In Sunday’s matchup against Manchester City, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp acknowledges that he cannot afford to place too much emphasis on the champions’ in-form attacker Erling Haaland since there are too many other dangers.
The 20 goals scored by the international player from Norway this season, including 15 goals in the Premier League, will be a serious danger at Anfield.
In previous years, City and Liverpool have dominated the English top division, but Klopp’s team has gotten off to a sluggish start this year, winning only two of their first eight league games.
The Liverpool team is mired in 10th position in the standings, already 13 points behind City, who are in second place and have scored 33 goals in only nine Premier League games.
Haaland was held scoreless by Liverpool in the FA Community Shield, the season’s opening match, but the 22-year-old has since scored in all but one of City’s games in all competitions.
At his pre-game news conference on Friday, Klopp stated, “Like always, when you play against the greatest striker in the world, you have to make sure he doesn’t receive that many balls.”
“That is what you must defend before you engage him in a challenge, therefore that is what we will strive to do.
“But against City, the issue is that if you pack Haaland down with too many guys, you’ll leave openings for all the other elite players, which won’t make things any easier.
We attempt to find answers despite the obstacle and football issue.
When Haaland was a young 19-year-old playing for Red Bull Salzburg in 2019, Liverpool faced him twice in the Champions League, and he scored in one of the games.
Even at such young age, according to Klopp, his potential was “crazy.”
“Physically, he establishes new norms because of his ability to combine technicality with extreme physicality. His sense of direction on the field is superb; he always understands where the crucial holes are and is seldom offside. He has several qualities that make a striker effective.
Kevin de Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan, Bernardo Silva, Phil Foden, and (Riyad) Mahrez are some of the finest players in the world surrounding him when it comes to setting up goals and finding the ideal times for the passes; they are all incredibly brilliant at it, so it’s a wonderful match, without a question.