Jurgen Klopp insists all places are up for grabs this coming season in his new-look Liverpool team after touching down in Thailand ahead of the friendly with Manchester United.
The Reds kicked off their tour of the Far East on Sunday morning by meeting the press in a Bangkok airport ahead of Tuesday's exhibition with United at the Rajamangala Stadium.
After losing Sadio Mane to Bayern Munich following six successful years on Merseyside, the Reds brought in Darwin Nunez for an initial fee of £64m and the ex-Benfica striker could end up costing the club a record £85m. Fabio Carvalho has also joined from Fulham for a sum that could reach around £7.5m, while 18-year-old Calvin Ramsay has arrived from Aberdeen to act as deputy to Trent Alexander-Arnold at right-back.
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As Klopp and his staff mull over a change in style following the arrival of Nunez, the Liverpool manager insists all spots are open ahead of the new Premier League season as he challenged his 37-strong contingent to catch his eye this coming week.
"We will have a good season, [it will be] a season where we can improve, there is space to improve and we have space for improvement," Klopp said. "We can always do better and that is what we will try.
"We never prepare for one match really, we prepare for a full season and the boys who started last week have had a proper start and we could train the way we wanted. We have now a proper full week and we are here for two games. One here and one in Singapore (against Crystal Palace). We have to play and have to train and the games are like a session where the boys have to go pretty hard.
"We go from England to Austria and then it is another camp and then it is the Community Shield against Manchester City, so it is not a long time we have. We have to work really hard in these sessions. In the games, you might see that the boys are a little bit tired but that is an important part of the pre-season that we go through these difficult moments and get the benefit for the full season.
“[We are] as confident as possible [we can challenge]. You never know, obviously. But I saw today in the plane a squad full of quality. You always need a little bit of luck if you want to win a trophy but to play a good season, first and foremost, you need consistency. That’s what it’s all about, that is what we’ll try.
“I have no doubt about the quality of the boys. We brought in new players, yes we lost a few players but we’ve brought in new players and fresh blood and that’s really helpful.
“No place is already sorted, who will play where, the boys will put pressure on each other which is important. We have five substitutes from now on in the Premier League as well, we have to get used to that and we have to adapt and all these kinds of things. I’m really looking forward to it. There are no guarantees in football but there is a good chance we will play another good season I would say.”
Klopp also said the parade across Liverpool, held after the season had finished to celebrate winning the Carabao Cup and FA Cup, has given the whole squad the motivation to experience those scenes again.
He added: "[The parade] was absolutely incredible. Hendo (Jordan Henderson) said it afterwards and I think we all felt it, it was one of the best days of our lives, for different reasons. It was the atmosphere, of course, but it was about showing off the respect for what all did together in the years before. Not only the year before but the years before because we didn't have the chance to celebrate properly and all these kinds of things.
"It was an absolutely outstanding experience. Only a few days ago people told me how they ended the season on a low and with the Champions League final, I get it, but for our team [the last memory] was the parade and that was an absolute high.
"This stuff is so extremely special and so many people are in our situation, I don't have the right words and it is a real push to have this [experience] again and again and again. We will try everything to have a good reason for a parade again next season."
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