- Intensity returned
- Aiming for rhythm
- Players returning from injury
WHAT HAPPENED? The Liverpool boss was speaking during his Friday press briefing about the energy and desire his team had showed in their Monday night Merseyside derby win. It was the club’s first league win of the year after a run of results that had seen them drop to ninth. But Klopp clearly liked what he saw against Everton.
WHAT THEY SAID: Asked if he felt Liverpool could now go on a run, he said: “I think [so] but we have to show that. It was incredibly difficult last year [to do it] – it was always incredibly difficult. If we go through the games [last season] then I’m pretty sure we won some of them late. We were not always brilliant, we forced luck here and there and then we had other games where we were really flying, in early leads and these kind of things, different moments.
“This was us [against Everton]. It was the intensity that I loved the most in the game. Not how much more we ran but how intense we were in these moments. That’s what creates the rhythm. Now we have games every three days, but we’ve worked on endurance so we should be ready. We hopefully can make changes with people coming back and hopefully staying fit.”
THE BIGGER PICTURE: It’s been a difficult season with injuries at Anfield and their irregular form has seen them crash out of the FA Cup while falling behind in the race for Champions League qualification. With Real Madrid on the horizon in the Champions League, Klopp is hoping to find some of that trademark energy and dynamism at the decisive end of the season.
IN THREE PHOTOS:
WHAT NEXT FOR LIVERPOOL? It’s a pivotal week for the Reds, with a Saturday evening trip to high-flying Newcastle United before returning home to host European champions Real Madrid on Tuesday night at Anfield.