Watch Burnley vs Liverpool on Saturday Night Football from 5pm on Sky Sports Premier League, kick-off at 5.30pm
Saturday 31 August 2019 18:54, UK
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp says he could not respect more the job Sean Dyche has done at Burnley in the Premier League.
Liverpool travel to Turf Moor on Saturday evening, live on Sky Sports Premier League, having been given a stern test on their three most recent visits.
Klopp says he is well aware of the difficulty of the task his players will face and revealed he has huge admiration for the work Dyche has done during the Clarets' three-season run in the top flight.
"Thank god it's not only us. We would be disappointed if they only showed up against us. It's a difficult place to go," he told Sky Sports.
"I respect a lot what they do there. I [spent] longer in my life in a situation at a club with no financial power to really go for the big things. I couldn't respect more what Burnley are doing.
"They have a specific way and they stick to it. It's so difficult to keep a group on track for such a long period. They do the necessary things again, again and again.
"It feels like they stay completely comfortable in the league, two years ago they even qualified for the Europa League - which was not a help. That's why they started last year not so good.
"They have a lot of quality there, really strong players with speed and tactical discipline. That's what makes it a hard place [to go], the atmosphere as well of course.
"We are 100 per cent aware of all the difficulties we can expect."
The relationship between Klopp and Dyche soured following the game at Turf Moor last season after Liverpool defender Joe Gomez suffered a leg fracture following a challenge from Burnley's Ben Mee.
The two managers argued on the pitch after the final whistle but Klopp insists the confrontation was just a symptom of the pressures of football management.
"I've said it before: during the games, it is difficult for Sean Dyche and myself to become friends because we are both really competitive. That's how it is between my coaching staff and his coaching staff," he explained.
"It was long ago, thank god Joe [Gomez] is back again but it was, at the [very] least, unlucky I would say. In the moment, I think it is normal that we had two views on it.
"In that game, it wasn't about that one challenge - there were others before were something was close to happening. I was not happy.
"In the end, I am 100 per cent sure that when Dyche was aware of how serious the injury was, we would have all spoken differently.
"That's how our life as a football manager is. He is a really good character and a proper fighter as well.
"Of course that game didn't help [improve] our relationship but like I say, I really could not respect more what they do there."
