WitҺ а Ԁerby figҺt lооming оn GооԀisоn StаԀium tҺis evening, Jurgen Klоpp Һаs аԀviseԀ Һis Liverpооl plаyers tо mаintаin cоmpоsure.

To keep their Premier League title drive going, Liverpool travels the short distance across Stanley Park to face Everton in the 244th Merseyside derby. The Reds are seeking for their 100th win in the fixture.

Klopp has lately voiced his dismay at the intensity of derbies throughout his time at Anfield. In his inaugural match against the Blues in April 2016, Divock Origi was hurt after Everton defender Ramires Funes Mori was sent off for a tackle.Richarlison received a red card for a challenge on Virgil van Dijk in October 2020, and Thiago Alcantara was also out for a long time following a similar incident involving Jordan Pickford.

Despite Ashley Young’s dismissal for two bookable in Liverpool’s 2-0 victory over Everton at Anfield earlier this season, Klopp thinks the match has evolved since its physicality record-setting Premier League debut in 2010—when Sotirios Kyrgiakos was the last Reds player sent off in a derby—and that his team has benefited from playing with a stronger lineup.

The most physically demanding game of the season used to be the derby, Klopp stated when asked. From the start, I recalled showing the players films of Jamie Carragher’s derby performance and Stevie Gerrard’s red card incidents. A lot of respect for one and love for the other.

The crowd expects that a red card against Everton will be accepted. We only go there with the intention of winning the game, so it’s clearly not the case.

At first, I found it a little extreme in a couple of places. There has been some progress since then, and I’m crossing my fingers that things continue to settle down as they should. My first reaction was, “Wow, so that’s what they can do?!?” I still don’t understand. Of course, I had to get this knowledge gradually.

The highs and lows, good and bad, and everything else that makes a football game unique is something I’m totally down with. When it becomes ridiculous, I’m totally not into it. You can’t change that. Who knows?

This is Liverpool’s third away game in as many days, so Klopp will likely rest key players again. Even though Diogo Jota is out for two weeks after scoring in Sunday’s 3-1 victory at Fulham—his first start in over two months—Mohamed Salah, Darwin Nunez, Alexis Mac Allister, Curtis Jones, Ibrahima Konate, and Dominik Szoboszlai are all vying for recalls.

Jota scored Liverpool’s first goal from open play in over four games, and Klopp has explained his efforts to get the strikers to start scoring again.

“We try all the time and do things in training, we do all these kind of things,” stated the instructor. “The problem isn’t that they can’t perform it anymore. This is how it always is with strikers. Difficult times are inevitable. So that was from the start. When the knot re-ties, its appearance changes dramatically. We need to make as many as we can until then.