MY ACCOUNT
Jurgen Klopp once again lamented Liverpool’s fixture list and suggested FA Cup ties should not be played on weekend days.
Liverpool head to Brighton and Hove Albion in the fourth round on Sunday, eight days on from their most recent match – a 0-0 Premier League draw with Chelsea.
It has been a rare week off for Klopp’s men, who won both the FA Cup and Carabao Cup last season, but the German is still not entirely pleased with his side’s schedule.
“We’re not famous for going long in the cups, apart from last year,” he said at Friday’s pre-match press conference. “Cups are difficult when you have midweek games.
“Now we have full weeks to prepare, but in our schedule, I’m not sure the FA Cup should be at a weekend. But we deal with it. It’s not a problem for now.”
Liverpool are aiming to avoid successive losses against Brighton for the first time ever following their 3-0 league defeat at the Amex Stadium earlier this month.
Klopp described that performance at the time as the worst he has ever seen from one of his sides in a coaching career spanning 1,000 matches.
The Reds have since defeated Wolves 1-0 in the previous round of the FA Cup and played out a stalemate with Chelsea, which leaves them ninth in the league.
While his side have won just one of their five matches this calendar year, Klopp is glad they have kept back-to-back clean sheets for only the second time this season.
“Clean sheets are massive for us. Everyone waits for free-flowing performance but that takes time and it starts with clean sheets,” Klopp said.
“That Brighton game is still the worst game I have ever seen of a team of mine. Thank god as we have played a few games since then.
“The first half against Chelsea we were very disciplined and we didn’t give them a lot. We have to do that again against Brighton, of course.”
Liverpool have progressed from three of their five FA Cup games against Brighton, most recently winning 6-1 in a last-16 tie in February 2012.
However, since the 1925-26 season, only Wolves (30), Sheffield United (28) and West Ham (27) have suffered more fourth-round exits than Liverpool (26).
The Reds make the trip to England’s south coast with a number of players still injured, but Klopp confirmed some key men are closing in on a return.
“Diogo [Jota], Bobby [Roberto Firmino] and Virgil [van Dijk] are a couple of weeks from joining training,” he said.
“Arthur [Melo] is running a lot, so maybe two or three weeks before he joins team training, but he is looking good. Fabio Carvalho is still out and is not ready for Sunday.”
