Jürgen Klopp on Stephen Darby, Bradford win and more
Jürgen Klopp reflected on a work in progress during pre-season after Liverpool defeated Bradford City 3-1 in their second friendly of the summer on Sunday.
James Milner (two) and Rhian Brewster were on target for the Reds at Valley Parade in a game played to raise funds for the Darby Rimmer MND Foundation, launched by former Liverpool and Bradford defender Stephen Darby following his MND diagnosis and retirement from football last September.
Milner’s brace, the second of which came from the penalty spot, arrived during an opening to the match that pleased Klopp, with Brewster’s third goal of pre-season coming via a poacher’s effort shortly before the break.
Read on for a summary of the boss’ post-match press conference…
On showing support for Darby and his foundation…
Very important information, I would say: if you play one game for Liverpool’s first team or 400, it doesn’t matter – you are one of us. That’s what the club showed today and [Bradford] showed it as well. It was a really nice opportunity for us to show the support for Stephen and his family.
On the game and Liverpool’s performance…
For the first 30 minutes I would say we were very confident, we did the right things in the right moments. Then we lost rhythm and didn’t get it back, to be honest. It looked a bit more rusty, but that’s how it is in pre-season very often, taking the wrong decisions and all that stuff. But it was still a wonderful third for Rhian’s goal, really nice. The goals were really, really good. Second half, we never really could get the rhythm so it was a bit boring, to be honest. If you are not creative on a specific day, you have to use the simple solutions and then you need to be still direct, try to come behind the last line. But it’s normal, we have to feel things like this, you have to do things like this and then the manager has to criticise you and then you make the next step and everything is good again.
On the opportunity for young players during pre-season…
The door is always open, but the boys have to go through by themselves. It is always like this in each pre-season.
On whether Liverpool will look to bring in another left-back after the departure of Alberto Moreno…
We will see. What can I say? I said already, we have to think about everything and in the end maybe we do nothing, but we will see. Of course, as you can imagine, we will have a look at all the things around us. Of course we have lost a left-back and today you saw two pretty young ones, James [Milner] has played it and all that stuff. As I said, we will see.
On the thinking behind Adam Lallana playing in a deeper midfield role so far in pre-season…
Adam is this kind of player, he can play that no problem. He enjoys it obviously a lot! It’s about getting Adam the rhythm, bringing the things he is naturally good in: small spaces, keeping the ball, passing the ball and all that stuff, and then from time to time offering the runs in behind as well – especially together with Millie that’s possible. For us it’s another option to use. He just needs a bit of luck now [in terms of avoiding injury], that’s true. We have to come through [pre-season] without injuries, that would be cool, and we have a couple of ‘new’ players I would say, this season.
On opponents possibly having an added incentive to beat Liverpool this season due to their status as champions of Europe…
To be honest, last year we were second in Europe but everybody wanted to win against us! When we went to Newcastle I thought ‘OK, what are we playing today here for?’, the intensity was like a World Cup. I don’t think it will be more tough [to win], but it will be tough like always. I had to learn that pretty quick: when you are a Liverpool team and you go somewhere, they’re all really on their toes. That was never different, but we will be prepared for that for sure.