Pep Lijnders said Liverpool will need to ‘be spot on’ and ‘respect’ West Ham in their upcoming Carabao Cup quarter final tie.
The teams clash at Anfield tomorrow (December 20) with a semi-final spot up for grabs.
Lijnders said today: “They are in the Europa League knockout stages, like us. They are a collective.
“They can create from deep, high, and mix it up. Big compliments to the coach, of course, because I think he’s doing a really good job.
“They are more aggressive than they were before in their pressing. We will need to be spot on. We need to respect them.”
Ljinders said he “likes” the Carabao Cup and the club is eager to progress in it.
“I like this competition a lot because it gives some players opportunities, it gives young players opportunities – it’s also an earlier final and everyone here knows that Liverpool Football Club is here to reach finals.
“You want to reach finals and reach the semi-finals in January – it’ll only be helpful for the boys to grow, and they do show a lot of passion and ambition to compete in this competition, so that’s something we really want.”
Liverpool confirmed that Ryan Gravenberch had returned back to training.
When asked about whether the Dutchman will feature tomorrow, the assistant manager added: “He can train hopefully today and we can judge it, but he has to judge himself – and I can’t see why he wouldn’t be available for next week – but let’s see for tomorrow.”
Lijnders also provided a possible return date for Alexis MacAllister, adding: “In the New Year, that is possible, but we play on January 1, so we’ll see.”
And on Diogo Jota, out since his injury against Manchester City in November, Lijnders said: “He’s doing ball work outside – he’s getting better and better – but always with the hamstrings it is tricky you always want to give it two or three days more because then you’re at least sure – we will be careful with him, but he’s close.”
Watch the full press conference here:
