Klopp justifies Firmino's start but accepts he didn't have a good preseason

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp spoke at a press conference in preparation for Monday night's clash at Anfield against Crystal Palace. 

From the AXA Training Centre, in addition to his discussion of the Reds' midfield options, he spoke about Harvey Elliott's new contract, Roberto Firmino and his favourite moment in the Champions League last time out.

The German manager said Roberto Firmino is a fantastic player, but he has not had a good pre-season, nor a good start to the Premier League, with whom they drew 2-2 on Matchday 1.

More Liverpool news:

Klopp's words

He said: "Very important (Roberto). If we take now our last game against Fulham, we didn't find Bobby properly. There were different reasons, which we saw in the analysis a lot; we can talk about it, but it was something that had nothing to do with us, to be honest, because the centre was blocked very often."

"If you want to look at it again you see it as well, and they were not bad players. That's why it was a little bit difficult for them to get into the game. And we didn't play well, and that's always for an offensive player it's not easy to show really." added Klopp

According to the German coach, Firmino had a bad game or two. "Bobby is a fantastic player and he had a good pre-season, not a perfect pre-season, but a good pre-season, and that's all he needed, that he could have the amount of sessions he had and that he could train as often as he did. He will definitely benefit from that during the season and we'll take it from there."