JURGEN KLOPP has got his excuses ready for Manchester City after admitting Liverpool’s poor pre-season worried him.

The Reds will tackle Pep Guardiola’s side in Sunday’s Community Shield on the back of a woeful run.

They are without a win in their last four friendlies — including a 3-0 spanking by Napoli on Sunday.

Klopp has bemoaned the absence of key stars during his preparations for the new Premier League campaign — men such as Alisson, Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino, Naby Keita, Sadio Mane and Xherdan Shaqiri.

And now the Liverpool boss is on the offensive, belittling the impact a damaging loss at Wembley could have for their opener against Norwich on Friday week.

Klopp, whose side face Lyon in a final warm-up in Geneva tomorrow, said: “I don’t want to find excuses before we play City but we had a completely different pre-season.

“We played without six players so I cannot sit here and say, ‘That game must be the statement for us’. That would be completely mad.

“I cannot lie to the people and say, ‘It’s no problem making a pre-season without six players’.

“If you have to do it, you have to do it. You have to travel, we have to play in America in difficult circumstances, that’s how it is.

“But did we have the best pre-season of our lives? I cannot say that — and you see that in the results.
“We had to learn that we play the games pretty much always a bit in the wrong moment.

“I think apart from Sergio Aguero, City are pretty much all in so that means it is a different situation.”

FEELING BLUE

In fact, champions City have had a similar pre-season to rivals Liverpool with Aguero, Fernandinho, Gabriel Jesus, Ederson, Nicolas Otamendi and Riyad Mahrez all involved in international football over the summer.

Alisson, Salah, Firmino, Keita and Shaqiri all returned to Liverpool training yesterday, while Mane remains on his holiday after leading Senegal to the Africa Cup of Nations final 11 days ago.

But Klopp maintains his own situation has been less than ideal, just two months after lifting the Champions League trophy.

And the German admits he may even field a weakened side at Wembley in fear of further disruptions.

He said: “The only problem is we do all the games in public and everybody sees what we are doing.

“Some people have concerns, some people don’t. We will try to be as ready as possible, that’s what I can say, and if we win it, good.

“Does it have an influence on the season? I really don’t think so.

“And if we lose, does it have an influence on the season? It’s not allowed. It has nothing to do, for me, with the rest of the season.

"It’s a game and if we had only eight players available, for example, I would like to try to win it.

“It’s a final, it’s the first time I realised nobody sees it like that — a ‘curtain-raiser’, it’s unbelievable!

“We cannot risk players or whatever, we have to see who we can line up and who will train and who will play.

“After City we have another five days to prepare for Norwich, which is exactly as important as the City game, and then Chelsea. So it’s a different start — but it’s our start.”

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