Jurgen Klopp: The best way to defend is to keep the ball

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has assessed the challenges his side will face against Manchester City. In a high-octane Premier League clash, Man City are set to visit Anfield to face the Reds on Sunday. It’s a clash between the first and second-placed sides in the league table. Pep Guardiola’s side clinched a 1-0 victory at Chelsea last weekend and prevented the hosts from registering a shot on target and had almost 60 per cent of the possession. Klopp was asked how City make it difficult for opponents and what his side have to do at Anfield to avoid similar circumstances. “First and foremost, the best way to defend is to keep the ball, that’s what City are doing pretty well. They have big possession numbers, stuff like that,” Klopp was quoted as saying by the club’s website.

“Then they have an exceptional counter-pressing impulse, which helps as well; if you lose the ball then you win it back pretty early, that helps as well. On top of that, they have different possible organisations obviously. Against us especially, they played, or defended at least, very often in a 4-4-2, even when it was a slightly offensively different system, which helps as well in the specific areas to close an opponent down. On top of that, they have exceptional individual quality in different positions, which helps as well with defending. On top of that, if you don’t have a shot on goal then the goalie is not that massively influential, but if you get through there’s still a world-class goalie.”

‘Main thing I think is to keep the ball as long as possible’

He added: “So, that makes it a really interesting mix, I would say. That’s why City won quite a few Premier League titles and trophies in the last few years – because they are really good. And it’s a clear idea, it’s a clear structure, with some changes from time to time. I’m not 100 per cent sure but I think last year, or the year before, they started defending in a 4-4-2, De Bruyne pushing up, stuff like this. Before that, they didn’t do it like it. Let’s see what they do this year.”

“Not only us have a day or two more to prepare the game, they have it as well so let’s see what Pep is doing. We will see. But the main thing I think is to keep the ball as long as possible, that gives the opposition team no chance to finish any kind of situations off because you don’t have the ball.”

Jurgen Klopp on their attacking force

Liverpool enjoyed a memorable September as they racked up 20 goals in their six matches in all competitions. Their highest tally came in midweek, as they netted five past FC Porto to hand the Reds two wins out of two in Champions League Group B. Speaking about it Klopp said: “It’s a package, it must be the package.”

“The pre-season helped massively, all the players who were involved in the pre-season. That helped so far and it will help in the future in the rest of the season. I spoke plenty of times about how essential it is that we can create a basis and a physical basis as well. That’s what we could [do]. In the moment, apart from Brentford, we are quite stable defensively, which means that’s stable because we work really together as a defensive unit and offensive players defend. If we have to defend deep, we defend deep. If we can press high, we do that high. And all these kinds of things.

“But, to be honest, people told me now that we scored 20 goals in September or whatever – it didn’t feel like. It really doesn’t feel like. I have a lot of chances – and I’m really positive – but I have a lot of chances in my mind which we missed. It’s not about that I want us to score 40 goals or whatever, it’s just that we are not even close to what we think is exactly like it should look. Just take it game by game, play as good as possible on that day, analyse it, use the information we find in the analysis, and carry on.”