Liverpool vs Arsenal

I was racking my brain trying to remember the last time we played Arsenal and in the end I had look into the extensive 4kk archives. After several hours of searching through the charred paperwork I discovered that we played them on Monday. After this game we will have played six competitive matches this season with three of them against Arsenal. I am sick of the sight of Arteta and his team.

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That’s right. I just want to see the back of him and them.

The following paras are taken from from Klopp’s match notes and while there’s a bit of diplomacy and an intent to show respect for what is clearly a lesser tournament it does give further insight to his approach which is underpinned by a respect for the fans.

“Pep Lijnders spoke at the press conference ahead of the Lincoln City game and when a question hinted it would be impossible to win the Carabao Cup if we tried again for the Premier League and Champions League, he spoke for all of us at LFC when he said, ‘We will try.’ And that’s the truth. We will try and give everything while trying. Can we promise success? No! Can we make success happen by simply saying something about it? No!”

“But we can try. We can pick what we believe to be the best side for this fixture. Pick the team we think has the best chance of getting us through to the next round. We can prepare like we do for every game – and then we go and attack the contest with the same intensity we have done every match so far this season.”

“Tonight will be hard – super hard. Again, without sounding like an Arsenal fan, I really love their squad and I love what they do at the moment.

“But I love us more. I love what we do. I love what we stand for and how we approach our work. I love the humility of our approach and our commitment to be better in each given moment.

“Our supporters expect and deserve each Liverpool team that is selected to represent them in a way that makes them proud. That’s our task tonight. We do not have fans with us at Anfield in person but they are with us still from a distance.”

“We know they show the same commitment while watching whichever competition we play in and we will match that with our approach. Again, we can’t promise a result but we can do our best and give all we have.”

Klopp also waxed lyrical about last season’s clash with Arsenal which was pretty haphazard but somehow we ran out winners 5-4 on penalties. He said “I know as a coach you are supposed to be, what is the English phrase, ‘tearing your hair out’ when your team concedes that many goals. But, on the night, I Ioved the performance from our boys. I loved our energy and the endeavour.”

The team is difficult to pick due to injuries (Tsimikas the latest) especially if Klopp wants to give them a fighting chance of beating what will probably be a changed but pretty strong Arsenal team. They have some useful youngsters and at this stage of arsenal’s development under Arteta this is probably their best chance of a trophy. Team: Adrian, Williams, Koumetio, VVD, Milner, Fab, Jones, Grujic, Shaq, Jota, Mini.