GIVE US POINTS IF GAME IS OFF!
Klopp: No sympathy for Ten Hag — and I want the win if protestors force postponement
JURGEN KLOPP has called for Liverpool to be awarded the points if tomorrow night’s match at Manchester United is postponed because of fans’ protests.
Around 10,000 United supporters are planning to march before kick-off against owner Joel Glazer, amidst fears that splinter groups will also try to invade the pitch and block access to Old Trafford.
Last season’s United-Liverpool fixture on April 10 was called off when a big demonstration led to fans clashing with police, while other supporters held up the team bus.
On that occasion the match was rescheduled, with Liverpool winning 4-2, but Klopp feels his side should not be made to squeeze an extra fixture in again when they would be blameless for any cancellation.
‘I really hope it will not happen but if it happens I think we should get the points,’ he said. ‘We have nothing to do with the situation if (United) supporters don’t want the game to happen. We can’t just rearrange the game again and try to fit it in somewhere in an incredibly busy period.’
Liverpool already have 25 games to play before the World Cup in November.
‘We will get United, play the game hopefully and go home,’ said Klopp. ‘I have no idea what could happen. But in a situation like this, the other team should get the points because they have nothing to do with it. We have prepared for the game.’
Leaders of different United fans’ organisations, including the influential 1958 group, are communicating on WhatsApp to avoid the trouble of last season.
Thousands will march from the Tollgate pub close to Old Trafford an hour before the 8pm kick-off and end up at the famous Trinity Statue outside the stadium, which features club legends George Best, Denis Law and Sir Bobby Charlton.
The Glazers have tried to appease fans by entering talks to sell a minority stake in the club and are signing midfielder Casemiro from Real Madrid, after a disastrous start to the season which saw them drop to the bottom of the table with last weekend’s 4-0 defeat at Brentford.
There is widespread opposition to the owners, with the club nearly £500million in debt. British billionaire Sir James Ratcliffe is among those interested in buying United should it be sold.
Klopp, though, does not feel any sympathy for his counterpart Erik ten Hag and revealed he has to plan for a different type of United team every time they change manager.
Ten Hag is the sixth man in the hotseat at Old Trafford since Klopp joined Liverpool, following in the footsteps of Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and interims Michael Carrick and Ralf Rangnick. It has given United’s squad a disjointed look and the German said: ‘All the managers played different — Van Gaal and Mourinho very different. So we have to prepare completely differently. Otherwise it would make me unnecessary as a coach if football always looked the same.
‘Imagine the money Liverpool have saved by not paying all those managers off — I should have said that when I signed my last contract!
‘It’s not necessary to feel sympathy for Ten Hag. If it’s football problems, we have problems. I am not sure you would go to Manchester United and ask them if we have too many injuries.
‘The football world is a sea of sharks. For me to have sympathy will not help or harm them. We all have our problems and that’s it.’
Liverpool have won their last two matches at Old Trafford easily, scoring nine goals.
And if Klopp can complete a hat-trick, he will be the first Liverpool manager since Gerard Houllier to win three times away to United.
They have a lengthy injury list though that includes Thiago Alcantara, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Joel Matip, Curtis Jones and Diogo Jota, but striker Roberto Firmino is fit to return in place of the suspended Darwin Nunez.
United have struggled to adapt to playing out from the back and a lively press. Rangnick abandoned the pressing plan last season, claiming the players could not do it, and there were defensive howlers at Brentford.
Klopp’s own experience was different, with the Liverpool squad seeming to buy into his ‘heavy metal football’ right away.
‘I loved our first game (a 0-0 draw at Spurs),’ he said. ‘We only had two days to recover from an international break, with only one session.
‘For a first impression, it was outstanding. I can still see Adam Lallana flying around and pressing everyone who wore a different shirt. That was really cool.
‘I don’t think we hit the ground running with results. I didn’t read any stuff about us because you don’t have to be fussed by it all when you are focused on work and going for the little steps.
‘My players could probably play good Pep Guardiola football if I could coach it.
‘You could see from pre-season how Ten Hag wants to play. That is clear when you know his Ajax team.
‘But I can’t sit here before we play United and tell them how to do it — it’s not my subject.’