Jurgen Klopp has advised his Liverpool squad to maintain composure amidst the intensity of the derby clash as they gear up for a fiery encounter at Goodison Park tonight.
The Reds will cross Stanley Park for the 244th Merseyside derby against Everton, striving for their 100th triumph in this historic rivalry to stay in the hunt for the Premier League championship.
Klopp has recently reflected on the intensity of derbies during his early days at Anfield. In his first encounter against the Blues in April 2016, Everton’s Ramires Funes Mori was shown a red card for a challenge that injured Divock Origi, leaving Klopp surprised by the ferocity of the match.
Additionally, in October 2020, both Virgil van Dijk and Thiago Alcantara faced extended spells on the sidelines following challenges from Jordan Pickford and Richarlison, with the latter receiving a red card for his tackle.
However, despite Ashley Young receiving two yellow cards in Liverpool’s 2-0 victory over Everton at Anfield earlier this season, Klopp perceives that the fixture – which holds a record of 23 red cards in Premier League history – has evolved away from its previous level of physicality. Klopp stresses the significance of his team maintaining a full complement of 11 players on the pitch, noting that Sotirios Kyrgiakos was the last Reds player to be sent off in a derby back in February 2010.
When questioned about whether the derby was the most physical game of the season, Klopp responded: “It used to be. At the beginning I remember I showed the players videos of (Jamie) Carragher in the derby and Stevie (Gerrard) where he got red cards. I love one, and respect the other a lot.
“That’s what the people expect, that if you get a red card against Everton it’s fine. It’s not, it’s absolutely not because we want to win the game, and it’s the only reason why we go there.
“At the beginning there were a few situations where I thought it was over the top. Since then it has become a bit settled and I hope it stays like this because it should. At the beginning I thought ‘wow, that’s what they are allowed to do?!?’ and I didn’t get that. But I had to learn all these things over the years, obviously.
“Everything that makes it a really special football game with all ups and downs in a game and good and bad and stuff like that, I’m fully in for it. When it goes over the top, I’m absolutely not. That’s how it is. Let’s see.”
Klopp is anticipated to once again rotate his squad, given that the upcoming game marks the third of four consecutive away matches within a span of 10 days for Liverpool. Mohamed Salah, Darwin Nunez, Alexis Mac Allister, Curtis Jones, Ibrahima Konate, and Dominik Szoboszlai are all vying for a return to the starting lineup. However, Diogo Jota, who found the net in his first start in over two months during Sunday’s 3-1 victory over Fulham, will be sidelined for two weeks.
Jota’s goal marked the first instance of a Liverpool striker scoring from open play in over four games, prompting Klopp to outline his efforts to reignite the forwards’ goal-scoring prowess.
“We try all the time and do things in training, we do all these kind of things,” he said. “It’s not they aren’t able to do it anymore. With strikers it’s always like this. You always go through difficult patches. It always was like that. At the moment when the knot opens again it looks completely different again. Until then, we have just to create as many as we can.”