Press conferenceKlopp on 'massive' United game, Ralf Rangnick and Salah's form
Jürgen Klopp expects an ‘intense’ encounter when Liverpool and Manchester United face off at Anfield on Tuesday night.
The fierce rivals meet with plenty to play for as the Reds aim to leapfrog Manchester City at the summit and United target a top-four finish in the Premier League.
Speaking at a pre-match press conference on Monday, Klopp assessed the challenge posed by United, who were beaten 5-0 at Old Trafford in the reverse game last October.
The boss also took questions on United’s interim manager, Ralf Rangnick, and the current form of Mohamed Salah. Read a summary below…
On the rivalry between Liverpool and United…
It’s a big game, it’s a massive game, the two biggest clubs in the world, I would say. Maybe in Spain two will say it differently, but two of the biggest clubs in the world for sure face each other. Massive history around, big fights in the past, big fights since I’m here. We lost strange games against United, it took a while until we could win there, all these kinds of things. We had to learn to deal with it, some players had to learn to deal with it because of how much it means to them. But, OK, it’s now the 13th time [facing United in the league since he arrived] and we should have learned meanwhile, we had enough time to do that.
This time it’s an incredibly important game again for both teams. That says it all. Both teams are fighting for being in the Champions League next year or more, we will see. That’s a tough one. United are obviously in the situation that they won the last game, I heard now a little bit they were not overly happy with the performance but the result, and results from other games, opened the door again for the Champions League. And that’s the Man United we will face now. They will go for it and we have to make sure if they want to qualify for the Champions League they have to do it without our points. But between now and then, an intense 90 minutes – 95 probably – will have to be played.
On his relationship with Rangnick…
On hold! We didn’t have contact since he is in England, since he is at United. I think that’s just a mutual respect – I respect his job, he respects my job. I cannot make a Klopp-Rangnick or Rangnick- Klopp game of it. I don’t want to. I respect him for everything he did during his career, to be honest, he did incredible jobs wherever he was. Took a difficult one at Man United, obviously that’s clear. Big expectations, these kinds of things. Big expectations and actually no time to get there because in our business it’s like this.
But you can see the changes he made and the parts he improved, and that’s it pretty much. When we now prepared the United game, I didn’t think about Ralf in that moment because you watch the games and then you prepare for this team. It’s not Ralf or me. It’s a very important football game – a very, very important football game – but the managers probably will not score the decisive goal.
On Salah’s scoring record against United potentially being helpful…
It is a completely normal spell that Mo is going through. We spoke about all the physical demands he faced in the last few months. So, it is completely normal. I liked the game against City a lot, he played a really, really good football game. It is only a question of time when he will score as well. Unlucky in these little moments; we all know if you don’t have a luck as a striker then you don’t even try. It was close enough now for a couple of times and the moment will definitely come. I am really happy with the performance he showed a few days ago.
On whether he ‘does anything differently’ with Salah in that regard…
No, not really. I see him more often in training than I see him in games, and we play every three days. You have a look at it and I have to make a decision if there is a need for a talk or not. We had plenty of talks over the time we worked now together but in this specific moment there is no need for it. We talk, but not about the situation you make of it. No, we talk about the normal stuff: what he has to do in the game, what the game plan is and all these kind of things, where we try to expose the opponent. But that is completely individual to all players.
On the changes he has observed in United under Rangnick…
Actually nothing I want to talk about, really. I think Ralf tried to organise the team, that’s how it is, bringing in a structure with the squad you have. That’s what he did. United played some really, really good games but because it is United even when you win the games, it’s then ‘But here is a little bit not [right], that’s still not there…’ and stuff like this. So, it’s difficult to gain some momentum, I can imagine. But they concede less goals, for sure, and dropped some points [but] if you [look] at the points tally you see all of a sudden they are [fifth] in the table and if you are [fifth] in the Premier League it means you are a quality side. Because with all the opponents you have, it’s madness how consistent you have to be to get somehow close to that area. You see Tottenham flying in the moment and then get a little drop [at the weekend], but the quality they have is incredible. Chelsea are so strong. And we are all still fighting for qualifying for the Champions League next year and if you did that, from that moment on you can think about something else. But United are in that group as well and that says a lot about the quality they have.
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