IT’S KOP FINALS!

Reds boss Jurg tells troops to attack push for top four

JURGEN KLOPP has urged his Liverpool players to treat every game like a cup final.

The champions could still salvage a season that’s probably seen them hand the title back to Manchester City and get dumped out of the Champions League, by making a late charge for the top four. And Kop boss Klopp has ordered them to attack their final seven games as he prepares to face a Leeds side that won at table-topping City last weekend despite having a player sent off.

The German said: “We have seven finals and we’ll only know at the end how many points we will need to make it happen.

“We should not waste time, we really have to go for it. That’s the situation we are in.

“Two or three weeks ago it looked like Leicester, West Ham and Chelsea were all away from us.

“But now we have nine points from three games and we are in a good moment. Yes, we are under pressure like no one can imagine.

“But we have also put some pressure on the teams above us and we have to keep doing that.

“We just have to go for it. We must play our best football and then we will be okay.”

Klopp added: “We should not forget the opponents we face. “We won the last three and that’s why we’re still around, still in the fight for the Champions League spots. “It’s clear we have to win football games.

“It would be best to win all of them but they are tough opponents and we have to respect them.” Liverpool edged out Leeds in a seven-goal thriller at Anfield on the opening day of the campaign.

Klopp is a huge admirer of the job Marcelo Bielsa is doing at Elland Road. And he has pinpointed striker Patrick Bamford as a threat his team must contain.

Klopp said: “What a player Bamford is. I remember hearing on the radio before the start of the season that Leeds needed a proper goalscorer because Bamford was not good enough.

“I am so happy he has proved them wrong. He is an exceptional player.

“He is perfect, his work-rate is outstanding, but on top of that he still plays good football and scores goals.

“That is rare. I have a lot of interesting players but I really like Bamford.”

Klopp also singled out the win at The Etihad as a demonstration of Leeds’ fighting spirit and determination.

He said: “Because of an early red card it wasn’t exactly how they usually play.

“They could have conceded seven, eight or nine – but they didn’t.

“From a passion point of view they played an exceptional game.

“They never gave up, they worked their socks off and even with 10-men they were able to counter-attack. They showed what is possible in football and they deserved it.”

The Liverpool boss revealed long-term injury absentees Joe Gomez, Virgil van Dijk, Jordan Henderson and Joel Matip are making solid progress in their rehabilitation programmes at the club’s training ground.

“They all are on track,” he said. “Joe is outside running now and doing all those kind of things, which is always a big step after every injury.

“He looks fine when he is running, no real reaction in the knee, which is very important.

“It obviously still takes time but he’s in a good way – like Virg, Joel and Hendo are too.”