Jurgen Klopp was back in front of the media on Friday as he spoke ahead of Liverpool’s weekend trip to Crystal Palace.
The Reds have won their last two Premier League games against Everton and Newcastle United, but were brought crashing back down to earth by Real Madrid in midweek as a 5-2 defeat at the hands of reigning European champions left them on the verge of elimination.
Despite that loss, Klopp was in good spirits at his latest media briefing. And the German had plenty to say with an injury update and the club’s transfer plans all on the agenda. Here’s what we learned from the AXA Training Centre…
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Transfer approach won’t change
Liverpool are expected to make a number of transfers this summer, with their midfield in desperate need of revamp. As a result, it is likely to be the Reds’ most busy window for many a year.
Klopp acknowledged that changes are needed, and hinted a little impatience when explaining why Liverpool have had to wait to overhaul their squad. But in a passionate defence of the Reds’ transfer policy, he also made it clear their careful approach is unlikely to change.
“The way this club is led is by not splashing the money and having a look at if it works out or not,” he explained. “Our transfers always have to be on point. So that makes it really tricky where we cannot make four transfers before we know who will leave the club.
Considering Liverpool arguably need three midfielders and a centre-back this summer, at least, you wonder if Klopp’s example of four transfers was a number plucked out of thin air or an actual hint at what could still be to come.
Why he signed new contract
With Liverpool in need of such an overhaul, Klopp revealed that it played a big part in his decision to sign a new contract last year.
“Last year I said it a couple of times, and I don’t know how many times I can say it, I knew it would be tricky,” he said. “And that was one of the main reasons why I signed a new contract, to make sure people who are not on top of all that have to discuss and then ‘he leaves next year’.
“And not because I’m that great, just because imagine the same situation with another coach. Everybody would have said, ‘Bring Klopp back’. It’s good, we don’t have that. Some of them want me out, it’s fine. I can understand that as well, but it’s not about that. It’s just about the club and the stability.
Real Madrid reaction
While Liverpool fans might still be embarrassed by the manner of their collapse at the hands of Real Madrid, Klopp is still seeing the positives.
He was upbeat after the final whistle at Anfield on Tuesday night, and echoed such sentiments again at the AXA Training Centre.
“Of course we watch it back; not the whole game together with the players, [there’s] no time for that really… We are obviously using the information from the game, that’s clear…
“Conceding five in a home game in the Champions League is absolutely not acceptable, I know that, but it happened anyway so we cannot change that anymore. The way we conceded the goals, we can change. Not for that game but in general – and we have to.
“But the start in the game was a good one anyway, it was good. It was not only 20 minutes; I know after then we conceded but the first half was a really good half, could have scored another goal, maybe should have scored in that situation. And then the second half had the worst start for us.
“What I saw in this game is that yes, a lot of things are back, but not stable yet. That’s pretty much what you can make of it. That’s why we then conceded the goals, you are 3-2 down and it is clear, you want a result for the next game and when you lose 3-2 it is not a perfect result but it is much better than 5-2.
“So yeah, it was a night which was not really helpful but still we have to work with it, that’s what we did and now we are here and prepared two days already and today again the game against Crystal Palace and hopefully we can learn the right things, use the right things and get some points…
“You can lose against Real Madrid but I don’t think a lot of teams can cause them the problems that we caused them in the first 20-25 minutes. Again, that’s a sign of quality as well. I don’t know who is interested in it because it was only 20 minutes and then you lose the game but it is still very important for us that I could see that.
“That’s why I was not in an overly bad mood afterwards because yes, if you make the mistakes that we made then it is really difficult, or impossible, to get anything probably. But there was some good stuff that I didn’t see for a long, long time and I was really happy about that. So now let’s try to keep that in our patterns, in our game, and then we will see.”
Front three not untouchable despite goalscoring form
Liverpool’s new-look front three of Mohamed Salah, Cody Gakpo, and Darwin Nunez is starting to click with the trio scoring two goals each across the Reds’ last three games.
Klopp is impressed with what he’s seeing from the trio, but insists they aren’t untouchable.
“We cannot play all the time with exactly the same,” he said. “There were times obviously when Sadio [Mane] and Mo were very young and Bobby, maybe they played a lot of games but even then we needed [to make changes].
“It’s good. The goals against Newcastle especially were real team goals, were real playing together, that was helpful. But we have to make changes, we cannot change that. But each minute they can play together, all the boys, is obviously very helpful because that improves the understanding and you could see that with the goals.”
Liverpool will make changes against Palace
It’s not just in the front three where changes are coming, Klopp also admitted that a number of his players are carrying knocks from the loss to Real Madrid. As a result, the starting XI is highly unlikely to be unchanged.
“We are not sure if all the boys could even play again after Madrid because of some knocks here and there,” he said. “We are really not 100% clear so then we have to make changes and we want to make changes and we will make changes anyway.”
Konate nears return but trio aren’t right yet
Ibrahima Konate returned to training this week and Klopp confirmed he is close to a return. However, he insisted Liverpool will have to be patient with the Frenchman, as he pointed out that the recently-returned Diogo Jota, Roberto Firmino, and Virgil van Dijk aren’t right yet.
“Ibou is near but had two sessions with us after a long injury,” he told reporters. “We can see when the boys come on that they are not at their best at the moment. We have the situation now with Bobby and Diogo. But they need the minutes and will get better. That’s exactly the situation we have.
“We can see it with Virgil as well. Everybody expects Virgil to always be a robot pretty much. He played the most games last year, played the World Cup, every game pretty much for his country, came back, plays a couple games, gets injured, comes back, plays, plays, plays.
“That’s the situation. It’s not perfect but it’s what we have to go through. I don’t say everything people say around us is wrong, not at all. But most of the things aren’t right as well.”
Drive safe..
And finally, it turns out Jurgen Klopp might be a clumsy driver! He revealed that he had recently scratched his car and was driving extra carefully around corners as a result, using it as an analogy when talking about his squad’s fragile confidence.
"Recently I scratched my car. It means I started driving around like (more hesitant)...... 37 years I had a licence and never had a real accident! Then after a few miles you realise, ‘Oh, it’s unlucky so maybe I can just drive normal again.”
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