Klopp: I'm greedy for success at Liverpool FC

The German coach will lift a first trophy quicker than any other manager in the club’s illustrious 124-year history if the Reds beat Manchester City at Wembley on Sunday.

Less than five months have passed since Klopp replaced Brendan Rodgers and he’s on the brink of ending Liverpool’s four-year wait for silverware. Klopp knows that victory in the capital would bolster his mission to turn “doubters into believers”.

“I am long enough in the business to know I am greedy for success,” Klopp said.

“For sure we will go to the final and try and achieve this. It is more important for the club, the crowd and the players.

“Lots of managers work their whole life and never get the chance to win trophies. After a short time we have that chance.

“Of course I would enjoy it with all I have. Everybody will give their all.

“Clubs with a big history like Liverpool, it is always the same problem if they are not successful in the present. With the right decisions and then the right patience you can get back on track.

“With all the big clubs around with a lot of money, we should not go the same way, we have to go our way, how Liverpool always did.

“This win would help. It would help to win the Capital One Cup but it is not the only possibility for everyone to believe in this way.”

Kop legend Steven Gerrard believes the presence of a “winner” like Klopp can make the difference on Sunday.

This is the man who led Mainz into Germany’s top-flight for the first time in their history and then transformed Borussia Dortmund into one of the most exciting teams in Europe.

He has delivered the big prizes with back-to-back Bundesliga titles and Dortmund’s first ever league and cup double, as well as a Champions League final appearance.

Now he has set about transforming Liverpool’s fortunes but Klopp insists he can only show his players the way.

Klopp said: “Thank you Steven, I’ve given him £100 for this! So often in his life he’s said the right things and made the right decisions so hopefully it’s the truth with this too.

“But I am not sure I am the difference. I know the way, that’s the truth, and I have to show it to the players as clearly as possible so there is no misunderstanding.

“Everyone knows nothing is safe or sure in this situation but everything is possible. Some dream all their lives for one final so this is cool.

“If my first success was promotion with Mainz then I really had to learn the hard way. To not get what you want twice and to then have to go a third time, that was hard.

“I am sorry to say I never changed. The whole world around me changed. They said ‘the German champion’, I didn’t think they meant me. Or the double winner or the Champions League finalist. That is not how I work.

“In Germany if you win a title you can make a replica of it. I never did. I have it in my head. You can pay 3,000 euros for a replica and then you own your own cup but I don’t need this. I know about it. If we do it great, but I don’t want to make the pressure too high.

“I want to win this title, but I won’t take it for myself. I want to win the next game really with all I have and then we will see how it feels.”

Liverpool are looking to clinch the League Cup for a record ninth time. Their league form has been inconsistent but Klopp says the final won’t define his first season at the helm.

“If we win it and at the end we are ninth in the league because we didn’t play well then I can’t think ‘but we won the Capital One Cup’. That is too long ago,” he said.

“We still have a few things to do. We can go in the last eight of the Europa League. Why should I think about eighth or ninth? I think we can still get fifth, can’t we?

“We have now the chance to win the final. We can beat Man City in the league at home and we can beat Crystal Palace. That is all possible.

“We take what we can get, we take the information, take the performances and think about it and say ‘we can go on like this or we need to change this’. Take what you can get when you’re there. Beat them when you meet them.”

Sunday sees Klopp return to Wembley for the first time since the 2013 Champions League final when Dortmund suffered an agonising 2-1 defeat to rivals Bayern Munich. Arjen Robben grabbed a last-gasp winner for Bayern.

There are parallels with the Capital One Cup final with Klopp’s side once again cast as the underdogs against Manuel Pellegrini’s City, who shrugged off their recent slump with a 3-1 win away to Dynamo Kiev in midweek.

He said: “We will not have an Italian referee this time. You saw the game?

“Remember about that game (v Bayern), we had the right plan. In the first half an hour we had them in a way no other team did the whole season. We had the chances but in the end they scored.

“We will have an idea for Sunday and if we do this we will be in the game for sure. It will not be easy for City. In the end there is no guarantee. In the moments you have a good situation we have to score.

“Sometimes it is the quality of one player who decides the game, but it is more about the performance of the whole team. If you look at big titles in the past, Denmark were European champions (in 1992). That is the best title I ever heard about.

“They met each other at McDonalds then they heard they had to go to the European Championships and they won the title. That is cool. Greece too. It is not always the best team that should win. Everybody can win if you have the right idea and if you are full of trust.

“Man City are a great team and we will have to give more than a good performance. We have to create the right plan. We have to run maybe more than Man City will run. We have to close the right spaces. We have to keep our nerve, use the pressure and set the level of intensity. If we do that then we can win and they know that.

“The most important thing to win the final. I don’t care how. I care how before the game, but after if we win with a lot of luck 1-0 I wouldn’t care.”

Source: Liverpool Echo

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