Jurgen Klopp today urged Liverpool to buck the trend of indiscipline in Merseyside derbies in tomorrow’s clash with Everton.
The fixture remains the most-played derby in English football and continues to hold the record for the highest number of red cards issued in any fixture issued in the Premier League era.
Klopp has prior experience with derbies from his time in charge at Borussia Dortmund, who regularly tussled with Bundesliga rivals Schalke, but is set to enjoy his first taste of an all-Merseyside affair.
And the Reds manager wants his players to approach the visit of Roberto Martinez’s side to Anfield in the same fashion as they handled their recent meetings with Manchester United.
He said: “Before I came to Dortmund, there was a lot of red cards in derbies. I don’t like this.
“Maybe 20 fans want to see you do things like that but it will never help.
“A red card can happen [any time]; if you are a second late in the challenge but not because you want to show ‘I’m the man’.
“I understand aggressiveness in one way – be prepared to hurt yourself, not anybody else. The best football is always full of emotion, passion and aggressiveness – legal aggressiveness.
“To handle emotions and the pressure, that’s one of the big challenges in football, especially top-class football.
“We played Man United, I don’t know if Everton is the biggest game or United is, but we handled it really good.
“That’s what I expect from this game too. That everybody sees from the first second that we want to win this game. But with football.”