Klopp has revelled as the underdog, from his first days as a coach at Mainz and then Borussia Dortmund, and insists his mentality won’t change despite Liverpool spending £250million this year.
The German has built his career on working out how to beat better teams with more resources, as he did when he led Dortmund to two Bundesliga title triumphs over Bayern Munich.
The 51-year-old rejects talk that Liverpool have drawn level with Manchester City because they spent most this summer and insists Pep Guardiola’s champions are still the Premier League’s best team.
He says his goal is to beat City as “often as possible” and his gegenpressing style has proven to be the antidote to Guardiola’s possession game.
Liverpool have won all four matches against City this year, including last month’s tour victory in the US against a youthful Blues side, and Klopp says he wants to maintain this run.
“If a team is better than yours, then you have to work out how to be at their level and how to beat them,” he said.
“I have never wanted to have the best team. I have never wanted to be the best player or the best manager. What interests me is to beat the best.
“The best team today in England is Manchester City. The goal then is to beat City as often as possible.”
Liverpool rivalled City as one of the most attractive sides last season and scored 135 goals as they reached the Champions League final and finished fourth.
They began the new campaign with an emphatic 4-0 win over West Ham at Anfield on Sunday and Klopp claims entertaining is key for him.
“What is my style of play?” he told France Football. “Well, I have been a coach for 18 years and I haven’t even thought about this question.
“I don’t really get what it means. I love the game, it’s as simple as that. It intrigues me 95 per cent of the time. When I watch a match, I always see things I like – if not, it would be a waste of time.
“Entertainment is the most important part of football. There are too many serious problems in the world to make football boring too.
“I want to see happiness in my players, passion in their eyes and a desire to fight. I want to see them bursting to surprise me, to look what’s on their right, to try and make a pass to their left, that sort of thing.”
Possession is not sacred to Klopp as it is to Guardiola or Arsenal’s new manager Unai Emery, and he is more interested in what Liverpool do when they have the ball.
“For me, it’s not the possession that counts, but what you do with it,” he said.
“Against Burnley two years ago, we had 82 per cent of possession and we lost 2-0. They had two real opportunities and enjoyed our wastefulness.
“It’s the decision in possession that makes the difference, not necessarily the possession. Just as when you lose the ball, it is your organisation that stops you being in danger.”
Klopp, a centre-half as a player, claims managers must not be scared even in difficult situations like telling a player he does not want him any more.
When asked if he is ever afraid, Klopp said: “No, never. Fear is never a good thing, even when you have to tell a player that you are not renewing his contract.
“I have a natural authority. I have a voice that carries and I am 6ft 3ins tall. Apart from Virgil van Dijk and perhaps Joel Matip, who are nice men, no one is bigger than me.”