Burnley boss Sean Dyche does not believe adverse weather conditions will put the wind up title-chasing Liverpool when the sides meet on Sunday.
Reds boss Jurgen Klopp said after his side’s goalless draw with Merseyside rivals Everton last weekend that “the weather circumstances didn’t help for football in general” and made specific reference to the wind.
Strong winds and hail showers are forecast in Liverpool tomorrow, but Dyche played down the significance of the elements.
“I know you are mocking certain situations,” Dyche said when Klopp’s comments were mentioned at his pre-match press conference.
“But every manager has a view, simple as that, and I’m certainly not going to question any manager’s view. I know how tough it is.
“I don’t think they’ll be too worried about the weather, I think they’ll be getting on with the game and trying to win a game, as will we.”
Dyche has urged his players to take confidence from their recent efforts against Manchester United and Tottenham into the Anfield clash.
Prior to losing each of their last two games, the Clarets were on an eight-match unbeaten run in the Premier League which included drawing 2-2 at Old Trafford – where they were 2-0 up – on January 29 and beating Spurs 2-1 at home two weeks ago.
Dyche, whose men went into this weekend’s action lying 16th in the table, five points above the relegation zone, said: “The job to do, for me as a manager and for the team, is to deliver a performance that can get something.
“It is not easy. (Liverpool) have lost only one game in the league this season with good reason, because they are such a strong side and squad.
“But on the other hand, down the years we have had some big results, some important results, we had one recently against a fine side in Tottenham, and a good point at Old Trafford.
“So we have to take the belief we have shown in those games into this one.”
Dyche was a Liverpool supporter as a child and admits an occasion a couple of years ago when he met and spoke with club great Sir Kenny Dalglish was “a big moment” for him.
“I was a 70s child – a lot of people were Liverpool fans,” Dyche, 47, said.
“I was from Kettering, I couldn’t get up there all the time. I was a distant Liverpool fan, but a Liverpool fan nonetheless.
“I did meet the now Sir Kenny a couple of seasons ago and that was a big moment. Just because you are older now and in the same profession, you don’t forget these people.
“I was so pleased to meet him. I was at a game there. He once said ‘hello’ when we were at a game I was scouting at, at Preston, when I first came up here. But I actually met him as in to have a chat with him.
“It’s strange because you meet these people, and when you are a kid and looking at King Kenny doing his stuff, you’re just like (puffs out cheeks), and then you meet them and they are chatting to you normally about football, and that’s still quite surreal in my life. I think that was quite a big moment actually.
“As you can imagine, fantastic fella that he is, he’s just chatting away as you would about football, but deep down I’m remembering that little tiny ginger kid, thinking ‘wow, that’s King Kenny’, and watching him on TV.”
