Wednesday 27 / November / 2024
London: Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp said he was aware of Leicester City's game plan ahead of Tuesday's trip to the King Power Stadium, but admitted that the knowledge, by itself, would not guarantee a result for his club.
Leicester, who top the Premier League table ahead of Manchester City and Arsenal, play a highly effective brand of counter-attacking football that has resulted in them losing just twice in the league all season.
Klopp and Arsenal's Arsene Wenger are the two managers to beat the Foxes, and Liverpool's German boss is a self-confessed fan of their style of play under Claudio Ranieri.
"It is a perfectly tuned team, to be honest," Klopp told reporters at his pre-match news conference.
"We all know about (Leicester's) quality ... their clear idea of their game, their clear style. It's difficult to play against, as most of the teams in the Premier League have felt when they've met them.
"The good thing with a clear plan is you know about it, so they won't change a lot -- but all the other teams knew about it too and they couldn't avoid their strengths for 95 minutes."
With Liverpool stuck in seventh place in the table and eight points adrift of fourth-placed Tottenham Hotspur with 23 games played, Klopp is aware of the need to improve results.
"We go there and want to challenge them and to make our situation better, and for this we need the points," he said.
"(Leicester play) counter-attacking football at its best. We will try everything and hopefully it will work."
The manager also said a clutch of injured players would return to first-team training later in the week, with Philippe Coutinho, Divock Origi, Martin Skrtel and Daniel Sturridge closing in on a return to first-team action.
None of them, however, will be back in time for the game against Leicester.
