The Jurgen Klopp era at Liverpool will begin in earnest on Saturday when the crowd-pleasing German takes charge of his first Premier League match against Tottenham Hotspur.
Klopp has been appointed as the successor to Brendan Rodgers on a three-year contract with the brief of reviving a team who have won only one of their last nine games inside 90 minutes in all competitions.
He might have preferred an easier venue for his first game than White Hart Lane, where Spurs crushed Manchester City 4-1 in their last home match, but he wants his players to embrace the challenge.
“Some things you can change instantly: mentality, readiness,” said Klopp, whose side are 10th in the table, a point below eight-place Tottenham. “That is all you can change. To get really tuned as a team takes time, but I am really not interested in the problems we could have on Saturday. I want to see more bravery, more fun in their eyes. I want to see that they like what they do. I saw that in the week (in training) and that is good.”
Since losing at Manchester United on the opening day, Spurs have gone seven league games unbeaten and the rout of City showcased the improvements that Mauricio Pochettino has wrought from his young, hard-working squad.
He, too, must contend with missing players as new signing Son Heung-Min and midfielders Ryan Mason and Nabil Bentaleb are injured, while Eric Dier is suspended.
Spurs have lost their last five league games against Liverpool, shipping 18 goals in the process, but Pochettino has been doing his homework on how Klopp is likely to approach the game.
“We can use the information because in the last few months Liverpool have played in different ways and changed the system,” Pochettino said. “How we analyse Dortmund and the way Klopp played, it's similar concepts that we can take. We have some references -- maybe we give too much information -- but the first half against Arsenal, they played in a similar style he played with Dortmund last season. We have a lot of resources to research the information. But in the end the truth is Saturday and how they put in place his ideas.”
Weekend’s fixtures: Tottenham vs Liverpool, Chelsea vs Aston Villa, Crystal Palace vs West Ham, Everton vs Manchester United, Manchester City vs Bournemouth, Southampton vs Leicester City, West Bromwich Albion vs Sunderland, Watford vs Arsenal, Newcastle vs Norwich, Swansea vs Stoke.
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