Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp claims a 7-0 humiliation from last season will “help” Manchester United as they prepare for a return to Anfield.
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Red Devils hammered on last visit to MerseysideDesperate to avoid a repeat in 2023-24Arch-rivals top of the Premier League tableWHAT HAPPENED?
The Red Devils, who are a little out of sorts at present, are due to make the short trip to Merseyside on Sunday. They will do so with painful memories proving difficult to shake. United suffered the most humbling of defeats at the hands of their arch-rivals back in March, but Klopp believes that should help to sharpen concentration within a squad that is determined to avoid putting in another horror show.
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Klopp has said of the impact a crushing 7-0 win from nine months ago will have on events in the present: “The 7-0 we knew on the day was a freakish result that happens once in life pretty much. 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.”
THE BIGGER PICTURE
Liverpool head into their meeting with United sat at the top of the Premier League table, with Klopp saying when asked if his class of 2023-24 have shown their 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.”
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While United have injuries and suspensions to contend with heading into another crunch English top-flight clash, Liverpool had the luxury of being able to rest and rotate for their midweek Europa League date with Union Saint-Gilloise – with Alexis Mac Allister, Joel Matip, Diogo Jota and Andy Robertson among those currently unavailable for the Reds.