Jürgen Klopp wants his Liverpool side to keep improving in a bid to find the stability they require after a strong start to the new Premier League season.
The Reds welcome West Ham United to Anfield on Sunday afternoon looking to maintain their unbeaten beginning to the domestic campaign.
Klopp has seen his squad pick up four wins and a draw from their opening five Premier League fixtures and is hopeful the Reds can build on the solid foundations they have given themselves.
Writing in his matchday programme notes, the boss says: “I have said that this team is one that I love already, and I think in our opening five league games people will have been able to share that kind of feeling.
“At a club like Liverpool it is not possible to just love a team at the end of its journey, it has to start when it begins. Of course, you can see the imperfections and the things that need to improve. You can also have moments when it isn’t as easy to believe but hopefully with this team our supporters are able to see what it is about and also the possibilities of what it could become.
“To have potential you have to have ability and this team has a lot of that. It has also shown in the opening weeks of the season that it will not accept its fate easily – a quality which can take teams a long way. It is not a bad combination, let me put it like this. Again, though, it is still early days, so the key now is to keep on improving so that the promise we have shown up to now turns into something that is more stable.
“It is stability that we are looking for more than anything right now. As I keep saying, this is a new team so it would not make sense to obtain stability so early on and the big positive is that we have continued to pick up good results while in this phase of our development. But the sooner we can achieve it, the better it will be and the more trust will develop in what we are doing and how we are going about it.
“Last weekend’s victory at Wolves was a great example of what I am talking about. It was a really good result and in the end we produced an outstanding second half in which we played some excellent football and scored three wonderful goals. There was so much to like. But at the same time we cannot and will not ignore the first half. That is not allowed. We will take the lessons of the bad and the good and use them because this is the only way.”
On taking on David Moyes and West Ham, Klopp added: “We face a team and a manager who I have a lot of admiration for. What West Ham and David Moyes achieved in winning a European trophy last season was testament to all of the hard work that he has done since being there. David’s knowledge, experience and know-how shone through throughout the campaign and the reward they received in the final in Prague could not have been more deserved.
“So I welcome David, his staff and players to Anfield in the knowledge that they will be here to give us a proper test, especially as it is already clear that West Ham have started this season the way they left off the last one. As with ourselves, they have made some changes during the summer but it has not upset their rhythm – if anything they have kicked on.
“So we know exactly what we are up against: a team with a strong mentality, real quality, a clear way of playing, a sense of impetus and one which has had a taste of success. They could not be a more dangerous opponent.”
