We don’t expect Liverpool to play much better than they did yesterday versus Manchester City, but rather excitingly, Jurgen Klopp does…
His side battered the best team in the country 4-1, firing us up to 9th. More importantly though, we’re only eight points off top and have a nice, clean run of fixtures from now until 2016. (Saying that, it’d be nice to play Manchester City every week, actually…)
However, the German is adamant we can do better, citing the defensive lapses in concentration and inability to finish some chances as areas for improvement.
“It was very satisfying, but whether it is was the best [performance] I am not sure. I rarely compare games,” Klopp told the official website.
“Tonight was very good, but it was not perfect because we can defend better and stay in the game better when we have a 3-0 lead.
“But when you win 4-1 against Man City it should be a very good performance – and it was very good. It was deserved.
“What we try to do is to analyse the opponent and see what their biggest strength is and things we can do that they don’t feel confident [defending against] then we try to do it,” Klopp said, when quizzed about the tactical setup.
“It’s a very important thing in football and the better your opponent is the more important it gets that you do things like this.
“Manchester City were top of the table, so at this moment are the best team in England. We had to try to find some ways to cause them problems and that’s what we did.
“The next point is, if you win a ball [high up the pitch], then it’s not the longest way in the right direction and that’s very important of course. We try to do similar things but not always the same.”
Klopp now has to pick a side to face French outfit Bordeaux on Thursday, before planning to host Swansea at Anfield at the weekend.
We’ve been exceptional away from home so far under the German, so the Anfield tie will be just as important as the Etihad romp.
Swansea are under pressure, and it’s up to Liverpool to now give the home support the kind of performance the travelling bunch got to see.