Klopp: We're a real four-ce
JURGEN KLOPP is ready to use his Fab Four in Moscow tonight after urging Liverpool to write a new chapter in their Champions League history. The Anfield boss has the option of selecting Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino and Philippe Coutinho in his starting 11 for the first time in a competitive game. After being held at home by Sevilla, Klopp (left) wants his men to spark their Group E bid with a victory against the Russian champions. “Now I am excited,” he said. “We have all of the boys here. It is good to have them all, it
is cool. It feels good, but that doesn’t mean anything.
“I don’t believe in names, I believe in performances. They all have to fit together and that is what we have to try.
“The balance has to be right. We are an offensive-orientated team, but this is about Champions League football. We need results.
“In the right moments, you need to be able to do the right things. It is not about being spectacular, it is about being good, and being clinical, and having perfect timing and perfect protection.
“We cannot just bring all the artists but if it fits together, we will do it.”
Forge
Liverpool are England’s most successful club in Europe with five European Cups and three UEFA Cups.
But their recent record of only three wins in their last 13 games in Europe’s senior competition is hardly one to send shudders around the continent.
Klopp wants his squad to respectfully forget the club’s past and forge a new era of European success.
“Records like that are a problem when people can remember them,” he said.
“It is a number, nothing else. We are not the same team, only the same name. In the past a lot of teams won the Champions League and then had no chance for the next five, six, 10 years. Things change.
“We had to start new, that is clear, but we’re ready for the Champions League.”
With Klopp continuing to use different keepers in different competitions, Loris Karius has re-stated his determination to become the undisputed No.1 ahead of rivals Simon Mignolet and Danny Ward.
He believes he is a better player for a difficult debut season in the Premier League after his move from the Bundesliga.
“There were a couple of experts that said a couple of things but that is their job,” he said. “You can’t worry about that as a player too much.
“You learn from the negative things and it can help you if you use it in the right way.
“I don’t want to put it on certain people. I think it was more an injury at the beginning. I wasn’t 100 per cent ready when I came back.
“I was new to the club and I was ready to go straight away after signing.
“But as a team we didn’t play well for a couple of games and on top of that I had two bad performances.
“Then all that comes together. I didn’t expect it to echo that much but it happens. You can’t change it.
“On top of being excited to play in the competition, I’d be lying if I didn’t see this as a big chance to get into the Premier League team as well.”