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Monday, February 1, 2016

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp calm despite facing eight February fixtures

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has said it is not his place to criticise the fixture congestion that means his team face a match every three days in February.

Saturday's 0-0 draw with West Ham in the FA Cup at Anfield added another game to a schedule that could see Liverpool play eight times in the month.

Next week's rematch offers the winner a fifth-round visit to Blackburn -- and Liverpool already have three Premier League games, a two-legged Europa League tie against Augsburg and the Capital One Cup final on Feb. 28 to contend with.

"I think you would say I'm crazy if I sit there, punch the air and say: 'Yeah! Another game!'" Klopp told reporters, adding that German football did not have cup replays.

"There is a debate [about too many matches], but I come from Germany and I am coming from the outside, so I cannot lead it and say: 'Come on, let's make a 16-team league' or something like this.

"I love football. Usually I cannot get enough of it, but sometimes it's a bit different."

However, Klopp said the chance to play some of Liverpool's youngsters was a plus point of the extra games.
"In the cup you can do it like this, but you can't in the Premier League," he said. "It [the league] is the main tournament, and you have to take everything you can get.

"It's not possible in our situation to have three days off, and it's not easy. With this situation you have to be realistic, picking out the things we did good and knowing what is possible for the team with all these games."

Klopp added that he had been impressed with how his squad had applied themselves despite fixture demands shared only by Manchester City, who await Liverpool in the Capital One Cup final.

"We still try and give everything, and that's what I really like about my team," he said. "That is what I have learned about them, and I think we can take the next step when we have the time to work on it."

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