Jurgen Klopp: Liverpool an attractive club for transfers even without Champions League football
Jurgen Klopp believes Liverpool are an attractive club for new players even without Champions League football, and explained more on the Reds’ recent upturn in form.
After a largely below-par season by Liverpool’s standards, they have now won their last six Premier League games and are making a late bid to finish in the top four.
Heading into the weekend’s games, they sit in fifth place on 62 points – one behind Manchester United in fourth, although the Reds have played a game more.
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With around two weeks of the Premier League left to play, Liverpool face the prospect of no Champions League football next season, ahead of a vital summer in the transfer market.
However, Klopp was adamant that this would not hinder their recruitment process, adding that Liverpool as a club will be enough of an incentive.
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Speaking ahead of the trip to Leicester on Monday Night Football, the German said: “When I talk to a player – if I’m allowed to talk to a player, which it barely the case, but in the moment when you are – you realise then it’s already clarified because we cannot tell anybody in the moment that we are definitely in the Champions League. If he’s talking to us, it’s probably already clear that he knows about that situation.
“If you join club, it’s that you want to reach something together with the club. We have to fight to be part of the Champions League, we have to fight for trophies and if you want to be part of that, you are more than welcome.
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“There is one thing we cannot guarantee this year and it is Champions League football, all the rest is the same as it was before.
“It is a fantastic club with a really good football team and even better, hopefully, next year. I’ve barely faced the situation where you talk with a player and everything is great and he says, ‘okay see you if…’ That doesn’t happen really often.
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Liverpool head coach Jurgen Klopp looks ahead to a tricky game against Dean Smith’s Leicester City.
“We are still Liverpool and we are really attractive for a lot of players, we should not forget that. That’s why I’m not concerned about that fact.
“Everything is of course more difficult without Champions League, especially in long term, and we have to not do these things more often.
“But apart from that, it’s okay the situation we are in from a talking point of view and convincing point of view.”
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Klopp on form improvement: ‘We changed things at right moment’
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FREE TO WATCH: Highlights from the Premier League match between Liverpool and Brentford.
Winning the last six Premier League games is the best run Liverpool have been on in the league this season and Klopp offered some insight into how it has happened.
He credited changes in training to the upturn in form, adding that it forms part of their preparations for next season as well as finishing off the current campaign strongly.
“We tried to give ourselves the chance for a fresh start with a lot of different football things,” Klopp explained.
“We had kind of a new start… we had eight or nine days of training between games. We wanted to use that time to start the new season already, not knowing where it would lead us to, but we didn’t want to waste more time.
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“It was a breath of fresh air for all of us, not just players, but the coaches as well. Since then, things changed. We worked on different subjects, but the basic principles stay – intensity, counter-pressing, generally intensive football – but we want to control the game differently, protect our game differently in different formations, build up differently, so there are so many things that are different.
“It was really good fun for us to think about, work on it, to create something new for us. Then the results came in, that’s for sure no complete coincidence. We know that we needed luck in moments as well, luck we maybe didn’t have in other games. Now we are in the situation we are in and we have three more games to play.
“We [have] already prepared next season, but knowing this season there is a lot to play for and that’s what we’ll do.
Klopp on how recent changes will be used against Leicester
“I want to see that we have trained together for a full week, I want to see the changes, I want to see improvement.
“For that, we have to do the right stuff in training and so far this week, I’m pretty confident we did that.
“That doesn’t mean we will fly over the Leicester team, we have to be ready for a proper fight, but in decisive moments, we have to have common solutions and that’s what we’re working on.”
“Sometimes, you need to change big things to get a turnaround. When a coach is in for seven and a half years, that’s rare and usually in that time, some clubs have three, four or five coaches, which isn’t great, but it means it’s always new.
“We were really successful until last year with a specific way, it wasn’t all the same stuff but it was a way of play which we knew about that was successful and works out for us. Then all of a sudden, it didn’t. It was always clear we would have to change things, but that was at least one good thing of the season that we had a good reason to change things.
“Sometimes you need these moments and when a coach is in for that long, you need to change things anyway and in right moment. I think we caught the right moment, maybe for this season a bit late, but in general, I think it was the right moment.
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Liverpool head coach Jurgen Klopp shuts down reporter’s question of Mohamed Salah’s achievements being overlooked.
“This period is super important for us, because it gives us an idea of how it can look [next season]. We all know we are at the early stages, we have to train a lot, work a lot, make things more natural and clear for the boys for what we want exactly.
