Liverpool news: Klopp hails ‘special’ Reds but dismisses City claim | Football | Sport



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But the German insists his side cannot afford to think about needing to score as many goals as Manchester City.

The Reds’ 4-1 defeat of Cardiff on Saturday moved them back to the top of the table ahead of City’s Wembley showdown with Tottenham tonight (8pm).

City need to win to regain top spot by virtue of their superior goal difference, which is seven goals better than Liverpool’s record having played a game less.

Despite such a strong start defensively having conceded just four times in 10 games, Liverpool have been somewhat below par going forward having scored 20 goals.

City, by contrast, have conceded just three times and scored 26 in just nine games before facing Spurs – where they will hope to further pad out their impressive statistics.

Given how close Liverpool and City are expected to be in the title race, the importance of goal difference has been raised already and it could be a major factor come May.

Yet with Liverpool having scored four against Red Star Belgrade in the Champions League before their quadruple of goals against Cardiff, Klopp insists points are the priority over goals.

“At this stage it makes no sense to think about things like that,” he declared when asked about goal difference. 

“You have to score as often as possible. On Saturday we have plus three but you can never lose respect for the other team.

“Of course, you want more and we will have games where we score more if we are greedy. Now we have two games in a row where we have scored four and that is pretty special.

“It is not too likely that it will happen again next week but it will happen from time to time if we stay in a good shape.

“We chase goals. We want to create moments where we can score in each situation and sometimes that will happen but we cannot put pressure on the boys to do this.

“We didn’t do this in the last two games and they did it anyway so this is good. That’s their nature, they want to score goals.

“You don’t have to put pressure on them. First, we have to collect the most points and if we can do that then everything is fine. If not, we have to think differently.”

And Klopp is confident there is still more to come from his side as he hailed the maturity of Liverpool’s win over Cardiff. 

The visitors halved the deficit with 13 minutes to play before Klopp’s charges went on to score twice in three minutes to put the game to bed.

He added: “There are so many parts where the boys have progressed. It will never be perfect but we have made really big steps.

“We have all learned now. Saturday was not a world class atmosphere and not a world class game, but what I like is that we really act together. It was not a game where you always need the crowd on their toes.

“You wish they enjoy the game, and I think they enjoyed the four goals, the result and the position in the table. That’s good, but there is space for improvement.

“We are in a good moment as a club and with a connection with the crowd. We have to carry on. The boys deserve that trust and faith.”

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