The Merseyside derby is almost here and Liverpool boss, Jurgen Klopp has reiterated his respect for his Everton counterpart, Carlo Ancelotti.
Ancelotti has reinvigorated the Goodison outfit that is still the only club with a 100 percent record so far in Europe. Speaking ahead of tomorrow’s clash, Klopp believes his thoughts on the former Real Madrid coach were never a secret as he reinforced his great respect for him.
The Toffees are flying high in the Premier League with four wins from their first four games of the new season, while Liverpool, the reigning champions will look to bounce back from a 7-2 defeat at the hands of Aston Villa on their visit to Goodison Park on Saturday.
Having faced the Italian in the German Bundesliga and Champions League previously, Klopp’s admiration for his counterpart clear for all to see.
“Top team, top manager. What I think about Carlo Ancelotti was never a secret.
“I couldn’t respect him more as a person and as a coach. He’s a wonderful human being, to be honest.
“I knew from the first day when I heard that he will sign for Everton, I thought, ‘Ah, the next proper challenger in line.’
“Now I think they did perfect business in the summer. They found pretty much exactly the players they needed to improve an already pretty good football team. Together with being more used to what Carlo wants them to do makes them a pretty strong team. I’m really not surprised about the way they play,” Klopp told Premier League Productions.
Tight affair expected in Everton-Liverpool clash
Everton is yet to record a Merseyside derby win for ten years. It is now hoped that Ancelotti will be the first manager to break the jinx for the Evertonians.
The last Merseyside derbies at Goodison Park were tight affairs that ended goalless in June.
While admitting that away games against the Toffees have been difficult in the past, Klopp said he is determined for his side to still approach them the right way.
“Of course it’s different but in the end, that’s one thing. It’s what you think in the morning of a derby day but then during the day you have to make sure that you do the right things again because the pure football things are not different to other games.
“Now people will say, ‘try and do it different’ because we were not unbelievably successful at Goodison in the last few years – we didn’t lose a lot but we didn’t win a lot there, that’s true as well.
“The games were not highest quality – neither Everton or us played their best football in these games. But I think we still should give it a try. The home games for us were obviously different so far but they were difficult anyway as well,” he added.
