Liverpool press conference IN FULL: Jurgen Klopp on Everton derby, Thiago injury, Jota in contention, Van Dijk update, Wolves response

Liverpool press conference FULL: Jurgen Klopp on Everton derby, Thiago injury, Jota in contention, Van Dijk update, Wolves reaction

Liverpool face Everton in the Merseyside derby on Monday, but things are not going well at Anfield.

The Reds are currently tenth in the Premier League and have exited the FA Cup, while also dealing with multiple injury woes.

Jurgen Klopp has faced some tough questions as the 2019/20 Premier League champions slip further and further away from the top four.

Things came to a head last week after a 3-0 defeat at Wolves left Liverpool winless in four league games as the German refused to answer a reporter’s question.

And ahead of a big duel with the revived Toffees, Klopp spoke about injuries, the form of his team, the signing of Sean Dyche and Jordan Henderson. Here are all the words from Klopp’s pre-match press conference.

Financial burden against Man City

“I have absolutely nothing to say about it.”

injuries

“The players have returned to training in different stages. Diogo (Jota) is the closest, he has been training for two days now. Three more days of training and then he’ll be battling for the team, I’d say.

“Bobby (Roberto Firmino), next, but I don’t know. We’ll have to see how it handles training intensity. similar Arthur. We must see. Virgil (Van Dijk), I don’t think it’s that close, but we’ll work on it.

“Thiago has some problems with his hip flexors like this, so he hasn’t been able to train.”

Dyche and Everton

“They are a very compact team. Very good on the counterattack and on set pieces he will be very dangerous.

“And you saw it in the last game. It was nice. Arsenal dominated but in the end Everton had great chances before scoring and could have scored at other times too, so we’re preparing for the squad we saw against Arsenal.

Reaction to the defeat of the wolves

“All the signs are there, but when I say it, I know people at home will say ‘yes, but show it on Monday’. We say exactly the same thing: show it on Monday. “But the training so far has been really good. the aggression is there. the determination is there. the focus is there. the focus is there. the intensity is there. Very good week so far.

The derby itself

“Intensity is an important part of the game. We’ll let you know before the game. We know it’s a tough game, Sean Dyche is there and had an immediate impact. That’s obvious. “It often happened that Everton could solve a lot of problems just by beating us, and for us it was just another game where we desperately needed three points. But now we have to show a reaction and I know our people want me to see him. We have to prove it.

“This is not a moment or a situation we want to be in, but it is a moment where we can show that the club is truly special. The guys delivered a lot of good times.

“I really think the better you perform in the lower moments, the quicker you get into the better moments and the more successful you are and I’m really looking forward to having a derby atmosphere and a real, real game of soccer.

“I left on Sunday in an average mood and came back in a good mood.”

deal with the press

Jurgen Klopp

“It’s very easy to have press conferences as soon as possible because we don’t ask important questions and we laugh together, it’s nice.

“If it’s not going well, you can’t explain the same mistakes in the same way, so it’s really not easy and you (journalists) can’t deal with it because some of you are making mistakes. Huge things from what I say.

“I have to be careful because I don’t want that and that’s why it’s so hard to talk all the time. “I can explain absolutely everything in football, but you can’t, but we have another game ahead of us which means we have a chance for a better result and a much easier press conference.”

Jordan Henderson out

“That’s a lot (Klopp in response to Henderson having made 91 starts for club and country since the start of last season), absolutely.

“People don’t want to hear that stuff, but there has to be a reason for some of the things we’ve done this season. You don’t become a bad person overnight.

“It’s not that we’ve lost the football brain and don’t know the game anymore. There are physical things that are clear. “They all look incredibly fresh this week. It’s the truth. The workouts were really good. Super intense.

“So 91 games (for Henderson) but 92nd could be really good. “I don’t understand why we’re talking about a player. Everyone knows how much I respect him, but he’s not a player. Henderson is not our problem, never was and never will be.”

“When he’s ready and in good shape, he plays 98% of the matches or something like that. He’s played all these matches because he’s a very, very important player for us. No other reason. When he’s not playing, you miss him. Very easily.”

Days off after Wolves defeat

“We played badly at Wolverhampton and the next day we arrived and had two days off. We talked to each other and then we gave them two days off because there is a very long time between Saturday and Monday.

“Of course, I could have said: ‘Training on Sunday and then from Monday we go’.

“It wouldn’t have been helpful at all. It would have been bad. It would have caused injuries. It would have caused a lot of problems and honestly after talking about everything I thought it made sense if we didn’t. didn’t see for two days and it was helpful.

“I left on Sunday in an average mood and came back in a good mood.”