“That’s why it’s so important we started it early and not have to play a season and end up in position 10 or 11 and from the first day, we have to prove everything changed. That everybody knows already that we are going in the right direction is really helpful.”
Smith: Foxes must capitalise on Liverpool’s away struggles
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Leicester head coach Dean Smith is hoping his team show fight against Liverpool
Leicester boss Dean Smith on Liverpool:
“They’ve just won six games on the spin. You look at that and you go, ‘Yeah, it’s a real tough time to face them’. But they haven’t won as many away games as they normally do.
“I think, in the Premier League, they’ve only taken 10 points out of the last 30. So we’ve got to make sure we [put in] a Brighton or a Brentford performance against them and get a result against them.”
Asked about Klopp’s comments that he is expecting a “proper fight” against Leicester, Smith added: “I’m expecting fight but I’m also expecting better quality than we showed in decision-making opportunities [against Fulham].
“It was a crazy game on Monday. It could have been 9-8 with the amount of chances there were for both sides.
“We’ve got to be better defensively, but we we’ve got the find that balance of making sure we don’t detract from our attacking intent as well.
“We need points, we know that, and it’s a home game for us, so hopefully [Klopp] is not disappointed by the fight he sees.”
Neville: Liverpool must back Klopp in transfer window this summer
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Gary Neville praises Mohamed Salah for being able to perform for another season, despite Liverpool’s struggles and says Jurgen Klopp has to be supported again in the transfer market.
Sky Sports’ Gary Neville on The Gary Neville Podcast:
“Jurgen Klopp has got to be supported. He was supported when they fell short by being able to push themselves in the transfer market, they’ll have to go there again this summer.
“Other teams are going to invest, Klopp’s strength over the last six or seven years has been the quality of football but also the strength of recruitment, he’s been able to get the most out of players, who ultimately haven’t cost stupid amounts, Van Dijk, Allison and Nunez aside.
“You look at those £20m, £30m signings, Jota, Salah, Mane, there are more of them, Robertson at left-back, they’ve been outstanding. They’ve been wonderful for Liverpool.
“They’re going to have to do a bit of that, but also go and I think put some serious money down and get one or two serious players for Klopp.
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“He deserves that as a manager at Liverpool. He has shielded FSG in terms of net spend, yes they’ve been smart and it’s what Sir Alex did to the Glazer family at Old Trafford where he’d say there was no value in the market, and Klopp has been quite prudent and pragmatic, he’s not panicked and waited for players.
“That is the right way to do it, I don’t think he would go out and be carefree and reckless all of a sudden, but there comes a point where he wants a player and they’re going to have to put the money down and it’s going to cost them significantly to get Klopp the players that he needs to get back to where he wants to be, right at the very top, where they’ve been in the last few years.
“They can’t go back to him and say our targets are Champions League football. That might have been the case when he first came in, but he’s seen glory – he’s seen Champions League finals, Premier League titles, they can’t go back and say top four is a successful season for Liverpool.
“That’s not what their history is built on. Now it’s about them demonstrating they’ve got the funds to start with, and then the courage to back him enormously in the transfer market, up against funds with huge resources and unlimited funds, it seems at times.”
Webb to join Monday Night Football panel to discuss VAR
The Premier League and the PGMOL will for the first time release in-game audio of on-field officials and VARs discussing key decisions from across the 2022/23 Premier League season.
PGMOL chief refereeing officer Howard Webb will talk viewers through the footage on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football alongside David Jones, Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville on May 15 ahead of Leicester vs Liverpool.
Monday Night Football will commence at an earlier time of 6.30pm for usual pre-match build-up before Webb joins the Sky Sports pundits to discuss a number of VAR incidents throughout the season to date.
On the same evening, a 26-minute pilot show – ‘Match Officials: Mic’d Up’ – will be available for international rights holders via Premier League Productions – featuring Webb alongside Michael Owen.
Selected incidents from across season 2022/23 will be featured in the show, to educate supporters on the different types of decisions involving the VAR team.
This is in line with continuing the open and transparent approach of the new PGMOL Leadership Team. The pilot is a one-off for this season, with a view to possibly releasing audio more regularly next season.
Liverpool’s remaining fixtures
May 15: Leicester (A) – Premier League, kick-off 8pm, live on Sky Sports
May 20: Aston Villa (H) – Premier League, kick-off 3pm
May 28: Southampton (A) – Premier League, kick-off 4.30pm
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