Liverpool vs Manchester United: Klopp calls for special performance

Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp has urged his team to deliver a special performance in the upcoming clash against Manchester United at Anfield on Sunday.

The Reds currently lead the Premier League table and are looking to extend their winning streak.

In the corresponding fixture last season, Liverpool secured an emphatic 7-0 victory over Manchester United. However, Klopp emphasized that the historic result and the team’s current form should not influence the upcoming match. He described the 7-0 win as a rare occurrence and stressed that the focus should be on the significance of playing against the historical rival at Anfield.

Klopp highlighted the importance of understanding the situation and called for a special game from his players. He expressed the desire to see the team give their all in the highly anticipated contest.

The Reds have demonstrated resilience in their recent league matches, coming from behind to secure victories. Klopp’s side faced a 4-3 triumph against Fulham and secured a 2-0 win against Sheffield United, with a late 91st-minute winner from Harvey Elliott sealing a 2-1 victory over Crystal Palace.

As Liverpool prepares to face Manchester United, Klopp aims to harness the significance of the fixture, emphasizing the historical rivalry and the unique atmosphere at Anfield. The manager’s call for a special performance underscores the importance of the upcoming game in the context of the intense rivalry between the two clubs.

KLOPP’S PRE-MATCH INTERVIEW 

On the 7-0 win last-season: “The 7-0 we knew on the day was a freakish result that happens once in life pretty much,” he said during his pre-match press conference.

“And if it helps anybody for the next game, it’s the team who lost 7-0 and not the team who won 7-0, that’s another thing. If you take it all out of consideration then we just play a football game against the rival, the historical rival, of Liverpool FC, at home at Anfield.

“That itself must make it a special game and that’s what I want to see from us: a special game. Really understand the situation and give your all – that’s all I need.”

READ ALSO: Liverpool go top of the Premier League with victory over Crystal Palace

The mentality behind recent Liverpool late-comebacks: “Yeah, it came rather from that [comeback victories].

“I knew at the beginning [of the season] we have a really good football team. We brought a really good few boys, and actually the boys who were here we all knew how good they can be. So that was obvious from pretty early.

“But what is that? Tell me one Premier League squad who is not good, that is just existing. Especially if you fight for the top four, they are all outstanding so that’s what you have to be.

“These experiences, we said it when it happened early, early in the season; we had a good pre-season, a long pre-season and we didn’t train once 10v11 and had to play it pretty much for the first five games all the time! We did that really well and yeah, that brings a group together obviously.

“That helps the process definitely if you get through it. If you don’t get through it, it’s the opposite actually. But we got through this and that was extremely helpful.

“It’s now a while ago, we know each other much better. It’s still new but we know each other much better and the steps we make I like. Will they always be big enough? I don’t know yet, we have to see that.

“But so far I can see development, and that’s actually what I need to understand where it could end up. But that’s not possible in the moment because of the things I said before.”

On whether this Liverpool team has fully showed its true capabilities yet: “Oh yes, in moments definitely.

“What is the real capability? Is it what you can do in the moment? Or is it what you can do in three or four years of working together? For what we can do in the moment, we saw it in moments.

“And we saw the problems as well. That’s clear when you have a new group together, and it is a new group: new players and different roles for other players, that’s how it is. It’s always clear that it needs time to find some stability, that’s what we lacked in moments. That’s the truth.

“But in the end so far it worked out somehow and we have to make sure that we keep improving, even in the most difficult moments. We were not as a group in this tough period [yet]. We never had a December together, let me say it like that, and a December in English football is the toughest month ever. And that’s where we now have to show how far we are with that.

“I know when in early December you are top of the table people start thinking about different things; we obviously don’t. I’m at least too long in the business that it would mean anything to me.

“It’s better than being 18th or 20th but it’s still just a position for the moment and we have to keep working extremely hard and that is so difficult when you don’t have real time for recovery, but you have to do it anyway.”

WHEN AND WHERE IS LIVERPOOL FC VS MANCHESTER UNITED MATCH TAKING PLACE 

What represents one of the keenest rivalries in the world football will go down on Sunday, December 17, 2023 at Anfield Stadium by 17:00hrs.