Jurgen Klopp: Liverpool are taking Community Shield with Arsenal seriously

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp insists he is not regarding Saturday’s Community Shield against Arsenal as a friendly, but instead a match his side are keen to win.

The curtain-raiser to the new season comes just five weeks after the Premier League champions wrapped up their 2019-20 campaign and they have been back in training for just a fortnight.

‘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, before insisting his team are in a position to be competitive.

Jurgen Klopp says his side are taking the Community Shield showdown seriously

It has been just five weeks since the Reds ended the season and were declared champions

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.’

Klopp was also asked about further transfers this summer, following the solo arrival of left-back Kostas Tsimikas from Olympiacos.

In his press conference Klopp also refused to be drawn on whether he would make signings

‘We brought already players in, the kids are [also] coming closer,’ said Klopp.

‘I dont know, there;s a long time to go until October 6 [transfer deadline day].

‘It is interesting to see what other teams are doing but we will deal with our situation like always did.

‘The philosophy of this club is clear, we will see how much we can or want to spend, these kinds of things, but I have nothing else to say about it.’