Klopp speaks on Liverpool vs United, Ferguson, Rashford/Mourinho penalty talk, Fernandes, Anfield milestone

LIVERPOOL will not be bothered by Manchester United’s position in the Premier League table when the two teams clash at Anfield on Sunday, Jurgen Klopp has claimed.

United are on top of the table, three points ahead of their fierce rivals in second place, but Liverpool manager Klopp insists that his players do not have extra motivation for the match.

“Winning a football game and winning against United is enough itself, so it’s not necessary that there’s a special add-on,” Klopp said during his pre-match press conference on Friday.

“We play at home against United and we want to win – that’s all we have to think about. There’s no extra add-on in that game because they are in the situation they are.

“They got the points, they deserved the points they have so far, and we have ours. The season is still a long way to go, so it’s not really in it that we talk now constantly about ‘If we win, we are ahead of them again.’

“How it looks in the moment with the football they play again, Man City is one game behind and is very close as well, so you have constantly to think about other teams? We don’t do that.

“We just try to win our football games and for this we need to perform on our highest level because United are good, they always were, and that’s it.”

Klopp has received some backlash for suggesting that Manchester United have received special favours from referees with penalties awarded to the team.

Former Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg accused the German of playing mind games with his opponents and match officials like former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson used to do.

But Klopp dismissed Clattenburg’s claims.

“Am I surprised that somebody is talking about what I said? No. Am I surprised that Mark Clattenburg speaks about it? No,” the former Borussia Dortmund manager said.

“I am not sure if he was asked a lot of things, but long after his career, it is nice for him that we can talk about him as well.

“But I am not Sir Alex and this is not mind games. After the Southampton game, we had another game [Aston Villa in the FA Cup] before United and I didn’t think for a second about the United game in that moment.

“But before the game at Southampton, I saw the stat about the penalties (for United) and that’s what I mentioned.

“But people like Mark Clattenburg, speaking how they speak, it says much more about them than it could ever say about me.

“If he would be in my situation, he would obviously play mind games, but unfortunately I have no skills for playing mind games and that’s my problem.”

United star Marcus Rashford also revealed recently that former manager Jose Mourinho instructed him on how to win penalties when fouled after being denied several times by referees because he did not go down.

When Klopo was asked if he has ever told his players how to win penalties, he replied in the negative.

He said: “I can 100% honestly say I have never, ever mentioned something like this, to any player. I have worked with many players in my time, ask all of them, it never happened. That’s it.

“There are two situations in the last two games — Sadio Mane had a foul situation, which was a penalty for me but this is not important because I cannot whistle for it. It’s just my opinion.

“There was a situation when Sadio didn’t go down and, when people say he is a diver or whatever, it’s just not right.

“The game before, against Newcastle, we have pictures of the goalkeeper sat on the ground with both arms around Sadio’s legs. He didn’t go down — he tried to score a goal.

“I didn’t ask him, ‘Why didn’t you go down?’ We didn’t speak about it. If Sadio gets fouled, he goes down. If not, he does not.

“That’s the situation. It’s not the player who should make the decision, it’s the ref who should make the decision.

“But the next day after Southampton, I tried to understand how people living on another planet would see it, that a handball was not handball and the Mane thing was not a penalty as well.

“OK, I’m wrong and they [ex referees] are always right. I don’t want penalties that are not penalties, but if it is a penalty, it would be nice if there is a penalty because it’s part of the game.”

Klopp’s team must find a way to deal with Bruno Fernandes, who has emerged as one of the league’s best players since joining the Red Devils in January 2020 and has been instrumental in United’s climb up the table.

Klopp praises the Portuguese playmaker.

“He’s an outstanding player,” he said. “Before he joined United, we played against Sporting in the USA on the tour and in that game already you could see, ‘Wow!’

“Obviously everybody knew him but in that game it was the first time my team played against a team he was involved. You could really see he was a difference-maker and that’s what he shows now.

“He is settled, he is a very influential player for United obviously, involved in a lot of things. I know people talk mostly about the goal involvements, which is very important stuff, but he is a link-up in a lot of other situations as well.

“I don’t know him well enough to really judge that but he seems to be a leader as well. So, yeah, a good signing, unfortunately, for United.”

The visit United will be Liverpool’s 100th home league match since Klopp took charge in October 2015, and his 200th Premier League fixture in total.

He has recorded 72 wins and only four defeats in the previous 99 at Anfield, with his team scoring 246 goals during that period.

Asked if he is proud of the impressive record, Klopp said: “Not at all because I never thought about it! And I cannot get now proud in a second.

“It looks like an OK record. But who cares about this record if we don’t win the next one? That’s our life and how I see it, so I’m not even for a second in the past. So far, so good. We have to carry on, we have to get better. That’s all that we try.

“It feels like I had much more games, it’s only 200? But it’s a good number as well. So, yeah, all OK but nothing to really think about.”

Klopp gave an update on the fitness of centre-back Joel Matip who has not featured since sustaining an adductor injury against West Bromwich Albion on December 27.

“Joel is close. Does it now make sense to throw him into a game with one or two sessions, which he didn’t do yet, but today and tomorrow he might be involved?” Klopp said.

“To bring him [in], I don’t know. We have to see, we have to decide, we have to look at him and how he will train, how he looks in training and these kind of things, but we have still different solutions.

“Hendo is very important in midfield for us as well, so we just have to see. It’s not decided yet, why should I?”