Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp is not prepared to give in to the hype of the pundits and fans ahead of the crunch fixture against Manchester United on 20th October at Old Trafford.
The Premier League leaders make the trip to Old Trafford on the back of a 17-game winning run in the Premier League, including eight in a row since the start of the campaign in a stellar run.
On the flip side, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s Manchester United are 15 points worse off than their bitter rivals in 12th position on the League table and their poor form is building pressure on the 46-year-old Norwegian in his first full season in charge.
Given that Liverpool has such contrasting fortunes in comparison to Manchester United over the recent times, a few pundits have claimed this week that no United player would make it into Liverpool’s starting line-up. However, Reds manager Jurgen Klopp has dismissed such acquisitions to keep his club on the ground.
Ahead of the massive encounter, the 52-year-old was asked how Liverpool would cope with the high expectations around this fierce battle, Klopp explained, “Ignore it! This game is so easy, the game everyone around it plays. Sky made a combined line-up and had 11 Liverpool players. That’s like a joke, like building a banana skin. The world at the moment is a circus, and we are at the center – a couple of people want us to win, a couple wants us to lose.”
The Champions League-winning manager also stated that the media have built up this game but it matters which team is better on that particular day, “I love [the occasion], but the talk is so loud. It’s exciting for the media. All the stats, the things around it … in the end, we have to play football. That’s all I am concerned about, this mix between outstanding attitude and really brave football. That’s what we have to try. But all the things you wrote or said in the last few weeks, they don’t have any influence on the game. It just makes them more desperate to change the situation. They will try that, 100 percent, but we will try to improve our situation. We will see who wants it more.”
