Jurgen Klopp will be expecting his boys to bounce back on Saturday against Watford after losing to Manchester United last weekend.
That defeat cost Liverpool the chance to go second, although with both United and Tottenham in FA Cup action this weekend, Klopp’s side will go third (at least temporarily) if they avoid defeat against Watford.
Despite the disappointment of losing for only the second time in their past 21 league matches, the Reds can take solace and look ahead to the Watford game.
Team and Injury News
When asked for a squad update, Klopp confirmed that Ben Woodburn will not take part when Liverpool host Watford on Saturday in the Premier League.
“Ben Woodburn is out, that’s pretty much all,” Klopp told Liverpoolfc.com.
“It’s still from when he was ill last week. He is still suffering from that, with cramps in his calf and stuff like that. That’s why we have left him out of training. That’s all.”
The defeat at Old Trafford was indeed a bitter pill to swallow but our gaffer is expecting his boys to channelise the anger by getting back to winning ways against the Hornets.
“First of all, [the record is] good news but it doesn’t mean anything, it only means we have to do it again,” Klopp said.
“We expect from ourselves that we win football games, especially if we lost a game like the last one.
“In an ideal world you play three hours later and change your own mood, so we keep that kind of revenge feeling or whatever during the week because we have to and we want to go back immediately to the other side, the winning side.”
He added:
“We were not happy about the result, we were not happy about the performance, but the performance was not as bad as the result.
“Only in a few minutes – seven or eight very decisive minutes – we deserved the result. We can play better than we played even in the good moments of that game and that’s what we have to try.
“In professional sports you need to be a little bit angry to bring your best on the pitch.
“So, we respect the rules but we are [angry], and after a game like this it’s a little bit more. Hopefully we can bring that in the game as well.”
At United last weekend, young right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold received a lot of stick for failing to cope with Marcus Rashford’s pace and agility. But Klopp explained why Alexander-Arnold was not solely responsible for the defeat and instead, praised the defender for his meteoric rise.
“The reason he is playing is not because he is Trent or a Scouser, it’s only because of his quality. That’s why he played,” explained Klopp.
“His quality is obvious and his areas for improvement are obvious as well. That his strength is a little bit more in the offensive part of the position is obvious.
“It can always happen, that’s not a big thing. At his age, he will make mistakes – there is no chance to avoid them constantly.”
Earlier today, the Reds were paired with Manchester City in the quarterfinals of the Champions League, to which Klopp responded:
“I’ve said it before and it’s still the truth, it’s always common in a draw that you’ll get your neighbour, more or less, but to be honest I don’t mind, really.”
“It is exactly like it was before – we take what we’ve got. Now it’s Manchester City, let’s go.
“We’ve lost once and we’ve won once against them in the league – and I don’t think they thought before the best draw they could have got is Liverpool. That’s a sign for us and how strong we can be.
“We are for sure not the favourites in this round, but in the last eight there are not a lot of favourites – maybe two of them, Bayern and Barcelona – but thank God it’s football and nothing is decided.
“We have a few games to play until then, but I am really looking forward to it and we will give it everything.”
It’s time to leave behind the defeat at United and get back to winning ways tomorrow. Watford are a dangerous side; so we just cannot take them lightly.
