Jürgen Klopp Q&A | A round-up of the boss' press conference
Jürgen Klopp discussed topics such as what he has learned this season, the postponement of last week's fixture against Manchester United and the test Southampton will pose on Saturday during his pre-match press conference.
The Liverpool manager spoke with the media from the AXA Training Centre on Friday afternoon. Read on for a round-up...
On Liverpool needing to be ‘perfect’ in the final five games to have a chance of finishing in the top four…
Yes, that’s easy to say – and even then there is not a guarantee. I said that already before the last two games, I think; we drew them both so that didn’t help really. I am not sure there is still a chance but we will try to make sure that if there is one we will be there, that’s clear.
On the postponement of last weekend’s game at Old Trafford…
We were sitting in the hotel, we had no idea. We came downstairs an hour before the team meeting, round about, or when we thought we would have the team meeting. Then our team manager told me there are some problems at Old Trafford and it’s not clear if we will be in time. Then I prepared the meeting. Five minutes before the meeting I got told, yes, we would be on time. So we did the team meeting and after that we got told there will be some delay. The problem is you cannot send the players back to their room or whatever, you just have to then sit around in the hotel lobby because it could happen that they tell you: ‘OK, now you can go.’ And then we have to go. So it was not cool but there are bigger problems in the world out there. Then we got told the game was cancelled or postponed, whatever you want. That was it.
We saw a few pictures from Old Trafford, we watched a little bit of telly in that time to get an idea about what is going on there. That’s it. Am I surprised that these kind of things happen? No, I am an absolute believer in democracy, [it] means I’m happy that people want to tell their opinion, that’s completely fine. But I know in situations like that it doesn’t happen too often that nobody gets hurt and that’s why I said a week before I think already, when all the pundits were going and asking for protests and stuff like this, that we all have to be careful and to calm down and to ask for the right things. I don’t know exactly what happened there but I heard some policemen got injured and these kind of things should not happen, for sure not. You should not break down the doors and stuff like this. To tell your opinion, to tell the world what you think about some things, is completely fine as long as it’s completely peaceful. And it was, as far as I know, not completely peaceful and then it is not right anymore.
On whether he has sympathy with Manchester United regarding the rescheduling of the game and whether LFC were consulted…
Consulted means that we had a say? We were informed about the process but we had nothing to do with it really. Yes, of course, I feel sympathy – it’s not how it should be. But it’s not good for us as well, to be honest. I would have preferred to have played the game last week; now we have five games in the last two weeks, so that’s not really cool as well. But it is like it is, nothing to complain about or whatever, it is just the situation.
Inside Training: Behind the scenes of Reds' pre-Saints prep
On what the challenges have been for the Reds’ title defence this season…
Oh, that’s easy for us: we had too many injuries in key positions. I know people think that’s an excuse, but I’m pretty sure I said it already – it’s like in the moment when we lost our full defence it felt like you break your leg. That’s OK, you can still limp with that. But then we had to make our midfielders, to transform them, into defenders. Then we broke pretty much our spine on top of that and then it’s difficult to move. You remember, in the beginning when we had the problems we were still kind of winning, were in kind of a good position. But we always knew it is a long season to come and if anything else happens then we will struggle. And that’s what happened. To be in the position we were nearly two years before, we needed to be nearly perfect and the situation needed to be nearly perfect. In the moment when it is not perfect for us then the league is too strong to stay. Could we be now instead of seventh [in] fifth or fourth? Yes, of course. No doubt about that, we should have done better then in specific moments. But you asked me: what was the challenge? To deal with the amount of injuries was the challenge and we obviously couldn’t deal as good as we wanted over the whole season.
On whether he has learned a lot this season…
I was most of the time not champion in my career, so that means I try to learn always. Did I learn a lot? Yes, for sure. Some things you want to learn, some things you don’t want to experience, you don’t want to learn, but that’s how it is. The players learned, for sure, a lot as well, that’s clear, but that’s the idea, that’s the plan: that we use our new experience for the future, for the next season especially. But you will have to wait until then that we can show we really got it.
On the challenge he is expecting from Southampton, who claimed a draw with 10 men versus Leicester City last time out…
Yeah, that [the result v Leicester] shows absolutely the character of the team and of the coach. That’s a proper unit and we played there, obviously, when we lost the game. We didn’t play that badly but we couldn’t finish situations off, which is a little bit the story of the season. But the game was incredibly intense; they defend with all they have, they attack with all they have. That’s a well-tuned machine, a pressing and counter-pressing machine, so that’s tricky. They are always very lively, it’s all set up in a specific way and everybody knows exactly what he has to do. I think it is a joy to watch Southampton games. Maybe they didn’t win often enough as well, that’s why they are in the position they are, but the football they play is at least always a very lively version of our wonderful game and I like that.
On the key to beating Saints…
To be prepared for their defending, their midfield press especially. You have to play in the right spaces because with their 4-4-2, all predictable passes they defend really well. So you have to be from time to time unpredictable, that’s really important, you have to be cheeky as well, that’s really important, [and] brave. You have to be ready for their counter-press, if they lose the ball they go with all they have to win it back. We know how that works, we try to do that ourselves from time to time, but there is no perfect thing in football. In this case thank God – or for us sometimes unfortunately – if you outplay these counter-pressing situations then if you are calm enough in these moments, clear enough and have a good enough overview, then you can use that and overplay that, and outplay that. Then you have more space than in other moments. Yes, you have to create from different angles on the pitch because again the system they play is clear. How can you get between the lines, how can you break lines: that’s very important. So, there are a few proper football questions but we had now a full week to prepare for it as well, so hopefully we can see that.