Liverpool vs Chelsea - Carabao Cup (3rd Round)

[Mark79]

It helps if you open the article
It is actually as much about Fabinho as Solanke. It’s just the Tweet link always takes the first line of the article.

[Assassin]

That's not Solanke!

He's looking Fab

[Les Zeffelin]

[brightred]

Ughhhhh I thought this was today and was really looking forward to it ...

It's today now!

[Liverpool]

20th time we've played them in a cup in 13 years. Sick.of them

[Yozza]

Klopp on Fabinho's learning process, squad depth and Chelsea

Jürgen Klopp discussed a range of subjects during the second part of his pre-Chelsea press conference at Melwood on Tuesday.

Liverpool begin their quest for Carabao Cup success by hosting their fellow Premier League side – who are also unbeaten so far this season – in a third-round tie at Anfield.

The Reds boss refused to give much away about his possible team selection for Wednesday’s fixture but insisted the game represents an opportunity for whichever players are involved against Maurizio Sarri’s men.

Klopp also explained the adaptation process being undertaken by Fabinho – and new signings in general – and reiterated his commitment to taking the competition seriously.

Read on for a summary…

On Sarri saying Liverpool are ‘ahead’ of Chelsea…

He is right – only that we worked longer together. That’s why I said it is quite impressive what he did in that short period. I don’t see the big difference in development. They developed a lot, they changed a lot. They were very successful with [Antonio] Conte, it was a really successful time; last year was maybe a bit of a difficult year. So, changing it that much is cool. So, he’s right, we worked longer together, but obviously he doesn’t need the same amount of time as I do! It’s impressive, I cannot say differently, it’s really impressive what he did so far.

On his summer signings making it easier to change his team…

We lost very important players for us during the summer – we had to replace them and we did. We always had a really good squad when we had not a lot of injuries. Then we had a lot of injuries and the squad didn’t look that good anymore because all the other players had to play all the time. In the moment, we are in quite a good moment. If they can all carry on training like they do, pushing each other and all that stuff, then we are ready for more than one competition, which we actually have to be. There are always only two in a week, there are not three competitions in one week. You have to play the Premier League always and then one of the other competitions. It depends on us how long we will play them. From this perspective, in the moment, I would say as long as possible but how long it is possible I don’t know.

On a possible chance for players to take an opportunity against Chelsea…

Football players are used to that. Playing a game with 50 per cent would be a waste of time and would not make too much sense. But I don’t put pressure on each player that plays tomorrow, I really see it as an opportunity. If we make changes then it’s an opportunity; if not, it’s an opportunity anyway. The boys have to prove themselves constantly. You have to show you’re ready for each competition and each game. So far, that has pleased me most – the impact of the boys that came in.

Joel [Matip] was brilliant [on Saturday], he did fantastic. I don’t know when he played his last competitive game. [Xherdan] Shaqiri, of course, and all the guys who came in were really good. That’s so important to us. I want to see a really good football game tomorrow and I want us to win the game. That’s how we try to make the line-up, that’s all I can say about that. The pressure is already there; if you don’t perform then it’s quite difficult to improve your situation. But the situation of nobody in this team in the moment is bad. They are all in a good situation. Maybe they are not in the squad but it doesn’t mean they train badly. I couldn’t name one player in the moment who is not training on his highest level. That’s the best thing to say. In the end, as long as they do that, nobody is in a bad situation. They are all close or in – nobody is out.

On what Fabinho has had to learn to adapt to Liverpool…

It’s not different between him and other players. It’s really not complicated, only you need to get used to it. It’s about positioning, it’s about reaction, it’s about spaces – defensively, closing them; offensively, use them. It’s a football team with a specific way of playing. That always needs time and they were all used to other football teams. So, you have natural runs in a team. A very famous movement at Liverpool was Phil Coutinho: half-left, inside, nice shot. For this one, to make it really difficult to defend, you needed somebody for overlapping so that one defender is busy. Things like that, only to explain a little bit. That’s completely normal. It’s always different but it will happen because it’s not really difficult, it’s only because the game is so quick and so intense, it needs to get natural. At the end, it’s not about changing these players or changing their football personality. They are here because they did what they did. But now we have to work on that it fits. Three, four, five weeks only in football sounds like a really long period. Otherwise, you would always say to improve something give it half a year or whatever to really make the next step in your career. That’s it, nothing else.

On the importance placed on the competition…

Of a lot of things you have no clue about when you first come to a country, one of them is that people judge cup competitions before you play them. I think my first cup game was Bournemouth. Everybody [in the media] told me you play the kids or whatever. You have a competitive game and you play the kids? It’s nice to play the kids but I cannot play all of them. We had to adapt to that, I was never interested in that. We have a situation and we have plenty of games, so make a decision because of the situation, not of the competition. We always think about how the opponent will line up, that’s always something we have in our mind.

It’s never the competition and we say, ‘It’s only the League Cup’. The final is at Wembley and I remember when we were there – we wanted to win it, really. We were close but we didn’t. So we will try again. But it’s not about judging the silverware that is more important. You cannot do it like that. What we have to do is to always be at 100 per cent concentration, focus and rhythm. Don’t think about where it leads to. If I see one player tomorrow who goes into the game and I have the feeling that he thinks it’s only the League Cup, then he could have a real problem. But I know there will be no player. I don’t think so, the players don’t think so. Tomorrow night is a football game at a sold-out Anfield so we will be there with all we have. That’s all we’re thinking about. Then, if we go to the next round, then we’ll play that game again with all we have. That’s the only way I know.

[Shaggy]

[ame]https://twitter.com/LFC/status/1045002205349203968[/ame]

[Gray]

Cool, looking forward to this

[chadrtc]

https://twitter.com/LFC/status/1045002205349203968

Our squad is strong!

[Kenneth]

Good to see that lovren is fit.

[Assassin]

I remember the days when that back 5 was our best back 5

[dom9]

Surprised Solanke isn't starting. Origi still injured?

[Shaggy]

[ame]https://twitter.com/ChelseaFC/status/1045006406515118085[/ame]

[dom9]

Two strong teams.

The League Cup is undergoing a renaissance.

[Roboklopp]

Ain’t my ****in Chelsea team.