Jurgen Klopp has walked this route many times with Liverpool and having watched Chelsea fall against Manchester City after being crowned champions following a big win at Tottenham, he is minded to warn against over-excitement ahead of Super Sunday.
The 20 goals Liverpool scored in a rattling September have given his team momentum, but that, he says, is of little value against a unit as good as the defending champions.
And don’t be getting worked up about City’s loss in Paris, a game in which they dominated possession and created more chances. On another night Raheem Sterling and Bernardo Silva don’t take turns hitting the timber and Leo Messi doesn’t slam one in from 20 yards. Scratch the last bit. He always slams them in from 20 yards.
Liverpool were ruthless in Porto against a team who were, frankly, useless. Robbed of their experienced centre-half pairing through suspension and then an injury to skipper Pepe in the warm-up, Porto had no defence of which to speak.
If that were not bad enough Diogo Costa had what might be described as a Bruce Grobbelaar night in goal, offering up moments of inexplicable insanity alongside brilliant shot-stopping to gift Liverpool at least two of their goals.
To layer the piece with yet more perspective, Liverpool will be without Trent Alexander-Arnold, who missed the trip to Porto with an abductor injury that Klopp believes will keep him out until after the international break. Oh, and one more thing Klopp is keen to point out, Liverpool have been letting a few in, three at Brentford, two at home to AC Milan. In other words they have to hit a different mode to topple City.
Cynics might argue the loss of Alexander-Arnold might help in that regard. But that takes us down a philosophical rabbit hole where the debate never ends about his worth going forward versus his defensive deficiencies.
“We conceded as well, some or a few,” Klopp said of September’s form. “We play against City. I don’t think now it makes too much sense to think too much about how many goals we can score against them. We need a complex and complete performance against them to have a chance only. And that’s it.”
Liverpool top both Champions League group and Premier League. In the case of the latter by a point from the cluster that includes City. “We have to work hard. We had to work hard in all the games we had, tonight, last Saturday. It’s really tough. We have two days more [to rest], which for the City game will be helpful. So we will be fresh again.”
While Klopp’s desire to keep a lid on expectations is worthy, there is an undeniable bounce and flow to his team that was absent for all but the final games of last season when Liverpool won five in a row to retain their Champions League spot. And in 20-year-old midfielder Curtis Jones, Klopp has a young player of such energy, guile and determination, it no longer makes sense to play down his contribution.
Jones, despite concerns over a stomach upset, had a direct hand in the first and last goals and was disciplined in his marshalling of the left side of midfield. “He was everywhere,” Klopp said, reluctantly letting his guard down.
“He had some problems a little bit with the stomach. They told me I need to keep an eye on him but I told him whatever it is, keep it because it was really a good game. He set up the first goal with a surprising finish, goalie cannot save it. Defensively he played a top-class game. I liked a lot about his performance. So, let’s keep going, Curtis. It was not bad tonight.”
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3ARFXtV
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