Press conference'We know this is incredibly important' - Jürgen Klopp on Saints clash and more

The Reds will play out their final fixture ahead of the World Cup at Anfield on Saturday when Saints travel to Merseyside.

Ahead of the contest, Klopp sat down with the media at the AXA Training Centre, where he discussed a wide range of topics.

Read on for a summary from the briefing below…

On Trent Alexander-Arnold's inclusion in England's World Cup squad...

Yeah, yeah. All the players who are obviously nominated, like Ibou and stuff like this, you couldn't be sure, but I think with Hendo it was clear and with Trent it is nice. It is a big tournament. Every player dreams of these kinds of things and he was very pleased about the news, so yes, I am very happy for him.

On facing Southampton and new boss Nathan Jones...

I actually thought Ralph Hasenhuttl did an exceptional job there. But everything has its time, maybe, stuff like this. If Southampton showed anything, there was for sure attitude, they were a highly motivated team, they were really going for it and these kinds of things. So, now, yes, with the manager it might be an extra few per cent - that's possible, [I] don't know. For us, it is not our problem because we always expect a really motivated opponent but, of course, we have no real clue.

There is now not a lot of time to change a lot of things but what we saw... in our analysis meeting we had it was half Southampton and half Luton just to see what he is doing. Because we don't know, we have to focus on ourselves and that's what we do [and] that's what we try. We expect from ourselves a really good game, a game you can win, not because [of] the opponent but because we have to show up. It is the last game for a long time and that's why we want to finish on a high.

On whether he thinks any 'fight' has been missing this season after hailing the recent performance at Tottenham Hotspur...

No. It is just because we were clear better in the first half and in the second half we came under pressure because it's a very direct style and that's why you have to fight. But it's not the first time. I don't know exactly, but one or two years ago when we won a lot of games, there weren't all games like easy going - 4-0 up early and then try to manage the game and play the time down. No, that's just all because everybody saw that Tottenham had good moments in the second half, forced that with a lot of crosses and long balls but that's why I said it. No, it didn't lack before. We had problems before... we spoke about that pretty much all the time here, our problems, but step by step we try to sort them and then from there we can go.

On Andy Robertson and Darwin Nunez's growing link-up play and understanding...

Robbo is obviously used to [it], he played for a long time with Sadio Mane on that wing and then Luis [Diaz] - cover that space, pretty much. It's different, very different. And now Darwin is different as well. In this game he was together with Thiago and Robbo and Darwin. Yes, we know that Darwin can be a real threat offensively. He is actually. Defensively, for sure, there is space for improvement because it is not natural to him to defend that position. Thiago and whoever plays there and Robbo, or Kostas as well, know that. That's why we have to adapt a little bit because we don't want to talk to him now all the time about defending and then all of a sudden he forgets how to attack. So we want to give him the freedom to feel like a striker in the offensive moments, so it worked well but there's still a lot of space for improvement.

On whether there was any doubt for Alexander-Arnold being named in the England squad...

I didn't speak to him and I have known Trent now long enough. He knows, apart from playing football, he has no influence. There's a lot of talk around and these kinds of things. When you think about Trent, and I heard now that Gary Neville said something that in the big knockout games he cannot play. I'm not sure he said it really, or somebody just wrote it down and just changed the words a little bit - I have no clue, but Trent Alexander-Arnold is now 24, I think. He won quite a few finals.

That is a very important game where you have to defend. He played finals against Chelsea last year, for example, both finals. Incredibly intense, top-class players and world-class players were in moments better than players they face at the World Cup, definitely. Like in the finals we played Tottenham, Real Madrid [and] all the others, these kind of things. He always was there, he always defended well. I don't know why we have this discussion but it's fine. So when you have the choice between four or five - now it's not that many anymore, [Kyle] Walker is kind of fit. Reece James is not available. So, these kind of things.

I think Gareth [Southgate] is very happy that he has Trent as well and Trent took it. He's very calm and these kind of things so he plays the football he plays - tries to improve, tries to develop, but I think it would have been disappointing if he had not been there. I'm not sure if he was in doubt, or whatever, but with all discussions, at least the discussion I followed, if everyone would have been available then it's not unlikely that you don't take four full-backs to a World Cup, I think, [it] makes sense. Four right full-backs by the way. Some of them can play left as well. So, all good. I saw his face and I realised he's really happy about it.

