Jurgen Klopp Explains Why He Thinks Manchester City Have an Easier Time Against Smaller Sides

Jurgen Klopp has claimed he feels that opponents show more respect towards title rivals Manchester City than his Liverpool side.

Pep Guardiola's men cruised to the Premier League title last season whilst Liverpool had to settle for fourth place, but both sides have begun this campaign in fine form. They are both unbeaten and currently occupy the top two spots in the table, although City opened up a two point cushion over the Merseyside club coming into this weekend.

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Liverpool were famed for their counter-pressing style of play last season as they quickly turned defence into attack at a scary rate, but it looks as though teams are now beginning to figure out Klopp's gameplan and are more keen to attack the Reds. 

This has especially been evident in the Champions League where defeats to PSG, Red Star Belgrade and Napoli have left Liverpool needing to beat the Italians in their final group game to secure their passage into the knockout stages. 

Klopp has already admitted that his side face a tough task in both progressing in the Champions League and finishing above City in the Premier League, but quoted by the Daily Express after his pre-match press conference, Klopp also claimed that he feels teams are showing much more respect against Guardiola's side than his.

He said: “A lot of teams saw that we were good at that [counter-pressing] and realised they were overplaying. If the team gives us the opportunity to do it we will still be there with the counter-press. But very often it is not possible. 

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"A lot of teams also play counter-attack against us. They don’t have the same respect for us that they have for Man City, for example. Against City, you watch it and wonder what they are doing. A week later they play us and they are thinking, right, let’s try. City deserve that but it makes a big difference because we have to be 100% concentrated all the time.”