Some more from a chat with James Pearce of the Echo.
http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/jurgen-klopp-liverpool-we-might-10233939New Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp reflected on the events of the previous hour. The barrage of questions from the world’s media and the flash bulbs accompanying his every move as he took a stroll around Anfield.
“It is the craziest situation I have ever been in,” he said.
“All the photographs, all this big trouble.
“This is not what I want. I only want to work with the team. But this is part of the deal. So, okay, we do this today.
“Let’s start tomorrow to work with the team.”
Klopp produced a masterful display on his unveiling in front of the cameras but it’s how his players perform under pressure which now dominates his thoughts.
The 48-year-old jumped into a people carrier to take him from his media commitments at Anfield to Melwood to meet those, including captain Jordan Henderson and Philippe Coutinho, who aren’t on international duty.
It will be the middle of next week before he gets the full squad together but Klopp has already set out what he will demand from those who wear the shirt at Tottenham next Saturday. It involves plenty of hard graft.
“I am not the guy who is going to go out and shout ‘we are going to conquer the world’ or something like this,” he said.
“But we will conquer the ball, yeah? Each ****ing time!
“We will chase the ball. We will run more, fight more. We will work more together, better together. We will have better organisation in defence than the other teams.
“We have to find our own way to play. Our performances have to be enjoyable for ourselves.
“I don’t want to tackle too rough but if there is a tackle that is legal, that is a good tackle that gets the ball, it’s like a goal, if you want? Yeeaaah! What I want is to be a real special team.
“We cannot talk about football philosophy and ball possession, playing like Barcelona, playing like whoever.
“No, this team needs to create their own style. If you have the ball you have to be creative but you have to be prepared that if you lose the ball the counter pressing is very important. It is not a proposal, it is law.
“You cannot decide ‘um’, you have to do it and you will. That is what we all have to learn.”
Klopp revealed that he had watched Liverpool’s final three games under Brendan Rodgers on TV, suggesting he had been in dialogue with owners Fenway Sports Group following last month’s embarrassing Capital One Cup win on penalties against lowly Carlisle.
The German says his biggest challenge in the short-term is to instil some belief in a squad who haven’t been playing with “fun on their faces”.
“I’ve seen the last three but if you ask me on Sunday I will have seen 20,” he said.
“The other games I only saw the goals. For 90 minutes, I saw Everton, Sion and Aston Villa.
“Aston Villa was really good. Good goals but if you don’t defend the crosses it can happen against this striker (Rudy Gestede).
“Against Sion, in this game you saw the whole pressure on the team. The first chance missed and everyone is going... (acts panicky).
“You can see it in their eyes, they are not free. Football is about creating chances, not to make 20 goals a game. It is not possible.
“If you feel ‘yes I can miss, the next chance we will get’ then you are free and you can stay confident.
“That is very important. In the game against Sion, you saw many of the problems because there was so much pressure on the players. We have to work so that they feel good. I couldn’t see any fun in this game in no faces and that is not so good.
“In Everton of course it was a derby and pressure on both teams. It was a little bit old school. It was kick and rush, bam, bam, bam, long balls but the fighting spirit was really okay.
“It was not the best game in the last 10 years I would say. In these three games you could see a lot of things. The early goal against Aston Villa, it opened them up and then they played. That is what I want to work for.
“We have to change things. First we have to see what is up at Melwood.”
Klopp admits the challenge facing him at Anfield is similar to the one at Borussia Dortmund when he took over there in 2008.
Over the seven years that followed he masterminded a remarkable transformation as they won two Bundesliga titles, the German Cup, three German Super Clubs and reached the Champions League final.
“If I think back it is the same,” he said.
“When I came there they were 13th and the year before they were in the cup final but nobody could enjoy the football. That was what the problem was.
“The people came, you can be in position 18th and they will come - 80,000 each week so that is no problem. But of course, they were waiting.
“We had so many young players but I don’t care about age. I’m not interested in it. If you’re old and good then fine, if you’re young and good fine then come. The only thing I need is players that want to help the team.
“They have to listen to what I say, that is very important because I believe it is better to have 11 players do the same thing wrong than everybody doing what they want. We have to do it one way and that is my way.”
Some 14 months ago Klopp visited Anfield for the first time with his Dortmund squad for a pre-season friendly against Rodgers’ Liverpool.
He touched the ‘This Is Anfield’ sign and gazed in wonderment at the Kop. Now he finds himself tasked with kick-starting the revival.
"That is one of the main reasons why I love this game so much," he said.
"It is the only game where you can create something like this. We can all play this game a little bit, we all have our own experiences with this game and then we want to see the best players in the world.
"That is why I enjoy it so much. I am a lucky guy. I had a special club with Mainz, a special club with Borussia Dortmund and now I am here. This is the best thing I can imagine.
"I’ve never had a plan for my career. I react on what happens and what I feel inside. For me it fits perfectly for me."
