Jurgen Klopp Wants Liverpool to Become 'Ugliest Team' in the Premier League

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has said he wants the Reds to become the "ugliest team" to play against in the Premier League.

The Merseyside outfit have enjoyed an excellent start to the 2018-19 campaign, winning all five of their matches in English football's top flight ahead of their clash with Southampton on Saturday. They also beat Paris Saint-Germain 3-2 in dramatic fashion in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday.

Speaking ahead of the game against Saints, Klopp said he wants Liverpool to pose a massive test for every side they face, per Chris Bascombe of the Daily Telegraph:

"We really want to be the ugliest team to play against. That is the plan, with good football players—which is very nice. 

"We want to be good at defending. The best news I have had in the last two weeks is how we have changed or reinvented again our defensive skills. We didn't need them too much in the first few games—it was not that we didn't have to defend but they were different games. 

"Against Tottenham, against Paris, I loved how we did it. It is really difficult to do it otherwise everyone would do it. We still played football and that was a really big step in the season so far."

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While Liverpool did concede against both PSG and Spurs, there's no doubt they've made major strides in the way they operate at the back, with the signings of Virgil van Dijk and Alisson Becker for world-record fees giving the Reds extra solidity in their play.

Former Liverpool left-back John Arne Riise thinks the former is now the standout player in his position in the game:

The work done by Klopp to make Liverpool tougher to play against is also beginning to show, with a number of players raising their game under his guidance.

Liverpool spent massive money in the summer to bring in players like Naby Keita and Fabinho to bolster their midfield options. However, the midfield trio of James Milner, Georginio Wijnaldum and Jordan Henderson were imperious on Tuesday.

In addition, full-backs Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson have started the season expertly for the Reds, and as journalist Tom Williams noted, both caught the eye of L'Equipe following the win against the Ligue 1 giants:

At the moment, there aren't many teams who would want to come up against Liverpool, as the blend of aggression, intensity and intelligence Klopp has instilled into them makes them a force to be reckoned with.

While the team are big favourites to beat struggling Saints at Anfield on Saturday, the tough fixtures now come thick and fast for Liverpool.

They face a double-header with Chelsea—who also have a perfect top-flight record—in the Carabao Cup and the Premier League before a trip to Napoli in the Champions League. If they can come through those matches unscathed, there'll be a huge sense of excitement at Anfield about what this team can accomplish in 2018-19.