Press conferenceJürgen Klopp on unique Brighton test, Trent Alexander-Arnold, refocusing and more

Liverpool return to action following a prolonged hiatus following the recent Chelsea postponement ahead of the September international break.

The Reds host the Seagulls in a 3pm BST kick-off on Saturday and the boss looked ahead to the fixture, covering various subjects by answering journalists' questions at the AXA Training Centre.

Read on for a summary below…

On how his international standing impacts Trent Alexander-Arnold at Liverpool...

We are fine here because it's completely different. Obviously, I see him differently - that's clear. There are stories out there that all the time people talk about him and say he's not a good defender. That's not true, he is a good defender. He doesn't defend always good - that's true as well. That's what we are working on, he is a young player. He's 23 and there is space for improvement, definitely. But I think really we only discuss it on the level we discuss it because his offensive impact is so extreme for us. It could be for each team in the world. So from my point of view it's easy. Whichever team I would coach in the moment I would sign him because he is exceptional. Is he always exceptional? No. I've never met a player who is always exceptional. So that's it now, but the rest is Gareth [Southgate]'s job to find a team.

England is obviously blessed with a lot of really, really talented players in the similar position and it's difficult to line them all up together. In this specific case it could work because obviously Reece James can play in a three in the back - [he] did that for Chelsea pretty well. It would probably be interesting to see how they could interchange position, we all see that when you play... it depends how you play with three in the back. If you keep them deep then it's a different story but if you want to have them being involved in offensive situations then Reece James even as a centre-back could be involved. Tactical stuff, not too interesting. But again it's Gareth's decision and we made a decision. The only thing I can say is I see it differently but that doesn't mean it's right, or wrong. I just see him every day and for Trent now that's probably the most important. He came back and was not in party mood but he just accepts the decision of the manager as well because he understands football pretty well. He's an extremely smart boy and did everything right.

As a player you can never do more than offer what you can offer and then in football there's one guy who decides if that's enough or not and that's the manager. Here more often than not it is the case that he is picked and for England obviously not. I understand. It's clear. For me he is a world-class player and not playing then for the country is difficult, but it's only because there are other players who are pretty good as well who play for world-class teams as well. That's how it is. [It's] actually a rather nice problem to have, better than having no right-back.

Germany had for a long time no right-back because Philipp Lahm played it all the time and we had this kind of discussion. Here we have four and for sure there are some others out there, younger ones already waiting. It's a difficult one for a manager - some players don't play in their clubs but are still important for the national team, these kinds of things. But if you want them to play a good World Cup then don't cook it too hot, I would say.

Otherwise you discuss this until November and don't let them work properly, I think you could see a little bit that England is slightly under pressure because they don't play to their full quality in this moment but that's obviously possible at the World Cup. If you want to have that; good stories, negative headlines... work on it. If you want to be a bit more supportive... work on it. If you want them to do a good job... criticise afterwards.

On a lack of games being problematic - or beneficial - with Brighton also having a lengthy break...

OK, that's two different questions, two different subjects. For us I would love to play the Premier League games but it was not possible and the issue we have with that is just I have no clue where they put it in, but that's not a problem for now, we will see how we deal with that - probably next year. I don't like to have a game in hand, or two games in hand, these kinds of things, it's not cool but it's the situation so we cannot change that so we don't think about it too much. Apart from that the majority of my players played, so, we didn't play, that's true, but they played - most of them. The Brazilians not so much, but at least Fab a little bit, so that's fine. For us, we never are looking for excuses and this is for sure not a moment where we think about that. We have to show consistency. Thank God the last game against Ajax we played was a good game [where] we showed the right reaction. We showed the right intensity, we left pretty much, if you want, in a positive mood. Imagine our last game would have been Napoli; wow, great, international break... not able to talk to the boys.

So that's where we have to go from again immediately. Now we talk about Brighton and that's a strange situation. They changed the manager, usually if you change the manager then you can expect... I think he had the first session together with the team, some visa problems, on Monday, or whatever. It's not a lot but it's more than I had when I came here. So, usually when there's a manager change then it's [because] the old manager got sacked. That means something didn't go well, but Brighton did extremely well before and now they have a really exciting new manager. Brighton is doing an incredible job, he did an incredible job as Sassuolo and Shakhtar. Probably most of the people saw, or remember the game, against [Real] Madrid - a really good game. That's him. He's a really brave coach, he's very influential. I don't know how good his English is at the moment, it could be a bit [of] an issue, but apart from that his football idea suits Brighton. It's a football-playing team, but we don't know what we expect obviously. How much is old Brighton? How much is new Brighton? The only thing that we know is [they are] a really good team that were in a good moment before.

