Liverpool manager jurgen Klopp says he wants the club to be able to attract and keep hold of quality players in the coming years ahead of the Reds’ reunion with Raheem Sterling.
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“Who are our attacking midfielders at this moment: (Jordon) Ibe, (Roberto) Firmino, Coutinho, (Adam) Lallana – they are all in a row with the other guys (at Dortmund)”.
Pellegrini’s decision to leave out centre-back Nicolas Otamendi and midfielder Fernandinho, two of City’s most consistent performers recently, was questioned but the Chilean refused to expand on his team selection – or his reasons for substituting captain Yaya Toure and Jesus Navas at half-time.
“It was far from ideal but was very good, we took our chances and made our goals”.
City head into the weekend action sitting top of the Premier League table on goal difference but second-placed Arsenal could go three points clear if they win at West Brom on Saturday afternoon, so the pressure could be on Pellegrini’s men to respond when they entertain Liverpool tomorrow evening.
“The passion we played with [was the most important thing]”, he told Sky Sports.
Pellegrini said: “We did all we could to convince him to stay”.
Manuel Pellegrini said Manchester City were “completely wrong” in their 4-1 loss to Liverpool and labelled their game “fake”. “The boys can believe now that they are stronger than many people think”. “He trained for 10-12 days with us without interruption, which is very important”.
“He just 20 years old and he has a lot of years to work but he will be a very important player, not only for Manchester City but for England”. “It’s hard to understand why we played so badly, the whole team – I’ve never seen this team play the way we did tonight”.
City are one of the form teams in the league, and are unbeaten in over two months.
Liverpool’s visit to the Etihad Stadium should allow Raheem Sterling to face his former club for the first time. “We were top class in the first half, it was a brilliant result. It was not our night and we have to turn the situation around quickly because we have an important game [against Juventus] on Wednesday night”.
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The high pressing game that Klopp seems to have successful installed in his side was enough to unsettle Pellegrini’s side on plenty of occasions. The atmosphere has changed because we all know what he did at his previous club.
