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Jürgen Klopp insists that Liverpool travel to FC Midtjylland determined to win, despite the fact that their qualification for the knockout stages of the Champions League is already assured.
The Reds secured first place in Group D by beating AFC Ajax the previous day, but conclude this phase of the competition at Arena Herning on Wednesday night.
Klopp previewed the game at a press conference this morning and while the boss intends to select an XI taking into account the broader context of the season, he underlined his commitment to claiming three more points.
Read a summary of his talk with the media below …
On whether older players can’t travel and whether he will appoint a young lineup …
Our Champions League team was already very young – we had four, five, six players involved in the team for the entire campaign so far. And yes, they will travel and then we will make decisions. Today we have a session, yesterday we already had a session with players especially who did not play in the Wolves game. Today is the only session we have together. So I still have a few hours to make decisions. I will use the time, the analysis is not finished yet and all that will play a role in my thinking. We will see. You’re right, it’s the first time that we don’t have to get a result in the last match of the group stage, the first time that we’re already at the top of the table. We have to consider the general situation, of course, but we also have to consider that it is the Champions League, we are Liverpool and we want to win the game. All these kinds of things will eventually lead to a lineup.
On whether he will look to work on things in the game because Liverpool don’t require a result overnight …
There are no different things, but in our way, I want to see our way of playing. That is clear, whatever the lineup we have. For the boys it is clear what kind of football we want to play, how intense we want to be, how difficult we want to be for the rival to play. So there are many things I want to see, but that’s pretty much what I want to see in every game. This game is no different. This game is just a different part and that is that we don’t have to win it, because like Liverpool you generally have to win every game. But we still want to win it, which is the best we can do. That’s what I want to see, that everyone can see that we are going there and we want to win the football game. It will be difficult because Midtjylland is much better than the table shows. When you do the analysis you see how good they are at games; They grew up in the competition, without scoring points but it is a strong group, so it was difficult for Midtjylland. But I’m sure they’ll give us a proper fight and we have to be prepared for that.
On the goal of reaching 15 points in the group …
Look, that’s another reason, aside from just wanting to win, getting 15 points is another reason. Like I said, we will try everything. But we cannot completely forget the situation we find ourselves in and the situation we find ourselves in means that we play after that match, on Sunday; after that game, on Wednesday; after that game, on Saturday. And now I forgot how many days we have in between. I heard a second ago that in the next 22 days we will play six games again. And my guys played in the last 22 days for sure at least six games, if not seven some of them. So yes, we try everything to be as well prepared as possible.
On how satisfying it is to see young players step up this season …
This. We don’t have to put it any other way, we had some injury issues, that’s clear. We lost the best, best, best and best players to injuries. But of course, one door closes and another opens. This is how it is. But you still need the right kids or the right players to seize the opportunity, just like the kids did. We can go through all of them. What Rhys Williams has done so far in the Champions League is exceptional. What Nat Phillips did when he played in the Premier League was absolutely exceptional. Neco now played two very good games in a row, especially the last one was very good. Curtis plays like he’s played 10 years for us. Caoimhin was always a talent, now he had the opportunity to show it on the big stage and he took the opportunity, very well for him. Without them, we would have gotten lost, to be honest. And thank goodness, it worked. Most of it is obviously that they are really prepared for it, they are the main reason for it. But Vitor Matos and Pep Lijnders are very close to that group even before they join us. So they were very well prepared. That’s good and that’s why we could use them the way we use them.
At Divock Origi …
Div is not injured. Obviously we don’t have many players, but our offensive options are better than other areas, so I can’t just bring three forwards or very offensive players to the team when all things can happen across the field. Div is in good shape, but last time he was not in the Premier League team.
On whether he could seek to ‘protect’ Caoimhin Kelleher for this game and bring Adrian …
Interesting! No, we’ll see. Alignment-wise me [haven’t] I made decisions, but generally a goalkeeper doesn’t have to change that often and nobody told me anything different [than] that Caoimhin should be ready again. I didn’t think of that, to be honest, but it’s probably a good sign.
On Midtjylland playing with three central defenders when they drew 1-1 at Atalanta BC on the final matchday …
In general, I have a lot of respect for Midtjylland, to be honest. We played here and we were lucky to win the match. Yes, now he has a point, but the good performances, the very good performances in the Champions League, they were unlucky in games. So it is with experience in competition, you learn the hard way. We all did it, we learned it the hard way. But I think they should be really proud of what they did so far in the Champions League. I know they think that right now we are a great opportunity for them, a great name, but they expect us to make some changes and things like that. They have a game at home, so they can get to four points, which would be a big one. From a financial point of view, winning a game in the Champions League is something important. But the bad news [for them] from my side we go there with everything we have. We tried absolutely everything to win that game, we want to have 15 points. But with all due respect for Midtjylland and they didn’t have to change their system I think about them a lot, because since Sunday I have nothing else to do but think about Midtjylland. It is not finished yet. We will be there and hopefully we are prepared.
