Jürgen Klopp has said Liverpool will not focus on improving their goal difference against Sheffield United as the wrong attitude would be “the biggest enemy” at Anfield.
No team have conceded more goals in the Premier League this season than Liverpool’s opponents on Thursday and, given the fine margins of the title race, goal difference is a significant factor for the three contenders to consider. But Klopp insists his priority against Chris Wilder’s bottom‑of‑the‑table side is winning, not allowing complacency to creep into his squad by contemplating the margin of any victory.
“No, definitely not,” the Liverpool manager said regarding whether goal difference would feature in his pre‑match discussions. “I want to win the game first – the result I’m not bothered about at the moment.
“Sheffield are in their best spell probably in the last two games and they’ve been a bit unlucky with the results maybe. They have an idea.
“I remember [in Wilder’s first game back as manager] them having counter-attacking chances on the left wing against us and that is how they will set it up, with the two strikers up front, a partnership [Ben Brereton Díaz and Oli McBurnie] which works together, they both scored in the last game, and these things will be tricky.
“The biggest enemy is the wrong attitude. If we would show that, and a big part of that is thinking who scores how many goals. And that will not happen.”
Statistics support the theory that Liverpool, the second-highest goalscorers in the Premier League, should have ample opportunity to improve their goal difference against the league’s most porous defence, however. Klopp’s team have registered more than 25 shots on goal in nine matches this season, with seven coming from December onwards.
Klopp pinpoints that month’s goalless draw against Manchester United as the turning point. “That was the game when our full counter‑press mentality kicked in again,” he said.
“It was something that I was asking for before that game. I said everything is good so far, we are new together and we have to find a way. You cannot ask for counter-press when you play with 10 men or nine men. But before United we spoke specifically about that, and that is what we asked ourselves since then. That is, for me, the only reasonable explanation [for the improved number of shots].
“You cannot just take the ball and fire direct at goal, but if you win it back high up the pitch then it is pretty likely you will find a finish. That, for me, is definitely the explanation and since then, for me, the season changed into the way we wanted to play.
“It was a really strange first part of the season where we got results but I am pretty sure I heard it once or twice that ‘Liverpool is not convincing yet, they get results but it is not fully convincing’. That was not our feeling but I missed quite a few games where we had these ball recoveries high up the pitch. I remember United like it was yesterday. That was the meeting before the game and the boys delivered and since then we have done it again and again.”
Curtis Jones could feature for the first time since damaging ankle ligaments at Brentford on 17 February, Klopp confirmed, while other long-term absentees Trent Alexander-Arnold, Alisson, Diogo Jota and Stefan Bajcetic are scheduled to resume full training next week.
