Klopp warning as Liverpool visit happy hunting ground

JURGEN KLOPP has warned his players to forget past conquests and brace themselves for a searching examination as they return to one of their lucky stadiums. Porto has been a happy hunting ground for Klopp, who oversaw 5-0 and 4-1 victories at the Estadio do Dragao in February 2018 and April 2019 respectively. Both wins propelled Liverpool towards appearances in the Champions League final. Liverpool have played Porto eight times in Europe and are yet to be beaten by them, but Klopp is not being lulled into a false sense that his team will again be so dominant. They may have made a promising start to the campaign but the three goals conceded at Brentford on Saturday were enough to provide a reminder that they are far from perfect. Klopp is demanding maximum intensity in Portugal. ‘It’s not an advantage at all that we won the last two games there,’ said Klopp. ‘You only have to put yourself in the position of the opponent and the first thing you would want to do is make sure a similar thing doesn’t happen again. ‘That doesn’t make our job easier for sure, but it’s not about that. We don’t think about the last two games, we think about this one. They have different options and we have to be ready, but we don’t have a lot of time.’ Klopp usually conducts a rigorous day-of-game training session, during which he goes through team shape and works on set pieces, but he is not sure that will be possible on this occasion so yesterday was spent at their Kirkby base trying to iron out faults that were evident at Brentford. Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson insisted the team as a whole was culpable for the three goals conceded in London, not just the back four, and Klopp noted improvements can be made all over to tighten his team up. ‘It’s not much of a concern (conceding three goals) because

I don’t think you should make these things bigger than they are,’ said Klopp, who also revealed he has added Trent Alexander-Arnold, Andrew Robertson and goalkeeper Alisson to Liverpool’s leadership group. They will provide back up to Henderson, vice-captain James Milner and Virgil van Dijk. ‘But we have to show a reaction. It’s really tricky to win a game when you are not defending on your highest level. ‘The common opinion is it’s only about the last line but we had a problem in general with our defending. That’s why Brentford caused us problems. Porto is a different team obviously and will play a different style but they will go direct as well.’ They will go direct and they will go with determination, as Diogo Jota (left) — a former Porto player — also made clear. It is almost a year to the day since he scored his first Liverpool goal and he has become an important player for Klopp since his £43million switch from Wolves. Jota, like his manager, was diplomatic about Sergio Conceicao’s team, but if Liverpool click they should preserve their unbeaten start in the Champions League, ahead of the double-header against Atletico Madrid. ‘I know those two results (against Liverpool) weren’t good,’ said Jota. ‘But they didn’t show the real difference in the teams. Usually playing at the Dragao is never easy for away teams. If we let ourselves go there and think about those results, we will be struggling.’