Jurgen Klopp as confused as anyone by Liverpool's pre-season form

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp admits conclusions are hard to draw after an up-and-down weekend of friendlies.

Summer signing Sadio Mane starred in a morale-boosting 4-0 win over Barcelona on Saturday, before the Reds flew straight to Germany where they lost by the same scoreline to Mainz on Sunday.

Several players were involved in both matches, making for a highly unusual double-header, and Klopp does not intend to get carried away by either result.

Liverpool start the Premier League campaign at Arsenal on Sunday.

“(After Barcelona) we could not stop smiling but that was not right, and if we cannot stop being disappointed (after Mainz) that’s not right either,” he said.

“The line-up was a compromise, changing players and we flew a few players in this morning. That’s not optimum and not very good.

“But we always expect of ourselves that we have to do better and we should have done better.

“That’s a very important lesson for us.

“If it’s hard - and there will be some hard moments this season - we have to trust our style of play, our philosophy and all of the things we usually do.

“We are in a good way, 100 per cent. And if we have a proper line-up, which we can have of course for next week, then we will be strong.”

The club are still awaiting news on injured duo James Milner and Daniel Sturridge.

Milner limped out of the Barca match with a heel problem which Klopp described as “not too good”, while Sturridge was a surprise absentee with a hip problem.