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“A real challenge we have to be prepared for” is how Jürgen Klopp underlined the threat that he believes FC Midtjylland will pose when they visit Anfield in the Champions League on Tuesday night.
Liverpool host the Danish champions in Merseyside for the second round of Group D matches, and the danger Brian Priske’s side will pose is not underestimated.
The Reds began their European campaign with a 1-0 win over AFC Ajax in Amsterdam last week and while Midtjylland suffered a 4-0 home loss to Atalanta, Klopp feels his team needs to be ready for what he called it a ‘proper fight’. tomorrow.
The coach answered questions from reporters during his pre-game press conference on Monday afternoon. Read on for a summary of what he had to say …
On the response your team has shown in the last week …
Look, the last week wasn’t the best week of our lives, let me put it that way. It started off with a really good soccer game with some things that we obviously didn’t like and didn’t help, so it’s about showing a reaction because you can’t influence things that happen to you in life, but you can influence the response. to show. I like the answer, to be honest. The guys were really willing to work really hard again, show real stamina, fight for a result, dig deep and all these kinds of things, which is important. I hope so, but after the very, very long, very, very good times that we had, it’s possible that people will react differently. My kids didn’t, they did exactly what I thought they would. They fought all they could and won both games, and that’s the part that I liked the most.
On how much you know about FC Midtjylland …
Since yesterday I know a lot. Before that, I knew a little bit about the history of the club, the things they try, using science in a different way, working very concretely. [It’s] a very interesting project, I have to say. Since yesterday I saw many games and some summaries and now I am in the picture. They are good, they are really good. The 4-0 against Atalanta was not 4-0 … it was 4-0 because that was the result, but it didn’t look like this kind of game, they were really in the game, possession was nice. level. They [are] a soccer player, they have different ideas depending on what the opponent is doing, they are also flexible so it is a challenge. It is a real challenge and for that we have to be prepared, and that is what we try to be.
On the link between Midtjylland and Brentford …
Like I said, it’s interesting. Five years ago, on my break, I was interested in going to Midtjylland or Brentford for a while just to have a look, to see what exactly they do. But then I signed for Liverpool and I couldn’t do that! That just shows, it was already five years ago and it still is [interesting]. It is an interesting approach.
On how Liverpool will face tomorrow night’s game …
How do we approach the game? Sorry, we are not in private. Do you know what a press conference is? Look, you know what Midtjylland is doing. Midtjylland has different styles. They have game build-up or they’re a little more direct in their preparation and things like that. If you push them high, they’ll play longer, all these kinds of things. They have very experienced defenders, good soccer midfielders, speed on the wings, physicality in the center up front. They have a clear plan, so we have to see it. We also have a clear plan, which is adaptable, I would say, and we will try. We have to make decisions before the game and then we have to make a lot of good decisions in the game. Then we have to show that we are ready for a proper fight because that is what I really hope. So that’s it, that’s our focus.
Another great week ahead 💫 Tuesday: #UCL Saturday: #PL https://t.co/lxjk1xonOI
– LFC (Liverpool FC)
Oct 26 07:02
On Liverpool’s departure from the Champions League to Atlético de Madrid last season …
We played a really good game. I know people forget it, they tend to forget that when you lose a game, but we played a very good game at Madrid. We lost 1-0 but [we] they were in the game against a difficult side to play. We played a super game at home that we lost. It sounds crazy, but we played a really good game and what else can you do than be at least once at the level and once for the best team? That means that generally, if you take advantage of your chances, you will pass. Performance wise, it wasn’t a problem. It was a very strange time. We heard a lot of things the day before, two days, three days before, a lot of things, ‘It was the last game before the lockout.’ This is not an example of how we should do it or how we should not do it – in terms of football you can, but everything else was completely different. But we love that competition and we still love it, even when we got knocked out a little earlier last year. But they are still different times. It’s Europe, it’s the Champions League, it’s Anfield, it’s home but there are no people here. It is still the competition we love and I hope we already showed it last week and we have to show it again tomorrow night. Then we will see how far we can go. There are no guarantees but there are many opportunities and I like opportunities. So let’s try to give it a proper chance.
In both Liverpool and Midtjylland with serving coach Thomas Gronnemark …
And Ajax used to work with him, we’re pretty much Thomas Gronnemark’s group! We saw Thomas’s influence on the analysis when we watch Midtjylland now and I think he will be proud of that. But it was a pretty quiet week. Thomas is a 100% professional and we don’t ask him now what they are doing and he wouldn’t give Midtjylland the answer. This is how the professionals work. He is a super boy, he helped us a lot. Throw-ins are always an important part, perhaps a more important part than for other teams, in our preparation for games. But it is not the only part. We have a lot to think about and we know that they won’t make a lot of throw-in mistakes, let me put it that way. They will use their routines, as we have some, and in the end, we have to make sure that we can use ours and deny theirs.
On facing Midtjylland in Europe’s premier club competition …
We don’t see it as a small club, we really see it as a team, a real challenger in this group. Nobody is part of the group because they are beautiful cities or whatever. They are there because they are good football teams and because they earned the right to be in the Champions League last season. And Midtjylland, they had an impressive comeback against Brondby. It means they’re fine again, not just last year. I don’t know exactly how many players they lost because I didn’t see games last year, only this year. But it’s just a soccer team and in soccer that’s probably what we all love the most about it, almost anything is possible. We use that from time to time for ourselves, maybe from another perspective. But I’m sure Midtjylland sees it exactly the same way. They will no longer wave with the white flag. They will be here and they will try to do everything they can. It was always like this and never not. We respect that. There is no smaller team in the Champions League, there are only teams. How small and big you are, you show it on the field in the game and not in any previous press conference.
On how the Reds have performed without Virgil van Dijk for the last two games …
The best possible. Look, all the teams in the world would miss Virgil van Dijk. It is the best center-middle in the world, so of course it is not an easy thing to do. You play the game, he gets injured, and you play the next game three days later, so you have to build your new lineup. Virg is not only the best central midfielder, we could face him in almost every game in the last two and a half, three years since he’s here. So of course that’s hard to do because all the kids played together with Virg, but they didn’t play together too often. Joel Matip was also injured, so that doesn’t help. So Fabinho, the usual six, has to play in the middle, Joey, it’s [his] Obvious position so it helps then Trent and Robbo left and right. Therefore, they are not as used to each other as almost all other pairings. For that, we did quite well and that will improve 100% because, unfortunately, almost everything in life takes time, and the defense also needs time to take it to a specific level especially. So at first it was okay, but we all don’t expect perfection from us, but not too far from it either. That means there is room for improvement, okay. But like I said, everyone needs time to replace a massive player or person, but so far we’ve done well.
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