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I don't know why their first game was cancelled? Train strike? Oh. So, that's the situation, but for us it's OK because in our situation we have to focus 1,000 per cent on us. We have to be really spot on, we have to show consistency, you have to defend on the absolute highest level and that's what I liked about the Ajax game. That we were really in the game, we were really difficult to play - Ajax [were] in a super moment and I think in all the moments when we were maybe a yard or two too far away, you could immediately see what they are able to do. In the end we played with a clear defensive approach, like focus number one, two, three and four on that.

We played offensive a good game as well - didn't score, but created a lot. And that's pretty much what we have to try against a different opponent obviously, but after three weeks, or whatever, but that's it now, we have this one session today together and my job is now to make it clear as somehow possible what we want to do.

On how it is to work with players without a common language...

Yeah, I would prefer they would speak my language, or even better, I would speak their language. That would be extremely cool. Yes, I would absolutely prefer it, but it's not possible. So, in our case now with Spanish and Portuguese we have plenty of interpreters in my coaching staff and players as well. So whatever we do on the pitch, it's Fabio Carvalho translates, obviously Fabinho, Bobby, or Thiago, very often, or Pep and Vitor so that's fine. There you lose not a lot, but translating is a difficult thing to do, you cannot get the emotion or these kinds of things.

Sometimes I really feel for them, I am pretty animated and speak quickly in meetings and when they are longer - we had longer meetings before the Ajax game, especially. And you think they didn't get a word for 45 minutes, they only can read from my face. That's not too comfortable, but that's why we are really behind it that the boys learn as quick as possible English.

On whether managers who come into the Premier League have a better understanding of the division due to its global appeal...

Yes, it is a difficult league and stuff like this, but in the end it's football and you should not forget that. I think my colleague is rather adventurous, from Sassuolo going to Shakhtar Donetsk, he is just happy to do what he is doing and wherever somebody asks him to do it and that's absolutely fine. But, in the end for all of us it's kind of the holy grail arriving in the Premier League. For him it is, for sure, a big chance as well. I don't know him, I just saw his teams. We are all different, some of us struggle more with it, some less. My biggest struggle when I arrived here was I thought I had to read all the emails I get over a day! In a [different] language... wow, that kept me really busy.

Meanwhile, my mailbox is my best friend when you can [push] them [letters] and leave them! I don't know what it exactly means for him, but Sassuolo played incredible, really incredible and then going to Donetsk, where I don't think he spoke the language, the way they played, you could see immediately. He is a manager who has impact. We don't know how quick and stuff like this, but Brighton were good, really good. So, do [we] prepare the set-pieces they had before because they worked out, or do we prepare the set-pieces they had at Shakhtar Donetsk? We better ignore it completely and just defend the ball as good as we can. That's the situation we are in.

On how the World Cup will impact the Premier League season...

I don't know, I really don't know. Let me say, the problem is a tournament in the middle of the season, the boys who come back from the World Cup play a week later in the Premier League. Usually the highlight is the World Cup and then you can relax, for the boys it is not too long but at least two or three weeks and then you go again. This time, if you are in the final, you can relax two days and then you start training and preparing for the Aston Villa game. That is, of course, impactful. It is a really long season for everybody and for the players involved in the World Cup especially. I think it is not news, I think it's not a good idea to do it like this but that's how it is. I thought that from the first day. It has no influence at all and that is fine; now we are in the situation and we don't think about it at all, for a long time already.

For us now the next six weeks are obviously very important. We didn't have the start we wanted to have, for some explainable reasons and for some reasons not explainable and we should not even try to explain it - it was just not good enough in moments, but that's now gone, that's our basis and from here we go. Now, the job is collect points - start doing it, now. Very intense, yes. But hopefully the boys all come back [fit]. If they all come back and all the others stay fit then we have a squad that can deal with a l lot of football games. If you don't have that then, yes, it is difficult.

Then you push through, then the available boys have to play too often and the others have to play too early and stuff like this. In the moment, this only second, it looks like the situation is better, that they come back [fit] - and the four players I mentioned before [Andy Robertson, Naby Keita, Curtis Jones and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain] are on the way back. Mid to end of October, I think they would then be completely [back] if nobody [else] is out until then and that would obviously be a good situation. I don't know about that now and don't have to think about it; the only thing I have to think about is who is available for Brighton, make a line-up, agree on a plan and go.

On what Calvin Ramsay will be able to add to the squad once fully fit...

He is an outstanding talent. We scouted him, I saw a lot of games of Calvin and he did exceptionally well. For the young age and the way he plays, he is a real player - he's really involved in everything. A real talent, I was really excited about it, I am excited about him, but then he arrived here and he had an issue with his back and since then he was out. Now I have saw him two or three times in training but it is the first three sessions. Now we know much more about him as a boy; outstanding, well educated, friendly, really confident and a really good boy. Now we started working, that's it.

How it is for all of them in that age group, the sky's the limit. I have no idea where it can go for him, but the start in his career was really good. Now we had a little interruption, better now than next year or whatever, it is not done, we are through this and now we have to make sure we can work as much as with him to give him a good chance to have the best possible career.