Klopp to take first Liverpool training session

The 48-year-old German will find the Reds’ training ground replete with injuries with the likes of club captain Jordan Henderson, Philippe Coutinho, Dejan Lovren, Roberto Firmino and Christian Benteke all struggling with knocks of various levels of seriousness.

International breaks always leave Melwood somewhat depleted and the European Championship qualifiers and international friendlies have again taken their toll.

Danny Ings, Nathaniel Clyne and Adam Lallana are all away with England, Divock Origi and Simon Mignolet with Belgium, Joe Allen with Wales, Mamadou Sakho with France and Martin Skrtel with Slovakia while Joe Gomez and Jordon Ibe are with the England U21s.

The new Reds boss will though have James Milner in attendance – after Roy Hodgson rested him from England duty – while Daniel Sturridge, Alberto Moreno, Lucas Leiva, Kolo Toure and Jose Enrique should take apart alongside no doubt a fair quotient of players from the U21 squad.

Those players became ever more regular visitors to Melwood during the Brendan Rodgers era and Klopp made clear his desire to give young players a chance at Liverpool in his interviews after being unveiled at Anfield on Friday.

He also spent Saturday morning at the Academy watching the U18s victory over Stoke and chatting with Academy director Alex Inglethorpe and other coaches.

“When I’m managing a club, each young player should smile because the chance is bigger than it ever was. The door is pretty wide open. Experience is an important point, but not the most.”

The former Borussia Dortmund coach also spoke further about his “fit” at Liverpool, with many believing he was the perfect choice for the Anfield hot-seat, as well as his two sons’ previous trip to watch Liverpool.

He said: “For me, it’s easy, because I like this club. Maybe there was a big step in my own thinking when I was here (pre-season match with Dortmund in 2014) and saw all these things in the dressing room, on the pitch, and I saw the Kop for the first time. But I had no list – if they call or if they call – I would see what I feel.

“And when FSG for LFC called me, it was a good moment, for me and my family. My two sons are crazy about football, they watched a game here when Nuri Sahin was here, against Manchester United (September 2012), they know everything about Liverpool.

“It’s a good feeling for me, I don’t care which other club will fit too, it’s not important.”

That game was a particularly emotional occasion at Anfield, coming as it did after the publication of the independent report into the Hillsborough disaster.

Both teams came out wearing training tops with ‘96’ on the back, United legend Bobby Charlton presented flowers to Kop icon Ian Rush and captains Steven Gerrard and Ryan Giggs then released 96 balloons.

During the rendition of You’ll Never Walk Alone, mosaics covered three side of the stadium. ‘The Truth’ was marked out in the Kop, ‘Justice’ in the Centenary Stand and ‘96’ in the Anfield Road end.

Liverpool slumped to their fifth league game without a win in Brendan Rodgers’ first season that day yet his name was still sung by The Kop at the end of the 2-1 defeat.

Klopp’s boys may have learned little of Nuri Sahin that day – an unused substitute in the game – but will have taken in plenty about Liverpool Football Club.

Source: Liverpool Echo

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