Joel Matip has admitted Liverpool’s participation in the Europa League is “not the best combination” as they chase Premier League title glory.
The Reds’ end of fifth final time period noticed Jurgen Klopp’s aspect drop out of the Champions League and into Europe’s secondary membership competitors for the primary time since 2015/16.
Liverpool have began the season in sound kind, sitting solely three factors behind Tottenham and Arsenal on the prime of the English prime flight. Klopp’s aspect have been tipped to problem for the title after various spectacular comeback victories.
Playing in the Europa League presents its personal challenges however Matip has admitted the Reds should embrace these obstacles to get pleasure from a powerful 2023/24 marketing campaign.
He stated: “Playing on Thursday night and Sunday afternoons is not the best combination, but a lot of teams do it and so should we. We are used to playing in midweek so this is not new for us, but of course it means there are always just two days in between whenever we play in the Europa League.
“There’s not quite a lot of time to arrange for the weekend sport as there’ll at all times be extra time wanted on restoration. But all of us wish to play European soccer and subsequently we’re prepared to provide it our all.
“Points-wise our start to the season is not too bad, but performance-wise over the 90-plus minutes we’ve not been completely where we want to be. At the end we have often turned it around and it’s good to know that we still have the quality to do that. As a defender, though, I hope that we can keep some clean sheets and still win the games.
“Last season was not our greatest however we have now tried to enhance. We tried to work tougher immediately from the start of pre-season to have an excellent begin and the bottom for an excellent and profitable season. Everybody has to play their half. Everybody must be hungry and has to remain hungry. You need to work laborious in each metre of the pitch to get a outcome.”
Liverpool have beaten LASK and Union Saint-Gilloise to take six points from their first two Group E games so far and return to the competition to face Toulouse after the Merseyside derby once the international break ends.
Discussion about this post