Jurgen Klopp admitted he couldn’t wrap his head around how things could be so wrong at Manchester United after Erik ten Hag secured the manager of the month award for November.
He went on to refute suggestions that prior big results secured against the Red Devils would only help Liverpool’s opponents heading into the tie at Anfield.
“I never like when the headlines about United are not great before we play because then it is the game where they can put everything right,” the 56-year-old was quoted as saying by BBC Sport.
“I don’t follow United closely enough to know what’s the problem there. But I saw Erik ten Hag became manager of the month last month, I saw they were the team in form last month. How can it be all wrong? I just don’t understand it.
“The 7-0 we knew on the day was a freakish result that happens once in a lifetime pretty much. If it helps anybody for the next game, it’s the team who lost 7-0 and not the team who won.”
The Merseysiders could go 13 points clear of their upcoming opponents in the league table with a win this afternoon, though that’s of little importance to Klopp.
“There is one thing we go for and that’s three points on a matchday. If something helps motivation and it was four matchdays before the end of the season and with that we could make the last step, I would probably mention it,” the German added. “But in this situation that’s just not important. The situation of Manchester United is just not important to us.”
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The real league impact
Of far greater significance would be how three points potentially secured against United shapes the top four.
A six-point gap to Manchester City would emerge following their surprise 2-2 draw at home to Crystal Palace.
If we could follow that up with another victory against fellow title rivals Arsenal then we’d be in a truly positive position come Christmas.
Jurgen Klopp has a point: Liverpool should be treating this upcoming tie as just three points and be doing everything in their power to ensure they remain entirely in Merseyside.
#Ep97 of The Empire of the Kop Podcast: EOTK Insider with Neil Jones🎙️