Photoby PETER POWELL/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
The defending Premier League champions take on a table-topping
Everton in the weekend’s biggest fixture.
It has been a rollercoaster of a fortnight for football fans.
From football as we know it almost changing forever—until it didn’t—to Liverpool taking a big step towards partial public ownership,
the England national team looking solid for a second before looking
shambles again, and club players (predictably) functioning as
COVID-19 super-spreaders as they traversed the globe
to play mostly meaningless international friendlies.
The return of club football this weekend is a welcome breather
from the non-stop headlines, as Liverpool taking on a surprising
Everton in the Merseyside derby the most
exciting fixture. Galactico manager, Carlo Ancelotti has sprinkled
the Blues with his unique brand of sparkle dust since arriving last
December, revitalizing a chronically underachieving squad with some
astute signings and allowing players the freedom to express
themselves on the pitch.
The Italian has also been a thorn in Liverpool’s side in the
Jürgen Klopp era, taking seven points from four Champions League group fixtures against the Reds as
manager of Napoli, and frustrating his new neighbors as Everton boss in a 0-0 draw the last time these
two sides met in June.
It is a record that has earned Klopp’s respect, with the
Liverpool manager lauding his counterpart in the lead up to the
weekend fixture:
“Top team, top manager. What I think about Carlo Ancelotti was
never a secret,” the German told . “I couldn’t
respect him more as a person and as a coach. He’s a wonderful human
being, to be honest.
“I knew from the first day when I heard that he will sign for
Everton, I thought, ‘Ah, the next proper
challenger in line.’
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“Now I think they did perfect business in the summer. They found
pretty much exactly the players they needed to improve an already
pretty good football team. Together with being more used to what
Carlo wants them to do makes them a pretty strong team. I’m really
not surprised about the way they play.”
The Reds’ noisy neighbors have flown out of the blocks to start
the campaign, winning all four of their matches to top the table
and impressing with some exciting attacking football. While the
early scheduling has certainly been kind, Everton’s vastly improved
performances will make the derby a true contest for the first time
in some time, with Saturday’s lunchtime kickoff making it 10 years
to the day since the Blues last won in this most crucial of
fixtures.
Klopp acknowledged that the Everton threat is more significant
this time around, but insisted that his side will be equal to the
task:
“Of course, it’s different but in the end, that’s one thing.
It’s what you think in the morning of a derby day but then during
the day you have to make sure that you do the right things again
because the pure football things are not different to other games,”
Klopp continued.
“[Recent fixtures] were not highest quality—neither Everton or
us played their best football in these games. But I think we still
should give it a try. The home games for us were obviously
different so far but they were difficult anyway as well.”