Programme notesJürgen Klopp: We have to create our own momentum

The Reds recorded a 6-1 victory at Leeds United in the Premier League on Monday with a display that has received high praise from the manager, not least for the quality of counter-pressing.

They will aim to build on their Elland Road success today when they host Nottingham Forest at Anfield, with Klopp underlining the requirement to repeat the same standards as a minimum.

“From our point of view, today gives us an opportunity to build on the work that you have seen in recent weeks,” the boss writes in his matchday programme notes.

“I said after the victory against Leeds United earlier this week that the most important thing for us to do now is to try to create our own momentum. No-one is going to give it to us. It’s not as if an opponent is going to do it for us, so we have to do it ourselves.

“The good thing is we have done this in the past so there is no reason why we cannot do it again. We do not need to give ourselves any objectives other than this. After every positive – and negative – result I am asked what it means for the rest of the season, but it makes no sense for us to think like that in the season that we are having.

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“Taking one game at a time is a cliché in football but it is a cliché because it makes sense. Yes, we get to take the knowledge and the learnings from our previous fixture into the next one, but other than that we do not need to look too far back or too far forward.

“Performing and hopefully getting a good result in the next game is the only thing that matters right now and if we do this everything else will start to take care of itself.

“Of course, today this means taking on a Forest team which is going to fight for everything. I have no doubt it would be this way no matter what the situation was because of the way Steve [Cooper] prepares his team. But the league table gives them an added incentive, so we should not ignore that their needs will only increase their desire. Our responsibility is to match that and hopefully more.

“That is what we did against Leeds and what followed was what I believe to be our best performance of the season. I know we have some other contenders for this ‘title’ and also that people will have their own favourites but from a counter-pressing point of view in particular, this one is out on its own. We saw this in the 92nd minute especially when four of our players hunted down the ball even though we were well ahead at that stage.

“This passion and desire allied with the understanding of how we want to play and how the approach should be implemented is what pleased me most, even more than the scoreline, to be totally honest.

“These are the moments and the outcomes that we work for and if we continue to have them in the remaining weeks of this season it cannot do anything other than have a positive effect on us and what we are trying to achieve in both the short and the long term.

“The immediate aim, of course, is to see more of the same today. It will not be easy, we know this, but we should give it our best shot. If we do this and keep on doing it, everything becomes possible again and we will then see where it takes us.”

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