Liverpool boss Klopp calls for cool heads against Everton

By foxsports
Published

Jurgen Klopp has warned his Liverpool players to control their passion during Wednesday's Merseyside derby against Everton.

The Reds boss will experience his first derby at Anfield and is expecting another night high on emotion following on from last week's win against Borussia Dortmund in the Europa League.

Premier League games between Liverpool and Everton have produced 20 red cards - more than any other fixture - but Klopp has made it clear he will take a dim view of any ill-discipline on his watch.

"Maybe one or two fans want to see stuff like this, but it will never help," Klopp said at his pre-match press conference.

"I understand aggressiveness only in one way, and that is being prepared to hurt yourself, not somebody else.

"Before I went to Dortmund there were lots of red cards in derbies. I don't want to see this. Not to show 'I am the man'.

"The best football is always full of emotion, passion and aggressiveness. It's special because of expectations, that's clear. But to handle emotions and the pressure is one of the big challenges in top-class football."

The emergence of a new group of young players, several of whom played in Sunday's win at Bournemouth, means Klopp is comfortable rotating his side to cope with the demands of the Europa League.

He added: "If someone saw our line up versus Bournemouth as meaning we didn't want to win, that's biggest mistake.

"We have a situation where we can change. We felt good before the game versus Bournemouth and it will be the same versus Everton. No-one will be rested.

"We have eight games, hopefully nine games to play. It makes no sense to push the same 11 players through all these games."

And while acknowledging a club of Liverpool's size "can't always play young players", Klopp said: "The future looks nice.

"The one thing is to give them the opportunity, the other thing is to use the opportunity, and that's what they did. These players, all of them, have a perfect attitude. It's about how often we can give them the opportunity."