Jürgen Klopp looked ahead to Liverpool's Carabao Cup tie with Leicester City on Tuesday evening and underlined his side's commitment to trying to win the trophy.

The Reds travel to the King Power Stadium for the clash and while the manager has revealed he will make changes to his team with the likes of Danny Ward and Marko Grujic set to start the fixture, he insists he’ll field a strong line-up.

Speaking during his pre-match press conference at Melwood on Monday afternoon, Klopp also reflected on the weekend draw with Burnley at Anfield, improving potency in front of goal and the integration of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain into his plans.

Read on for a summary of some of his key points from the media briefing…

On how much importance will be placed on the Carabao Cup…

The same as every year. It’s the only competition we play tomorrow night, so there is 100 per cent focus on that game. It’s a big competition, I don’t care how people see it or whatever. As long as we can line up strong line-ups, we’ll line up strong line-ups! It’s a good moment, of course it’s a little bit strange that we play Leicester again at the weekend, and I am sure both sides will make a few changes – that makes sense for the players. But again, and I said this a few times, it’s not to go with a weakened team in this competition, only to bring in fresh legs and give a few players the opportunity to play football, with a clear plan to win the game.

On whether Liverpool feel any added pressure to win a trophy…

No. Not on me, I am not sure if there is pressure on us because of this. I don’t know about things like this, so I don’t feel pressure – I feel the opportunity, I feel the chance to do something really good. I see the opportunity to win a very, very interesting cup competition, that’s all. How I said, I probably have pressure, yes, but it cannot be bigger than the pressure I put on myself and I’m used to that. I watch the games of United and City because it is interesting to see, but it is not my job to count points in this moment and say now they have this lead or this. They are obviously in good shape at the moment, but a season is sometimes like this and as long as you are really focused, as long as you’re ready, as long as your attitude is at 100 per cent, as long as you are greedy, you don’t have to look at other teams until you play against them then you have to look but the rest you have no influence [on]. [I] ignore it.

On whether he pays attention to how other Premier League rivals have begun the season...

I am absolutely not interested in other teams. I think it’s not a surprise City and United are in [good form]. In the end, probably it will be like it was a lot of times – the same names in different positions. We will see how it is, but it is not my job to think about this. I can also not say always what everybody wants to hear, so if I am disappointed, if I am frustrated with something then I probably would tell it. But if I am fine with a lot of things then I say it also. A lot of people don’t want to hear, I know that. If I am happy about performance in a lot of moments and if I want to build on the good things, it’s my decision to do it. I cannot change my opinion every day because out there, there are 500 million different opinions. I am not overly happy with our situation, but I know why it is like it is and so then it’s my job to work on this, to change that and to use our chances more often in the games. First of all – as I’ve said it a few times and you know it, [because] you are also long enough in the business – it’s all about creating these situations. Then you have to score, I know that, and we have to avoid goals of the opponent. We actually do this most of the time, but sometimes obviously not. In these times, that’s how it is and I cannot change that. I can only work with the boys, that’s what we do and we love working together, we enjoy this team and this situation in the moment, but we also know there’s a big responsibility. We are strong and that means we need to deliver and that’s what we are working on.

On how Liverpool go about becoming ‘more ruthless’…

If you look at the 125 years of history of Liverpool, that’s a little bit of a problem that everybody knows still when it was better and nobody knows anymore when it was worse. That means obviously everybody feels a little bit of this pressure and when we don’t score the first goal, then it’s already ‘Again, like this’ and I think you can feel it in the stadium. We have to do it again, do it again, do it again and do it again. I am not 100 per cent sure about the word ‘ruthless’, but I didn’t see a lack of being ruthless. They wanted [it] and were in the right positions. It’s pretty clear, for example, Daniel Sturridge usually in a game like this, with the situations he had, will score. So will I go now to him and say, ‘Daniel, what was your idea in this game?’ It’s just about rhythm, feeling and stuff like this, then the boys will do it. Other chances – Dom Solanke came in and had a fantastic impact and, yes, he hit the crossbar. Do I really have to talk to him about crossbar or not crossbar? I’m not sure that really makes sense, but it is the world outside who talks about this, they forget these situations and the fantastic saves of the goalkeeper, [Nick] Pope. The opponent feels like they defended fantastic. We have to take the criticism, the blame, whatever – that’s how it is. In the end, it’s not allowed for us to be kind of happy or satisfied after a game like this, but we cannot question everything after a game like this because it is not for this. I am actually quite good in this – I am not sure if I am good enough, but I am good in this. I can see the good things and the bad things and work on both. Of course, we do finishing [in training] – we did it already by the way, not because we didn’t get the goal and we [will] now start increasing this. It’s just like it is; prepare for the next game and go for it.

On players gaining rhythm against Leicester….

We have enough games that the players can gain rhythm step by step. It’s a situation [in which] we have to make changes, we have to rotate, that’s 100 per cent clear. With a player like Sadio suspended it’s not 100 per cent possible, but we could line up with the all the time with the same team. We could have done that so far, apart from the suspension, and then wait until somebody is injured and cannot play anymore, so another player comes in. But we have to do it [rotate] because we are convinced about this squad, so that’s why we gave different players an opportunity. In the early stage of the season there are different reasons why it’s not that easy, but we will reach that point, I’m 100 per cent sure. Daniel [Sturridge] had not that many games or minutes, but it was really good [to play] 90 minutes. He was physically really strong, always in the dangerous areas, involved in pretty much everything. That’s really good and he made a really good game, but in the end if you talk about finishing and how we can train this, I don’t think I can give Danny a lot of tips on how he could score more often. He is an outstandingly good striker when he is fit and everybody knows that.

On Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s integration into his plans…

We work on it, we sit together with him and the analysts and show him how we want to play him in this position or that position. It is work to do but there is no rush and that’s how it is. It is really good that he is here, but as always it would have been better – and next year it will be like this – that if a new player comes in, he is in for the season. Maybe not for the pre-season, which would be ever better, but for when the season starts. Now we are really in this three-games-a-week rhythm and in the international break he is with the national team, so it is not easy but it takes time and that’s all. We will not wait for the next two or three years. It’s all good and already on the weekend he came on in a difficult situation, it was pressure and we wanted, and tried, to do something without giving him too many opportunities. We took a lot of risks in this game, he was involved in it and did really well.