On Ibrahima Konate's inclusion for France and his progress at Liverpool...

Good, very good of course, but he was really good before. It's not that you can say that he learned everything here. That's not true. He was an outstanding player in Germany in the Bundesliga, so other players were a bit unlucky with the World Cup. He was now lucky with it because he came back in time. It's not his season so far, obviously, because he was long term out, directly after pre-season, bam, out for a long time and then again out - stuff like this. That's not perfect but for him it worked out really well. He deserves it, definitely. France obviously has an incredible amount of not only centre-halves but centre-halves as well playing all over in top clubs all over the world. To make the cut there is a big one and he is still a very young man. Yeah, he was very pleased as well. I think he needed something to get the smile out of his face. He's really happy about it. It's a big achievement, definitely.

On goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher and whether he needs to be playing more regularly...

First and foremost, the things he did so far he became the goalie he is now, so it's now not that we would think he would be even better or whatever. Caoimhin is an outstanding goalie, he is our goalie, that is absolutely great. A club like us with all the games we have needs a goalie of his quality, definitely. But if we have something to talk about then I think it would make sense that we speak in between.

It's clear that he has ambition to be the No.1 and all these kind of things. But everything must be right and being the No.1 in the wrong club… all of a sudden you are not that good of a goalie. Our style suits him very well because he's really calm on the ball as well. You can involve him in the build-up play. He is like the blonde version of Ali. He can learn from - I have to say it because it is true - an incredibly dedicated goalkeeping coaching staff. These boys are special coaches. They are. I really like how they work because there's not only Caoimhin - we have Marcelo [Pitaluga] as well [and] Harvey [Davies] as well. Of course, Adrian is there who always delivered when was needed - perfect professional. So, so many role models, and then Ali who combines pretty much everything. This department is really exciting what's coming up and stuff like this - Caoimhin, we don't hold back praise or whatever. It's not that, 'Oh, he's not that good.' No. He is really good. He is really, really good. We are really happy to have him. But again, he started the pre-season... before that he was not available. So, he has to stay fit. Then the future is bright, and we all hope it's here.

On the difficulty for players having one final game just a week before the World Cup starts...

So, we are professionals, and the boys play the game like they play the game, like they always play the game - so, with full focus. Everything can happen in a football game, that's how it is. But if you go to the World Cup and you think now you made it and you have a deep breath and in the first week you're injured in the first game - I'm not sure which is the bigger disappointment. To perform on the highest level you have to focus on the things you do in the moment and you cannot think about the next possible thing.

Now, because we changed a lot during the week we had yesterday already a session. Everybody looked like really buzzing, going for it. We know this is incredibly important - this is our World Cup, if you want, the Southampton game. That's how it is. We had obviously a tricky first part of the season, definitely. We spoke enough about it. We all saw it but if we can win this game... it gives us kind of a distance where we can see light at the end of the tunnel and that's exactly the mindset all the boys have as well. We don't make a big fuss of it, asking every day 'How are you?' and do we think about the World Cup - we don't talk about the World Cup. This is the situation and the boys who got nominated, great, and if some others weren't nominated that's not cool. But apart from that, it's just our situation here and that means our situation.

On Harvey Elliott now becoming a 'senior' player at Liverpool...

He doesn't have to. That we trust him, I think, is obvious. In the group he is like all the other boys. That's really nice to see. Really with Fabio [Carvalho] especially, but with all the other kids around - Stefan [Bajcetic], Bobby [Clark], Calvin [Ramsay]. We have obviously a lot of young players. It is not that he is now standing in front of them and holds speeches and tells them about the big games he played or whatever. No, he doesn't have to.

He just has to be mature on the pitch and all the rest is biological - will happen step by step. It's all fine. You know that we have the company working together with the penalties, stuff like this, it was a clear proposal he would have the fifth one [against Derby]. So, it's a sign as well. Yeah, he's an incredible player and an incredible talent and the direction is the right one, let me say it like this.