Liverpool must maintain their aggression in the home stretch of the Premier League season, staying angry to help their push for a top-four finish, manager Jurgen Klopp said.
The Merseyside club briefly climbed to second in the Premier League behind leaders Manchester City with Saturday’s 4-1 win against West Ham United at Anfield before Manchester United leapfrogged them with a 2-1 win against Chelsea on Sunday.
Liverpool have 57 points with 10 games remaining, sitting just above Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea in the race to secure a place in next season’s Champions League.
“Now we know so much about each other, now we like each other, now we have better times with each other in private and on the football pitch. Now we need to stay angry with the rest of the world, we need to stay aggressive,” Klopp said.
“At the beginning of the season you don’t have a lot of laughter in the dressing room. Now when we eat it’s like ‘come on, please, settle’. They are fantastic boys, they all like each other, a few jokes … keep this going without getting soft.”
Liverpool are on the brink of the Champions league quarter-finals after thrashing Porto 5-0 in the first leg. They last won the competition in the 2004-05 season.
“You have a good moment, you have to keep it going. That’s the most difficult thing to do,” Klopp added.