Liverpool take on Watford in the Premier League in gameweek eight and since the Hornets are now being managed by Claudio Ranieri, Jurgen Klopp cannot afford to become complacent.
Watford is going to be the fourth club which Ranieri will be managing in England, after Chelsea, Leicester and Fulham. The 69-year-old’s latest stint was in Italy with Sampdoria where he had managed 71 games and Jurgen Klopp has revealed that he had to watch Sampdoria’s matches in order to prepare for this weekend’s game.
“He is a great manager obviously, worked all over the world,” Jürgen Klopp told Liverpoolfc.com. “Last club was again really successful, reinvented himself again, which is absolutely great.
“I don’t think he will care too much about who he is playing in the first game, he is just busy with preparing the team and they will go for everything.
“The preparation was now obviously slightly different, we actually watched more situations of Sampdoria games than Watford games to prepare the Watford game because obviously Claudio has a specific way, how he is usually doing.
“But the main message for this game for us is we have to focus on ourselves – not only because we don’t know what the opponent is doing but as well because of that.”
Claudio Ranieri was in charge at Sampdoria for two years and he had a mixed time in the Serie A. But when it comes to Liverpool, the Italian actually boasts a really healthy record. So we can understand why Klopp has been preparing so meticulously for this encounter.
Ranieri has won four of his five league home games against Liverpool, losing just once and the new Watford boss will be banking on this form to pick up something on Saturday.
Liverpool are obviously the favourites to pick up a win but Jurgen Klopp will be without some key players for this encounter and this could give the Hornets a slight upper hand.
The Anfield outfit will be without players like Fabinho, Thiago and Alisson and Claudio Ranieri will be hoping to perform a smash and grab.
Liverpool are currently second on the Premier League table with 15 points while Watford are 15th on the table with just one win out of their previous five games.
