Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp faced the media today ahead of his side's encounter with Stoke City at Anfield on Tuesday.
A full transcript follows below.
Rafa Benitez was speaking about Oscar's transfer to China earlier today - he said it's dangerous for football. What are your thoughts on the spending power that China has and the impact it could have on your ability to keep your squad together and add to it?
"You know that a few clubs in the rest of Europe think similar things about England. The money in England could bring the best players to England. What can I say? Most parts of the world are a free world so we can make our own decisions and if a player decides to go there, usually it's in another part of your career. So I think in this moment it's not a league where you actually want to play but the only way to bring the players there is with money and if a player decides for himself then you have no real weapons or whatever to hold him here. That's how it is. But as long as players want to... I think in nearly all big European leagues you can earn a lot of money and it should be enough at the end for sure, especially for top players. But I have no idea why people make decisions like this.
"So for me it's no option because I work a lot, but I still kind of have a private life which I'm used to. I'm a very open person and maybe for holiday, but at this moment it's absolutely no option to go to China. As I said, individuals make different decisions and I don't know if we should say it's a kind of danger or whatever but it's another opportunity obviously for players. Hopefully they can be happy there and everything is good."
On your own transfer plans, will you be adding to your squad next month?
"You ask the question again and I have to find a new answer! I think I said it one or two times that if there's something for us or makes sense and it's possible. Actually I can say that we don't want to convince players with money. We want to convince them with the way we [play], we want to have players that are ready to develop. It's not a message for the winter transfer window, it's a message for the next few years. We have already very good players and if somebody wants to be part of this team, then yeah, very welcome. If not, then don't think about it anymore. So nothing new about this. If something happens, I will call all of you immediately. If not, don't be surprised."
You have Philippe Coutinho back in training now - when do you expect to have him available?
"Unfortunately we don't have him back in training. He makes his [own] training, that's a big difference. Until we have him in training, there's no reason to think about when he is back, so we cannot rush the situation and don't want to rush it. We have only to accept the more or less bigger steps in his improvement. It was a serious injury, it was not nothing, so we need to wait and absolutely, whenever he's back the season is long enough that he can help us. But we cannot rush it."
Without putting a time on it, is he roughly on track with how you expected him to recover?
"More or less, yes. But as I said, the rehab of a professional footballer is always on the edge. You cannot say 'if you do nothing, it will take 10 days and if we try something it maybe will be seven days, or 12 if it's too much'. A lot of it is about experience and all the players are different. So yeah, he was on a very good way, then it was a little bit more difficult because of his reaction, and we had to cool down the situation a little bit, but he's still on a good way and then it's all good. I don't think from this moment on it will be a long-term spell but the game I think everyone's dreaming of, the City game for example, it was clear from the first second after the injury that it was unlikely but this was the dream of Phil, so we try to do it. But it's more likely than before, I don't want to say it's not possible so we have to see."
As far as Joel Matip is concerned, how is he doing?
"Better and better and better, but it's not the same injury of course but it's the same region. It's the same - we could have tried to bring him in the Everton game for example, but then it would have been a 95% probability that he is out for the next game. So we decided to give him the time he needs to really settle. We tried everything but you have to accept how it is. It is not possible if he is not 100% comfortable and that makes it really difficult. But I spoke a few minutes ago with him and he was very positive, but he's out already a few days of training and as long as we have other players in training all the time, we will choose them."
How comfortable are you with the Africa Cup of Nations call-ups?
"I would say, if you ask me, I don't need World Cups, European Championships and Africa Cup of Nations... I am a club manager. They are in a moment where I think they all should rest or play. You can imagine we are in close talks with everybody who needs to know [about call-ups], so there's nothing for you in this moment."
We saw the impact Daniel Sturridge had on Monday night in those 10 minutes against Everton. What's his reaction been since then and how big a part will he have to play in the coming fixtures?
"Important part, important part of course. How could he be as fit as the other players? It's not possible. But we know about his qualities ever since, so there was never a doubt. And now he's back in training and he's said that helps him a lot. He's in good shape - but intense games, a lot of games, so we have to manage it through. But I'm really happy that we have a really good option back for selection."
You've had a fantastic unbeaten run at home this season - how have you achieved that and how difficult will it be to keep that run going against Stoke next week?
"The quality of the players and the atmosphere of the stadium. That was a clear plan from the beginning, to try to create a real strength at home. That should be the first thing you think about because most of the games you have are at home. It needs to be really difficult to play LFC at Anfield. I think that's the job we did until now, but not all of these games were close to perfect so there's a lot to do.
"It's very important in this specific case - I spoke already to the players about it, but I like to explain that it's like if you have parents of three kids and you're the middle one. The first one got everything, then when the second one comes the first one gets a little bit of pressure and then the third one is the nice baby. Stoke is like between Everton and Man City. It's the second child, if you want, and if you want the points you have to do it differently. It's the most important game of the whole season because we have no other games to play and that's how we will go in it. It's not important that they beat us last time, it's not important which kind of history is around this game or not - I don't care - this is the only thing we have to do on December 27 and that's what we really want to have.
"I spoke before about having a lot of fixtures but the good thing about it is you don't have a break or feel you need a break. In Germany it was always like this, the last two weeks before a break you thought 'just two weeks to go and you have a break'. Here, nobody is in this mood so we are all on fire and on track. That's a really good thing but Stoke, they have the same idea, so very, very important game. I'm really looking forward to it and hopefully the atmosphere will change everything. Hopefully all of our supporters are recharged after the 25th and 26th and are full of good food and in the best mood for this game. Give everything you can."
What have you made of how Joe Allen has done for Stoke since he left and why do you think it was best for him to go?
"Do we miss Joe Allen? Yes. Nice guy, unbelievably strong player, but it was kind of a common decision. We had some conversations and it was what I could guarantee, not that Joe Allen asked me 'how many games will I play?' But it was clear after the last one, two years not being a fixed lineup player all the time, injuries were sometimes the reason or not... we all knew about his quality and when you see him playing now, we are all really happy for him that he scores that many goals and he has had this big impact for Stoke, but that's how it is in life. You can't have everything, we couldn't have everything.
"I'm not sure that it would have been that easy for him [here] - it's not that he doesn't have the quality, but it's about having one option more or not and using it for this or that system. He plays a little bit more offensive than he probably would have played for us, but at the end it should always be like this, that if Liverpool FC sells a player they need to have a real impact in their next club. If you leave us, okay, but then show what you have learned and that you are an outstanding player. Joe Allen is for sure an outstanding player. I would say we need to keep an eye on him."
How do you view doing business next month as opposed to the summer?
"I think usually in the window, if you don't have the biggest injury issues in the world and you need players for building a lineup, then you should only do things what you would do in the summer too, because otherwise you solve a problem for half a year and then have another one in the summer. That's why I said, we have always an eye on the market but it doesn't mean that we can do what we want. First of all, I'm really happy with the squad. Of course, in this moment Phil is not involved. From the beginning of January Sadio will not be involved, so we still have options. We can change system, we can do a lot of things, but the best thing is that players are there all year and we can play them all the time.
"With Sadio we knew before, but that's part of the deal - you've got this outstanding player and you unfortunately know he will not be involved in January. We have two games, then a few more in January before the window closes. It doesn't mean we will do something. But we are already looking for summer - that's how it should be, and maybe we can bring these two windows together and do the right thing in the right moment. If we can't then we will not do it."
Neil Wilkes
