Klopp’s ‘Rocky’ Reds ready to enjoy Premier League ride
Jurgen Klopp says Liverpool will “enjoy the ride” during one of the most fiercely contested title races football and embrace their status as English Premier League pacesetters.
Klopp may characterise his club as Rocky Balboa underdogs, but his hunters have become the hunted. It far from being decisive, yet significant enough to reaffirm the team’s credentials.
“There is no pressure, I don’t see the pressure,” said Klopp. “If I saw someone in a pre-match interview asking a player about May, I would take the microphone and throw it somewhere. We have to play football, not think about what we can do in the summer.
“All the games are very difficult and just because we won a few of them doesn’t mean it was easy. It wasn’t. They all need all our focus. If we are not first in the table on January 3, for example, then we would probably have lost a game. Does that mean that everything we have done so far is s***?
“If we lose a game one day and everybody immediately starts saying we showed we cannot deal with the pressure, there are still 17 games to go or whatever. If you are excited, good. There is no extra pressure on us because of a four-point gap.
“Why should you even think about it? Why should you think before you’ve won something that you may win something?
“When you saw Tottenham [against Everton], with all the things people are saying about us and Man City, how can anyone forget Tottenham? That was impressive.”
The Liverpool manager says despite the club’s record-breaking first half of the campaign, they must improve.
“For the second half of the season, yes we are [greedy],” said Klopp. “We smelled a bit of how it could be last season. We were close a few times. We are not silly. We know we are not bad and can go there so let’s try it again, let’s try to be as successful as possible.
“Nobody here is used to dealing with the success of Liverpool but a lot of people feel for this club. Somebody already asked me after the Wolves game: ‘Is it yours to lose?’ He asked me that! Wow!”