Jurgen Klopp reveals Liverpool friendly after the Fulham clash

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp claims that the club has decided to schedule an additional friendly fixture in order to get his players ready for the new Premier League season.

The Red’s preseason campaign in Austria came to an end on Wednesday night with a 1-0 loss to Red Bull Salzburg. The Anfield side are now preparing for their Community Shield match against Manchester City at Leicester’s King Power Stadium on Saturday before opening their Premier League campaign on August 6 against Fulham at Craven Cottage.

The club will have a match on Sunday at Anfield as they play host to French team Strasbourg. However, according to Klopp, his team’s impending calendar of fixtures is so demanding that further fine-tuning is necessary. As a result, the day following the Fulham game will feature another friendly, possibly against Aston Villa.

For many years, Klopp has been outspoken in his criticism of the fixture list, subjecting broadcasters and governing authorities to intense fire. The German was more direct when discussing the Community Shield match, which he regards well but would rather want that fixture to be played at a different time.

Klopp revealed that the club would look into the possibility of planning for an additional fixture to keep up the level of preparations. Speaking at a press conference (h/t The Metro), the German manager said:

“We have to extend our pre-season, if you want, into the season. We play on Saturday against City and we play on Sunday a pre-season test game, whatever, against Strasbourg. Then we play Fulham and the next day we play another game, just that we can extend our pre-season, that’s what we have to do.”

Liverpool’s match against Salzburg saw a primarily reserved side make up the starting XI. Eventually, the big guns came on for the final 30 minutes by Jurgen Klopp. Benjamin Šeško’s first-half goal gave his team the lead, but they were unable to tie it up despite having enough chances of their own.

A significant indication of Klopp’s starting XI for the match against the Citizens would be found in the group of players who finished the game against Salzburg. Alisson’s injury forced Adrian to start in front of goal, and the defence included Andy Robertson, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Joel Matip, and Virgil van Dijk.

The front three were Luis Diaz, Mohamed Salah, and Roberto Firmino, with Thiago, Jordan Henderson, and Fabinho in the middle. This would be a possible line-up against Pep Guardiola’s side if there are no more unfortunate injuries.

With a trip to Fulham on August 6 and a visit from Crystal Palace on August 15, Liverpool do have an appreicable gap between their first and second Premier League games of the season. Then, on August 22, Klopp’s men would travel to Old Trafford to play Erik ten Hag’s Manchester United in a crucial early-season fixture.

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The fans would hope that the Reds would be prepared on time for their first league match and that the new fixture would help the players to be on their toes during the pulsating season.