Jurgen Klopp has branded Darwin Nunez as a ‘threat’ and highlighted an improvement in the Brazilian midfielder’s performances.
After coming off the bench and scoring against Napoli in midweek, Nunez has impressed fans as well as the Reds manager.
Speaking ahead of the trip to Tottenham on Sunday, Klopp said: “He’s making big steps and there’s still space for improvement because the boys an incredible package.
“You can see immediately he’s a real threat in a finishing area. He’s involved in a lot of things that’s why you then realise a few big chances he missed imagine he would have scored from them as well, he’s always an option, to pass to, to cross to, these kinds of things.”
Fabinho’s form:
After a tough start to the season, midfielder Fabinho also impressed in midweek and helped to keep in-form Serie A leaders from scoring.
Klopp said: “The game was a clear sign of Fabinho and how we know him. It was a good game, defended all positions at a higher level than the week before and so it felt good for him and was important for him to realise that was possible and it’s a good start in the right direction.”
Klopp on the Spurs game:
Klopp is expecting a tough game at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. He said: “This is a massive game for us, difficult as well.
“We all know that Tottenham is a side that is well organised defensively. Counter attacking is a massive thing for them. The last two games they’ve had to chase the game and we saw their offensive power as well.”
“If you want to get out of something you have to get through it, and that’s where we are.
“It might take time, but we don’t say now that Tottenham is too early for us to really show up. No, it’s not, we want to go there and be at our best. I’ve never thought before facing Tottenham, it’s a good time to face Tottenham.
“It’s a difficult place to go, a really good team, extremely well coached and a real fighting unit. There are no friendly games against them, Antonio’s on his toes on the side-line, the players are in challenges, it will be a tough one but that’s actually what we all want.”
Henderson and Milner’s availability:
Captain Jordan Henderson missed out in midweek and James Milner was ruled out due to concussion protocol. Klopp said: “Hendo is available and trained yesterday completely normally, so should be fine. It was only a little thing but was serious enough to not involve him in the last game.
“[On Milner] when you go through concussion protocol, you are not available to play in the next game. He is completely fine but that is how it is and rightly so.”
Change in system
Liverpool have adopted a new system recently as they have tried to combat their defensive issues.
Klopp said: “Our problem and why we changed system was down to availability of players and we were not as solid defensively as we used to be. We can always point our finger at the things we don’t do well and say this was not good, we have to improve this. Or we give them a completely new textbook and that’s what we tried with changing the system.”
“We defended Napoli extremely well, a football playing side. We closed the right gaps, everyone was involved, chasing from the back, our counter press was really good, and we had a high last line that meant we were higher in midfield. That’s why it’s not the system that gave us the opportunity to defend better, no, we defended in a system better in which we didn’t defend that well five or six weeks ago.”
