Everton, now under the guidance of Sean Dyche in the dugout, at Anfield seeking to respond positively at the next opportunity following last weekend’s Premier League defeat at Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Klopp previewed the 8pm GMT kick-off at a press conference on Friday morning, where in addition to a squad injury update he discussed a number of other topics.

Read a summary below…

On whether it’s the kind of fixture where he doesn’t have to worry about the players’ intensity…

Intensity is always important, an important part of the game and we never went into a derby and said, ‘Oh, I have nothing to say, it’s a derby, go for it.’ There is always information we have to give and we will give [it] this time as well. We know it’s a difficult game, Sean Dyche is now there and obviously a massive impact immediately, it was obvious. We have to prepare that – that’s what we did and will do in the upcoming days.

On the impact of Dyche at Everton and if this game is a ‘big opportunity’ for Liverpool to have a lift…

Yeah, it was very often now in recent years that it was always like this, that Everton could sort a lot of problems just beating us or whatever, when they were not happy with what happened around, and for us it was not a normal game but another game where we needed desperately three points. That didn’t change, to be honest. But I know where you’re coming from, of course. After the game we played again now at Wolves, we have to show a reaction again. I know our people want to see that. I want to see that. We have to show that.

This is not a time we wanted to have or a time we are happy to be in or whatever. But I think this is a time where as well we can show, if we want to show, that the club is really special. The boys delivered a lot of great moments in the last few years. In the moment, for different reasons – not all of them are clear – it’s not possible or we didn’t do it. But we are fighting for it, to change the situation in a better direction.

I really believe the better you behave in your lower moments, the quicker you get in the better moments again and then the much more success you will have in the better moments because you are just still together. That’s, I think, in normal relationships like that and football relationships should be like that as well. And I thought so far we did really well all together, especially our supporters. And I’m really looking forward to a derby atmosphere, a proper atmosphere and to a proper, proper football game.

On what he is preparing for from Dyche’s Everton…

A very compact side, very good in counter-attacking really and set-pieces will be very dangerous for us and a very important subject definitely. That’s the team, you could see that in the last game, it was good, a really good game. They had a lot of the game in their moments. Of course Arsenal were dominant, that’s clear, but in the end Everton had really good chances before they scored already and the goal came from a set-piece; that’s how they scored in the end but they could have scored in other moments as well. So we prepare for the team we saw against Arsenal, that makes sense. And because they are longer together now, all the patterns can be all a bit clearer for everybody. But the difference is it’s not there, it’s here – so we have to make sure that is clear and will be clear in the game as well.

On the impact playing 91 games for club and country since the start of 2021-22 has had on Jordan Henderson...

Of course, yes. People don’t want to hear this kind of thing, that’s what it sounds like. There must be reasons for a few things what we did this season and we don’t turn to bad people overnight. It’s not that we lost a football brain, we don’t know the game anymore and stuff like this. What could be the reason on top of that, apart from losing confidence, never having momentum and stuff like this, yes there are some physical things as well. They are clear. Other players from other clubs have similar problems and cannot play the season they played last year. For us, it is now not too important because the last season is long ago, we try to manage things – like workload – as much as we can. Because we couldn’t do it and now we could do it a bit more; but in the past we couldn’t because everyone who was available, especially up front, had to play. We had changes up front and when you have changes up front you want to have a more settled midfield, that’s clear and when it’s happening you don’t change too much and all these kind of things. The workload management is not that easy, let me say it like this, but this week they all look incredibly fresh, that’s the truth as well. The training sessions so far were really good, were super-intense from how the boys did it and, so, 91 games but the 92nd could be a really good one.

On the importance of Henderson...

I don’t understand now why we talk about one player. I mean it: Hendo, I hope everybody knows how much I respect him and stuff like that. Hendo is not our problem – never was and never will be. When he is ready, good shape and the rest, he played probably 98 per cent of the games we had. Now he didn’t start for two or three games, he came on, all these kind of things. He played all these games because he is a very, very, very important player for us. That’s the only reason, there is no other reason for it. When he is not playing then you miss that, that’s how it is. Yes, he’s very important.

On whether Liverpool miss Henderson’s leadership when he doesn’t play...

The key thing is, like all the others. If you miss something from Hendo, but all the rest would be there, we wouldn’t miss it as much. Like all the others are, like Virgil van Dijk is [an inspirational figure]. When he is on his top level, we miss him like crazy from his top level. But not even Virgil played all the games sensationally well... I am overly happy that he’s coming back, so that’s why I think we don’t have to make a Jordan Henderson story in this situation. This is a team story – and, if you want, a manager story. Nothing else. Not individual players or individual members of staff or whatever. This story doesn’t work, definitely not. That’s all.

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On whether he has seen positive signs in training...

Definitely yes, absolutely. All the signs are there, but when I say that now, I know people will sit at home, watch this and say, ‘Yeah, but show it on Monday.’ We see it exactly the same: we have to show it on Monday. Training was so far really good and will be, everything is in the right direction. That’s true. Aggression is there, determination is there, readiness is there, concentration is there, focus is there, intensity is there. So far, a really good week.

On giving the players Monday and Tuesday off...

In Germany this question would have come much earlier: ‘How can you give them two days off when you are in the situation you are in?’ In England, you are relaxed about that, to be honest. You can but it is not beneficial, but you can’t train every day. Played bad at Wolverhampton, next day we came in and then we took two days off. We did the analysis, we spoke to each other and then we gave them two days off because it’s a very long time between Saturday and Monday. But of course, I could have Sunday training or recovery and then from Monday on we go for them. That wouldn’t be helpful at all, it would have been bad, it would have caused injuries, it would have caused a lot of problems – and, to be honest, on Sunday after we spoke about everything I thought it made 100 per cent sense that we don’t see each other for two days. It was helpful. I left on Sunday in an average mood and came back in a good mood. I worked through it, I had a lot of phone calls and stuff like this, but I was in a much better mood. A completely different mood, to be honest. That’s why it’s very helpful and, yes, they benefited from it and that was very good.