Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has admitted that he “never thought for a second” about Manchester City during the Reds 2-1 win over Aston Villa on Saturday.
Notably, Klopp revealed in a recent media interaction that he did not enquire about Manchester City’s match result as he was too focused on his own side’s performance.
It took a couple of late goals, one each from Andy Robertson and Sadio Mane to help Liverpool cross the line at Aston Villa. On the other hand, Manchester City staged a 2-1 win in their home game against Southampton.
“I never thought for a second about the Man City game and the Aston Villa game together,” Klopp said as quoted in several British newspapers.
“I was never thinking ‘we should win there because maybe we could lose next week’.
“I didn’t even ask about other Premier League results after our game. It’s not important. We play Genk and then we play Man City.
“Yes, it’s important to win at Aston Villa. The way they set up, it was really difficult. But we did it.
“Now we have to collect the bones and prepare for the next challenge against Genk.”
Interestingly, both of Liverpool’s goals in the game had come from crosses into the box and their boss is happy to see his side switch it up.
“As a top team, you always have to find a way,” he said.
“If the centre is closed, then it makes sense to use the wing. But if you use the wing constantly, then usually the centre opens up a little bit.
“Our plan isn’t to pass the ball wide and then get it into the box. If you have situations like this, then it’s not a bad idea. But it’s not like a long-ball idea where you are always hitting it long and going for the second ball.
“It’s just one option for us and it’s difficult to defend. Everybody can be compact and they are allowed to be really deep, that makes it really difficult and you want to come in behind their last line.
“But I haven’t analysed all the other teams so far this season. With Man City, we’ll have a look next week. Maybe there will be a crossing championship next week, we will see,” he concluded.