Liverpool manager, Jurgen Klopp has insisted that his players are taking their Community Shield match against Arsenal seriously, contrary to reports that the Reds see the game as just another preseason game.
Liverpool will take on the Gunners in their first competitive game of the new season less than six weeks since they played their last game of the previous season.
The Reds won the Premier League title for the first time in 30 years after they blew every team away en route to winning the competition with 99 points.
Liverpool will want to retain their Premier League title, but they play Arsenal in the Community Shield first.
This is their second consecutive Community Shield game after losing to Manchester City in last year’s curtain-raiser and Klopp claims that his players may have not had the best preparations, but they are in competition mode ahead of the game and they certainly do not see it as a friendly game.
‘I’d be surprised if we played our best game of the season – but it’s not a friendly, it’s a proper match against Arsenal,’ Klopp said during his pre-match press conference on Friday via Mail Online, before insisting his team are in a position to be competitive.
He added: ‘Would I want to play a proper game after two weeks’ preparation? No. But we’ve known about it for a while.
‘We don’t have friendlies, we have testing games. It’s a competition and it’s rare you have perfect time to prepare for a game.’
