Liverpool travel to the London Stadium on Sunday to face West Ham United in the Premier League.
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Jurgen Klopp and Liverpool are in for a tough assignment on Sunday when they travel to the London Stadium to face West Ham United in the Premier League. In the league table, Liverpool are currently sitting in the second spot with 22 points, while West Ham are just two points and two places behind with 20 points in 10 games. The Reds will be going into the fixture on the back of a 2-0 victory against Atletico Madrid in the midweek Champions League clash. On the Reds’ performance against Atletico, Klopp, in his pre-match press conference, said, “When I speak about a ‘nearly perfect’ performance, I mean in the circumstances. So, it’s a group-stage game, we have to get through, we have to win that game obviously.”
“We won it, we were 2-0 up then they had one man down. We still had our chances – in the end it looks like we cannot play against 10 men but we had massive chances. We didn’t score any more but we had massive chances, bigger chances probably than the ones we scored off. So that was all fine. If you score them then it’s nicer, of course, and sounds much more spectacular. But we controlled the game, they had one goal, a deflected one, which was then disallowed so it was good defending actually, the set-piece, that he was offside.
“That was all good but of course then Bobby out, that’s not good, and that’s why I said ‘nearly perfect’. But a night like this, with the quality and the strengths that Atletico can provide if they are on top of their game, then I have to say we really didn’t allow them and that’s the most important thing in a game like this. That was really class and that is why I was so pleased with the performance; we played better games, we played for longer periods really good, but for that night in these circumstances, it was really, really good.”
The attention then shifted to West Ham manager David Moyes, who was praised a lot by Klopp for his impact with the London club. Asked how impressed he has been with West Ham this season and David Moyes reaching 1,000 games in management, Klopp said, “And he [Moyes] gets better and better and better, how I see it. That’s possible obviously; even after 999 games you can have still space for improvement and Moyesy, I don’t know if he reinvented himself again or whatever, I don’t know him long enough for that obviously, but it’s absolutely incredible.”
“Honestly, it is really good what West Ham are doing and I think everyone who watches them sees that. That’s a high-energy team, a counter-pressing team, they have counter-attacking but playing as well. There were always moments in the past when you played West Ham they defended deep and we had to be really aware of set-pieces and counter-attacks. Now, it’s a full package, an absolute full package and they are rightly so really high in the table and are top of the table in their Europa League group as well. I watched the game last night completely and Genk did obviously a good job; they were nasty, they were brave, but in the end they were lucky to get a point and with a lot of changes – it was not the ‘first’ line-up we will face on Sunday – they still played how I would consider, meanwhile, West Ham football.
“It was all there, what you need. They could rest then Antonio from a specific moment, Soucek didn’t start. They are in a good moment. It will be a really good game, I’m pretty sure. We are in a good moment, they are in a good moment, that’s how a football game should be before a game. I’m really excited to play it. It will be a tough one, but thank God, for them as well.”
