He was also keen to play down the impact of what must still be classed as a notable scalp.
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Having hammered Barcelona 4-0 at Wembley on Saturday, also in a friendly, the Reds were brought crashing back down to earth as guests of honour in the opening of Mainz’s new Opel Arena. The other side of the no Champions League/European football coin is that we’ll have a much reduced schedule.
He said, “You saw all of those different parts against Barcelona, but I saw all of those things in his first couple of sessions with us”.
“Some had to play in both games and they looked more exhausted than the others”.
Playing Barcelona the night before and then flying over, I knew some would be exhausted but we were looking forward to coming here.
He said: “These kind of games give you a lot of confidence of course because you win against a big opponent, but we’ve got to make sure we are going to do this against Arsenal”.
The Liverpool fans applauded the Uruguay forward – who scored 69 goals for the Anfield club in 110 games between 2011-2014 – during the pre-season contest, a fact not lost on Suarez as he discussed his affection for his old team.
At the same time there was a sense that such vaunted opposition and a crowd pushing 90,000 could act as a motivation for a team exclusively occupied by domestic competitions this season.
In that game, I remember the first going in being a welcome surprise, the second making me feel something special is happening and the quick, follow-up third actually causing me to laugh out loud.
However, when asked if Sturridge would be fit to feature at the Emirates Stadium on Super Sunday, Klopp replied: “No idea”.
Still, there were unmistakable hints that, with a pre-season behind them, this is now a Klopp team.
That certainly applies in Lallana’s own position behind the striker where Philippe Coutinho, Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane, Divock Origi, Gini Wijnaldum, Sheyi Ojo and even Lazar Markovic could all be options during the season. The young Marko Grujic finished things off. High intensity, well-timed pressing, relentless energy, a positive attitude from the start and some clinical finishing. It is about organisation, it is about formation, it is about winning balls.
“There are probably no players here any more I don’t want”.
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Ultimately, though, it was a day to focus on the positives. Worryingly the likes of Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez also looked exhausted following their long summer competing in the Copa America. But that’s a very important lesson for us.
