Jurgen Klopp: Media 'Building a Banana Skin' for Liverpool in Man United Clash

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp thinks the media is creating a "banana skin" for his side ahead of their trip to Manchester United on Sunday. 

The Reds have been red-hot in the early weeks of the season, with eight wins in succession seeing them surge to the top of the table and eight points clear of defending champions Manchester City. By contrast, United are in disappointing form, as they sit 12th in the table ahead of the weekend fixtures. 

Speaking on Friday, Klopp said he feels as though the superiority of his side is being overstated by some pundits previewing the game, per David Lynch of the Evening Standard:

"This is game is so easy; not the game against United, the game everybody else around plays. So easy. I saw on Sky when you made a combined line-up and you had 11 players of Liverpool in—that's like a joke, building a banana skin.

"That's what everybody wants to see. The world at the moment is a circus and we are in the centre. A couple of people want us to win, a couple of people want us to lose. I'm not influenced by it, to be honest."

Klopp said his team will need to be "very, very lively" to emerge with three points and said the Red Devils are a "very good football team" despite their current plight.

In a regular feature on Sky Sports, pundits are asked to pick their combined XI between two teams going head-to-head in the weekend's key fixture. Former England international defender Danny Mills included no United players in his:

While fans will inevitably disagree when it comes to these types of debates, there's no denying the chasm in quality between the Merseyside club and their Manchester rivals.

Liverpool not only won the UEFA Champions League last season but challenged City throughout the campaign for the Premier League title. After their blistering start to the current term, they are big favourites to win the prize in 2019-20.

If they can go to Old Trafford and win, it'd be another significant step towards the prize, as the match is traditionally one of the toughest on the calendar for Liverpool. 

Per Squawka Football, the Liverpool boss hasn't yet been able to sample a win at United during his time in the Premier League:

Liverpool's star forwards Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino have never quite found their best against United either:

Although Klopp won't want any complacency from his players, this match feels like an ideal time for some of those figures to change. Going into the game, it feels like a huge challenge for United.

Not only will manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer be taking charge of a team low on confidence, but he will also be without star players David De Gea and Paul Pogba, who have both been ruled out of the game due to injury.