Jurgen Klopp believes his team is still playing as if in pre-season – a feeling that is backed up by Georginio Wijnaldum.
Jurgen Klopp doesn’t believe we’ve seen Liverpool at their best this season, despite the team winning all four of their Premier League games.
The Reds defeated Leicester City 2-1 at the King Power Stadium on Saturday after wins against West Ham United, Crystal Palace, and Bright & Hove Albion to leave them top of the table heading into the international break.
But Klopp feels that this is a team still in pre-season and that the upcoming run of games will really put them to the test.
“The players are not at their top level yet,” he said, reports the Mirror.
“That is because we are in the early part of the season – it is normal.
“Everybody should know we have a lot of work to do still, but if they don’t then I have told them. When you win four times it sounds really crazy to say this, but it is still part of the pre-season for a very long time after the summer.
“From mid-September, we play every three days. So we do the work now, and this is how it is – it is normal that you are not quite at 100% in the games.”
It’s an opinion that’s backed up by Georginio Wijnaldum: “It does still feel like we’re doing pre-season. We know that the training sessions are hard and really competitive.
“But I think that makes us better, not only as a team but as players because you have to compete against your team, good players.”
What Klopp is saying sounds like fighting talk but it also carries some weight. Liverpool haven’t looked overly convincing in their latest three games, winning narrowly and without the flow that they had last season.
If it’s true that Liverpool are merely getting up to speed while they win four in a row, the rest of the top six have a lot to worry about.
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