Liverpool boss has an ‘extra edge’ going into new season as bold aims are made clear
Those who believe Jurgen Klopp would have his famed enthusiasm dimmed by Liverpool’s difficult last
season would appear mistaken. Very, very mistaken indeed.
There has been little sign of the Reds boss moping around the training camp during the team’s stay near
the quiet town of Donaueschingen in southern Germany, and was happily signing autographs and posing
for pictures after Wednesday’s 4-2 opening friendly win at Karlsruhe SC.
That the match came mere hours after Jordan Henderson followed Fabinho in edging nearer a move to
Saudi Arabia – and thus further seriously disrupt preparations for the new season – weren’t enough to
undermine Klopp’s overall positive vibe.
The Liverpool manager, then, evidently has the bit between his teeth to atone for an at times calamitous
previous campaign.
“I can’t believe I’ve been doing this job for ages and so far my excitement hasn’t stopped,”
says Klopp. “I’m really happy being here. I enjoyed the holiday but when I went on the plane to go back
to Liverpool, I thought ‘it starts again’. It was really good. It’s about the game – if you love the game, you
want to watch it, you want to talk about.
“And yes, I want to put things right. That gives me the extra edge as well. The fever, the power, the
excitement is bigger when last season was not great. That’s still what we have and I will make sure we
keep that for the full season. I will remind them (the players) that we agreed on doing more and more
and more and more than anybody and I’m pretty sure we will have a good chance of playing a pretty
good season.”
While Klopp wants Liverpool to once again embrace becoming one of the most difficult teams to play
against – they lost 14 games in all competitions last term compared to just four the previous season – he
is urging improvement across the board. Standards are being set high.
“I want us to be a lot,” he says. “I would really love to be that team where everybody goes ‘oh God,
Liverpool’. But I want us to be a possession team, a high-press team, specialists in those things. Best in
the world for counter-press, best in deep defending, best in midfield press, best in set-pieces offensively
and defensively. We are trying to raise the bar again and again and again.
“There has been a lot of change over the years. Of course, we have lost experienced players (this
summer) but it opens the door for others. That’s how it is. Everybody wants a change and a massive
development or overhaul or how you want to call it, but I’m 100% sure we have the boys to run through
the open door. If you can create some stability with the quality we have then we have a good chance to
win football games.”
Klopp adds: “Everything starts with an idea. An idea of how we want to play, an idea of how we want to
respond, an idea of how we want to strike back and an idea of how we are going to do better. We pretty
much have done the headline for this pre-season, we told the boys we have to do better, and better starts
always with more. We do more. It’s what we do here.
“The intensity in training, you could see immediately from the first day the boys mean business. They
were really looking forward to this. As short as the holiday was for some – and long enough for some
others – when they arrived you could see the fire in their eyes. I loved it a lot. With all the sessions we’e
had, I couldn’t extinguish it with all the things we did. It’s still there, so that’s good.”
Liverpool began their recovery with an 11-game unbeaten run at the end of last season which, while not
quite enough to secure Champions League qualification, provided momentum for the summer and
showcased a new formation which was again used during the opening friendly.
And Klopp, speaking on the ‘We are Liverpool’ podcast, says: “We obviously had a very average season,
with a lot of problems. I like the way how we sorted them. In the end I would have loved to qualify for
the Champions League. But now it’s fine.
“Sometimes you have to get a proper knock to realise ‘ah, that was the problem’. I would really say we
got a proper knock last year. I got one for sure, and I’m on fire (now) and the players understood as well.
So far, I like the response a lot.”
The hard work, though, is only just getting started for Klopp and his players. The countdown to
Stamford Bridge on August 13 continues.
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