Jurgen Klopp, the manager of Liverpool, believes there were encouraging signs against Man City before the second half of the Premier League season
Liverpool has faced numerous challenges throughout an already challenging season, including injuries, suspensions, losing their form, integrating new players, and unpredictability behind the scenes
The diversion, however, over which they had no control, has now vanished. And now that the World Cup has ended, Jurgen Klopp is eager to go to work on getting Liverpool back to the top of the Premier League
After a warm-weather training camp in Dubai, the Reds will continue their Premier League campaign Thursday evening at Aston Villa in an effort to close the seven-point deficit to the top four
Even though they lost 3-2 to Manchester City on Thursday, ending their run as Carabao Cup champions, Klopp is far more optimistic now than he was at the beginning of the season
The Reds manager explains, “All the indicators I got in the Dubai training camp were incredibly positive. I noticed a lot of promising indicators (against City)
“If you want to be extremely harsh, there were times when we could have performed better. But we must remember the role we played. It was a surprisingly good game, and I have faith in our procedures and our work. I don’t see any reason not to be optimistic if every indication you receive is positive
“Pre-season was very different than this. entirely different Even though we lost to Lyon (3-1 in a friendly), all the games I watched showed that we were making progress. AC Milan was excellent in every facet of the game, and Liverpool defeated them 4-1. Instead of starting again at the beginning of the season, I am certain that we can continue where we left off
With a game remaining, Liverpool, who had won their previous four games, resumes play 15 points behind league-leading Arsenal. With two games remaining in January of the previous season, they were 14 points behind Manchester City before eventually reducing the gap to just one point
And while Klopp is optimistic his squad can have a significantly better second half of the season, he acknowledges that the long-term injuries to Luis Diaz and Diogo Jota have transformed the situation from the previous year
It was different, but he adds, “As long as we have a chance, we’ll attempt to do it.” “Yes, to be honest, we were prepared at the time to try it properly, and in my opinion, nothing changed. Clearly, circumstances changed
“We have two long-term injuries up front, which is not helpful, has never been helpful, and will never be helpful, but I don’t want to talk about it right now. Everyone would agree that the addition of Luis Diaz during that period of the previous season, which was really useful, was a positive development. But why not try something new that is incredibly constructive?”
Not just Diaz nor Jota will be missing from Villa Park. While Arthur Melo is still out, James Milner and Roberto Firmino joined the duo this week with hamstring and calf injuries, respectively. Ibrahima Konate, who played for France in the World Cup Finals, returned to the AXA Training Center on Tuesday. Curtis Jones is scheduled to start training again next week
Alisson Becker and Virgil van Dijk will be available for the Reds for the first time following their return from Qatar, and Trent Alexander-Arnold is anticipated to be healthy following the illness that forced him to miss City’s match and had an impact on a number of other players and coaching staff
Emiliano Martinez, the World Cup MVP for Argentina, is still on a post-tournament break, second-choice Robin Olsen is questionable for the match, and Jed Steer has just made his comeback from injury, thus Villa could be in a goalkeeping dilemma. Filip Marshcall, a 19-year-old who participated in a friendly loss to Everton by a score of 2-0 on Wednesday, may get a chance as a result
With some of his actions during the penalty shootout in the championship match versus France and the ensuing celebrations, Martinez courted controversy. Klopp, meanwhile, would rather celebrate Lionel Messi’s 35 years as a talisman and the example he keeps setting.
The Reds manager said, “Nothing to say about that (the Martinez discussion), congratulations on winning the World Cup.” “It was really well deserved; it was a difficult game, and after 80 minutes, it was the best final I had ever seen. It was truly exceptional.
Leave a Reply