In preparation for their Sunday trip to Chelsea, Jurgen Klopp says his Liverpool players must be “totally ready.” He anticipates a challenging opponent given Mauricio Pochettino’s hiring as Chelsea’s new manager.
The German is suspicious of what the Argentinian is doing in the short time since he moved to Stamford Bridge and this will be the first occasion Klopp and Pochettino square off since the latter was Tottenham Hotspur’s manager.
They will appear because Poch is a top manager, according to Klopp. “We must be prepared. We must be completely prepared. You can see the football they played because Poch was there.
“We played against Mauricio often when he was at Tottenham, so you can see a lot of similarities from that and in the end, we don’t know exactly.”
Tomorrow…
Our @premierleague campaign begins ✊🔴 pic.twitter.com/JEh6CQc4Im
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) August 12, 2023
Mutual Respect
The two managers share a mutual admiration for one another.
Klopp was praised by Pochettino as “one of the greatest”. “We cannot claim he is the best, but he is among the top five managers in the world.
“I have a wonderful relationship with him; he was one of the finest messages I ever received when I left Tottenham.
“He’s working wonders for Liverpool. I’m overjoyed because the club should have supported him.
Effects of Nkunku’s INJURY
The difficulty Pochettino faces in his first Premier League game at Chelsea is made more difficult by a preseason knee injury to Christopher Nkunku, which will have a significant effect on his Blues team.
About the summer-acquired forward, Pochettino added, “We feel rorry about him.” He was performing well and was a crucial member of our team.
“I believe the talent is there; he is one of the best offensive players who can play multiple positions, which is a constant source of concern for us.
The key right now is to avoid dwelling on the wounds and to think positively about the day he will rejoin us and fully recover.
Pochettino changes the seats at Stamford Bridge.
Nkunku, Chelsea’s highest scorer in preseason, will be absent on Sunday, but Pochettino is taking steps to give his team a slight advantage.
At Stamford Bridge, he has switched the home and away benches.
Pochettino has stated, “I will be in the same dugout as when I was here with Southampton and Tottenham. “This time, being in the home dugout won’t seem as odd; instead, it will feel like home because I will be where I was when we last played here.
We are relocating because, in my opinion, there will be more room and it is preferable to be on the right. On the day we signed here, we made that decision together with the club, and they supported it.
I’m not sure if it’s a lucky dugout, but I believe it to be the best since it’s larger, you’re in the middle, and you have complete control over the situation there. That is significant to me. It was something I was constantly considering, so when Southampton brought me here, I found it odd that they gave me the best position. It seemed like we were at home. It’s the little things like these that can make a difference, and that matters so much to me.