OUR BEST IS YET TO COME VOWS KLOPP
Gini: Players aren’t getting carried away by title charge
FROM BACK PAGE have yet to play to their full potential this season.
He said: “There are a lot of really good parts but was there a game where I thought ‘It is not possible for us to be better’? No. Not yet.
“We have to improve in pretty much everything. There is a lot to come.”
City boss Pep Guardiola tried to pile the pressure on Liverpool by saying the league leaders always feel the heat but Klopp shrugged off those claims.
When asked about Guardiola’s pressure talk, Klopp said: “I don’t feel like a leader, we don’t feel like leaders. The difference comes when it gets really exciting, when you have five games to go and you are six or seven points ahead or seven points behind. Then it is normal for the pressure to be on but right now it is much too early.
“If we lose a game people will immediately say it is slipping through our fingers again but that’s just not the situation.
“We were not the hunters and now we are not the hunted. We are just a football team who want to play the best season of our lives.
“We want to qualify for the Champions League and so far we have created a basis for that.” TO many, this season’s title race is the most compelling, gripping contest the Premier League has witnessed in an age.
To Liverpool, you only have to listen to Gini Wijnaldum tell a story about his team-mates that suggests they’re not so caught up in it just yet.
After stretching the gap at the top to six points with a controlled win over Newcastle, he was asked how the squad are managing to contain their excitement. The Dutchman said: “When we played Wolves away a lot of the players didn’t even know who City or Tottenham were playing.
“We were just focused on our own game and trying to get the most out of that one. That is why it goes so well. We are only focused on the things we can control.”
That blinkered obsession with staying with the plan comes from the top. It is Jurgen Klopp’s mantra – his side can’t control what Manchester City or Spurs do, but they can do everything right themselves.
The manager may come across as a nice guy, but there is a tough streak which keeps the players in line.
Wijnaldum said: “If you are maybe less focused than normal, then Jurgen will tell you directly that there is no space for doing less or enjoying things too much. He says keep both feet on the ground.
“Sometimes, you can feel the excitement. Against Newcastle, I had no idea about the singing but I knew something was happening when City were losing 2-1.”
Klopp instils a perfectionist mentality within his side, demanding professionalism at all times, and it extends to respect for the teammates and the squad process.
If there has been a secret to the success so far, it is a stealthy rotation, especially in midfield and defence, which has seen big summer signings Fabinho and Naby Keita sit out games and even skipper Jordan Henderson benched. Wijnaldum admits it can be painful, but he explains the players genuinely want each other to succeed. “Sometimes it is a decision you don’t like, but up to now it’s been going well,” he said.
“The way we play with high intensity, you can’t play every game, so you have to use the squad, especially around this time of year.
“People get a rest when they need one and the level stays the same.”
So it is one game at a time for Liverpool, but Wijnaldum sees that as an advantage, based on his experience winning the Dutch title with PSV Eindhoven.
The Reds face Arsenal this evening, then City on Thursday, and he recalled: “We played a lot of times on a Saturday and Ajax played on a Sunday and we always put the pressure on them.
“What we also did was just concentrate on our own things. The team was always focused for the title.” Mo Salah to score and assist