'The future has already started'

'The future has already started' - Jurgen Klopp identifies four Liverpool players who are crucial before clean slate next year

Jurgen Klopp is planning to use the rest of the season as a platform for the next, saying "the future has already started" at Liverpool.

And the Reds boss feels the eight games that are left give him enough time and space to iron the kinks before a major summer rebuild that will have a big say on how Klopp's squad bounce back from an underwhelming season that currently sees them nine points off the top four.

Monday's 6-1 win over Leeds United was a morale-boosting one for Liverpool as they ended a five-game wait for a victory and the Reds welcome relegation-threatened Nottingham Forest to Anfield on Saturday afternoon for a game that could see them close the gap on Newcastle United in fourth ahead of their own visit from fifth-placed Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.

MORE KLOPP: Every word Liverpool manager said in press conference ahead of Forest game

Having been eliminated from both the FA Cup and the Champions League, Liverpool's fixture list is more sparsely populated than it was in the closing weeks of last season when they played every possible fixture in a 63-game marathon.

Klopp believes the lighter schedule gives his players every opportunity to turn in the kind of performance they showed at Elland Road when they hammered Leeds earlier this week and the manager says it will prove to be a massive help for those still adjusting at the club.

"I read now, I am not sure he said it exactly, but I saw the headline that Pep Guardiola said they (Manchester City) are exhausted," Klopp said. "Did he say that? It's not a surprise because they play another season like [last season], which is super intense. I am sure he will tell the boys that they will have to give it their all anyway, which they will do but it is really tough.

"So we have that now and we have more time in this period that we don't normally have because we usually play every three days but now it is two weeks when we play three games and I want to really use this training time we have to create something which we can build on and use. How to play with it and bring the boys together.

"So Lucho (Luis Diaz) was here for half a year, he was sensational and then he was injured until recently. So is he now fully settled? Of course not, how could he be? Now we have time to bring him, step by step, back into the team.

"Darwin (Nunez) came in a year when it had been two or three years ago when we were absolutely flying, for a striker it would have been a pure joy to play for us because each ball was ending up in the box. For Darwin that would have been a pure joy for him. So he can still get more used to all the things we do, which is the same for Cody (Gakpo).

"Diogo, he had an awful year with injuries, so far. That is what we want to do, the same is in midfield but unfortunately Stefan (Bajcetic) is not with us now. He has a long-term injury and he will be back for the pre-season, which is good. So the future has started already, let me say it like this. But while we are here we have to win football games now."

Klopp added: "If we don't qualify for any European competition, it would obviously be a massive disappointment but we should make sure it doesn't waste time during that period and that we really use it now, because pre-season will be quite long but it is short to prepare a long season, so I hope we can take some things from this season which are more useful than just telling us it was the wrong way.

"So what we learned this season, a lot, is how it doesn't work out. So from a counter-pressing monster to pretty much a non-existent counter-pressing side...I thought it was far away to be honest but it was pretty quick. It was pretty much done.

"Getting back to that to make it pretty natural is not that easy, especially during a season when you constantly play the next game and you're trying to tell the boys: 'By the way, don't forget to counter-press'. Then it would be really easy but it doesn't work like that."

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