Liverpool’s Jurgen Klopp has dismissed ideas of a Premier League title competition but concedes the trip to Manchester City next weekend is a vital one.
Liverpool crushed Watford 2-0 at Anfield on Saturday afternoon, with strikes from Diogo Jota and Fabinho.
Klopp’s team briefly climbed to the top of the league standings after the win, but City won 2-0 at Burnley to recover the top spot.
The Red’s next encounter is a Champions League game against Benfica in midweek, preceded by a quick flight to the Etihad for the biggest match of the domestic season thus far.
Klopp did not discount the value of the match against City, but he specifically pointed out that there are many games that are equally important.
What Jurgen Klopp said about Liverpool’s matches ahead
Following Liverpool’s win over Watford on Saturday, Jurgen Klopp said “No, you can’t give an inch. But it’s nothing to do with being on top of the table, I didn’t think about that at the moment, I was just happy to win the game and now have 72 points.
He proceeded by saying “To keep it a title race we have to win our football games, otherwise, it will be really tricky. And the next Premier League game obviously is a big one, we do not hide from that. It’s all good. But now we have a Champions League game to play, which is just as important, and three days’ time to prepare for it. Then we go from there.”
Jurgen Klopp made a point of saying that his team will be put to the test in the coming weeks. The Reds are competing in three contests this month and are hoping to win all three before the season ends.
According to Kloop “I really appreciate the situation we are in. I told the boys yesterday, the first time when we were all together if somebody would have told us in the summer, in the really good pre-season which we had, that end of March, early April in the situation we are in – in all competitions, won one trophy and a full squad available, and hopefully, this will stay forever – we all would have taken it, absolutely. “
He continued “The only better situation would have been – because in the cup competitions we couldn’t be further – is if we are 20 points ahead of City, but that’s not possible actually. It’s all fine like it is, so now enjoy the situation. We are not favorites in one of the competitions we are in, but who cares? We will give it a try.”
The Liverpool coach then went ahead to highlight that he can’t change the opinion of people and thoughts about their current position on the table if it denoted that his team is under pressure “It’s nothing to do with managing, it’s just I feel like this. It’s not that I pretend to be in the mood, I cannot change it. And the boys hopefully see it similar. It’s not managing the situation or the pressure or whatever.
In the sequel, he asserted “If people see the situation as pressure, not sure I can change that. If they see it as an opportunity, I think it’s the right way to do it. We created a basis, which we could use, but nobody knows. Because the opponents have their own targets and they really go for it.”
On the match against Watch compared to their next few matches, he proclaimed “I know people said Watford is pretty much an easy game; we knew before, and we saw today, it’s not easy. Then probably people waved us already through to the semi-finals of the Champions League because Benfica is Benfica. I cannot see situations like this.”
