Liverpool will have a plan for Manchester City in Sunday's Capital One Cup final, Jurgen Klopp has said -- and it will not be the same as the one that earned them a 4-1 league win at City in November.
Klopp said that rout of Sunday's opponents had set the standard of what was possible from his Reds squad, but he had seen signs that City would be a different proposition at Wembley.
He told a news conference on Friday that he and his players would need to produce some surprises against Manuel Pellegrini's side.
"We will act completely different -- or not," he said. "I will not sit here and talk about tactics. I think even in Manchester they have televisions.
"You can be sure we will have a plan. It's not allowed to go with exactly the same plan and you have to respect the development of City since then -- [Sergio] Aguero fit again, [Vincent] Kompany back.
"The City lineup will not be the biggest surprise, but we have to counter the best performance of Man City and, if we know it's possible, we can think what we can do that nobody can see.
"You cannot ignore the football quality of Man City when you make a match plan for this game.
"It's not allowed to think only of our own offensive situations -- that's not how football works, especially in this game.
"We will try to play as lively as possible. We cannot change football in one game, but we can show them more problems in this moment than they can imagine. That would be a good idea.
"It's not that you can perform like that [the 4-1] every day - we [the coaches] used this game to know what is possible with this squad, and it was really good. We'll keep it in our mind until we get a better one."
Klopp said City had given him something new to think about in their 3-1 win at Dynamo Kiev in the Champions League on Wednesday.
"They played differently -- high rhythm, really aggressive defending," he said. "Everybody knows Man City sometimes defend deeper and use Aguero and pace on the wings, but this was different."
The manager was flattered by comments by former Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard, who said the German could prove to be the difference between the sides at Wembley.
"Thank you, Stevie -- I gave him £100 for this," Klopp said. "Steven, so often in his life, said the right things and made the right decisions, shooting from distance and always hitting [the goal], so I hope he is right this time too.
"To be honest, I'm not sure I am the difference but I know the way, that's the truth. Now I have to show it as clearly as possible so that there's no misunderstanding between my mouth and the ears of my players.
"We are in a good way but we cannot ignore that maybe Manuel Pellegrini will have a few good words too."