Jurgen Klopp insists Manchester City will have ”no clue” what Liverpool side he will send out for the Community Shield on Sunday as he bids to wrestle back control after a “strange” pre-season for the Reds.
A 3-0 loss to Napoli means the European champions are now four games without a win after losses to Borussia Dortmund and Sevilla and a draw against Sporting.
With Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane, Xherdan Shaqiri, Naby Keita and Alisson Becker yet to return after international duty this summer, Klopp admits team selection for the traditional curtain raiser remains a mystery at this stage.
“Finally this period is over,” Klopp told LFCTV. “I never had a situation like this without six players making a complete pre-season, it’s just strange.
“The best news is that (Manchester) City has no clue who they will face next week (in the Community Shield) because we will surprise ourselves probably.”
After goals from Lorenzo Insigne, Arkadiusz Milik and Amin Younes, Klopp insists a lack of patience cost Liverpool at Murrayfield.
“I could say so much but I think it makes no sense if I say it all, it was obvious,” added the German.
“We started really well, and then ‘boom’, that’s it. And we were not patient enough in the right moments and we didn’t play enough football in others, and we suffered physically in some moments.”
Five of the six players will return this week in Evian at a pre-season training camp, with Mane the only player who will remain on holiday.
And Klopp is hopeful Keita and Shaqiri will play some part against Lyon in Geneva on Wednesday.
“They trained already once with us, one session,” he added. “They are not here but they will come tomorrow.
“They should be a step further, hopefully they can play a couple of minutes on Wednesday. That’s five of six back, which is a good number.”
