Publications
Partners
Cape Town - Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp is confident that his side will improve after Sunday's defeat to Napoli, insisting that the Merseysiders will be a "different animal" once the season kicks off.
A 3-0 loss in Edinburgh was not ideal for the Reds a week ahead of the Community Shield, with their display completely lacking in attacking thrust.
The defeat to the Serie A side makes it four successive pre-season games without a win for the Reds—but Klopp is refusing to panic.
Indeed, he was anticipating a difficult summer in terms of preparation for the new campaign, due to the late returns of several key stars.
After the game, he said: "I knew before we started that it would be exceptionally difficult because of the situation. We have to adapt to a few things, and we have to create a specific spirit. For this, we have a week's time.
"For the first time since the Champions League final we have 99 per cent of the squad tomorrow [Monday], only Sadio is missing then, and that's the moment where we really start talking and preparing a couple of things and then we have to go again.
"That you lose players during a pre-season, we are used to – that happened from time to time. But that they don't start from the beginning and come to a couple of days before or after we start with the season is not cool.
"Again, that's how it is, and we prepared everybody as good as possible. We have to fight the start of the season 100% with all we have. The good thing is, if the opponents want to analyse us now, they think 'easy job', but we will be a different animal next week."
