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Tag: Jurgen Klopp

  • Jurgen Klopp slams England’s response to COVID-19

    Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has criticised England’s handling of the coronavirus crisis, revealing he feels like an alien for continuing to take it seriously.

    During its peak, there were fears the Premier League season would be abandoned completely with Klopp himself conceding he became fully aware of that possibility.

    But despite those sporting concerns, Klopp has stressed his real focus has remained on matters off the pitch as he noted the major difference in how England and Germany have dealt with the coronavirus.

    “I was not worried for one second that the ­government could cost us the title because I was worried about the numbers who were dying – and I’m still worried,” Klopp said.

    “I didn’t vote for this ­government. This government was the choice of other people. And the problem I had was that I got the news from England and the news from Germany. If aliens looked at us both from the outside, they would think we came from two different planets.

    “From a personal point of view, I don’t understand why we started wearing face masks in closed areas on June 15 when five or six weeks ago all the other countries were doing it.

    “You can argue about whether it makes sense to wear them, but all ­countries who started wearing face masks earlier have smaller casualty numbers than here in England. That’s the truth.

    “When I see the numbers here in ­England and then in Germany, I think. Look, it’s not perfect in Germany, people have died and have been ill. But, in terms of living your life, it is completely different.

    “If you want to enter a shop in Germany, but don’t wear a face mask, then you aren’t allowed in. With a face mask, you can go in all the shops you want. You can go to the hairdresser, wherever.

    “They wear a face mask, you wear a face mask, and sometimes the people in the shop will have even more ­protection like a screen.

    “When I go to the petrol ­station in England, I am the only one wearing a face mask and I’m the only one with gloves – I feel like an alien. I will not stop doing that until someone tells me it’s over.

    “But inside the club, we are safe. We are tested twice a week and it is a safe ­environment.”

  • Klopp deserves a statue at Anfield – Gerrard

    Klopp deserves a statue at Anfield – Gerrard

    Former Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard says the Reds should already be “starting work on a statue” of Jurgen Klopp ahead of their title coronation.

    Liverpool will be confirmed as the new Premier League champions if they pick up six points from their final nine fixtures of the 2019-20 season.

    Klopp’s men had established an unassailable 25-point lead over holder Manchester City before the coronavirus stopped play in March, having won all but two of their first 29 games.

    “Let’s cut to the chase, sitting here, doing this interview right now, I think Jurgen Klopp is the best manager in the world,” the ex-Reds midfielder told The Athletic.

    “I know there are a lot of successful managers about. Pep Guardiola is exceptional. Carlo Ancelotti is exceptional too and I think Everton are really lucky to have him with his CV. I could name many more.

    “Having had the experience of being a manager for the past two years, you realise how difficult and challenging the job is. I have nothing but respect for Jurgen.

    “The way the man handles himself, the way he’s been with myself, the way he goes about his business, the way he comes across. I think he’s got a heart and I think he’s got a head. He just works for Liverpool. He has come and taken the club to the next level.”

  • Liverpool: Why i still wear tracksuit – Klopp

    Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp says wearing a tracksuit on the touchline has become part of his identity as a coach.

    Klopp has made the tracksuit a trademark look amid his rise to prominence with Mainz, Borussia Dortmund and Liverpool.

    The German says he does not feel as comfortable when he wears more professional attire as he has been sporting the casual look since his coaching career began at Mainz and it has become part of his character.

    “I was a player and the next day I was the manager. In my locker room was the tracksuit of the guy who had the job two days before. It didn’t even fit me,” Klopp told The Guardian.

    “I was just focused on the game. I never thought about how I look. I know it’s not too cool because we are working in public, but then when I came to Borussia Dortmund I thought: ‘Maybe I have to change’. I went for a while wearing jeans and a shirt. But I just didn’t feel comfortable. But that doesn’t mean it’s bad for you.

  • EPL: Liverpool preparing for shorter break between seasons

    Liverpool are preparing for a shorter break between seasons due to the disruption to the current English Premier League (EPL) campaign caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, manager Juergen Klopp has said.

    The Premier League hopes to restart the 2019/2020 season —- which usually ends in May —- next month.

    With nine rounds of fixtures remaining, the season will spill over into at least July, while the 2020/2021 campaign was set to begin on Aug. 8.

    “Today we started with training, good things, not the highest intensity. But the boys look in good shape,” Klopp said.

    “We don’t know exactly how long we have, but we have some time to prepare the rest of this season and already the next season because I don’t think there will be a massive break between the two.

    “We don’t know exactly but we should prepare for a rather shorter break between the two seasons.”

    The league has set June 12 as a tentative date for a restart of action and Klopp said players would be thrust straight into action without playing friendly matches.

    “It’s a pre-season for us. We don’t know how long and we will not have test games or friendlies,” he added.

    Clubs are scheduled to meet next week when the league will decide on whether they can move to the next phase of training that involves contact.

  • Jurgen Klopp pushed about re-signing Coutinho

    Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has cooled talk of ever re-signing Barcelona midfielder Philippe Coutinho.

    Having failed to secure a regular starting spot in his one-and-a-half seasons at Barca, Coutinho is now out on loan at Bayern Munich.

    So, could a permanent return to Anfield ever be on the cards?

    “Phil was our boy for a long time. We respect him a lot and wish him all the best,” Klopp told the Pure Football Podcast.

    “That’s how football should be. That’s the most important thing the club showed in that moment.”

  • Liverpool boss warns Atletico of intimidating Anfield crowd

    Liverpool boss warns Atletico of intimidating Anfield crowd

    Jurgen Klopp warned Atletico Madrid that Anfield will be as intimidating as the Wanda Metropolitano when Liverpool look to overturn a 1-0 loss from the Champions League last-16 first leg.

    Saul Niguez’s fourth-minute strike was enough to give the Spanish side the advantage over the defending champions.

    Madrid’s stadium was raucous on Tuesday with fans orchestrated by energetic Atletico manager Diego Simeone.

    “Atletico fans who can a get ticket… ‘welcome to Anfield’,” said Klopp.

    “Emotions are important. Tonight they were obviously completely on the side of Atletico, but I am really looking forward to the second leg.

    “We speak from time to time about the power of Anfield and the power a stadium can have and tonight you saw that.

    “It’s half-time and we’re 1-0 down. The second half will be played in our stadium and they will feel it.”

    Liverpool did not manage a shot on target against a resilient Atletico side – only the second time the Reds have failed to test an opposing goalkeeper since Klopp took over as manager of the club in 2015.

    “I have no problem with the result,” added the German, who has never lost a European two-legged tie with Liverpool. “I saw so many happy faces at Atletico, but it’s not over yet.

    “I’m not sure what we have to be in the second leg. They were going constantly to the petrol station and we drove with one tank.

    “I’m not sure if Diego Simeone saw a lot of the game because he was continually animating the crowd.”

  • EPL: I feel for Guardiola – Klopp

    Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp says he feels for Pep Guardiola and the Manchester City players after the club’s suspension from Europe.

    Uefa have banned City from European competition for two years for “serious” financial fair-play breaches.

    City plan to appeal against the ban and have 10 days to take the issue to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

    “It was a shock when I heard it. In this moment I imagine it’s very hard for them,” the German said.

    “I have no idea how these things work – what I can say is Manchester City under Pep Guardiola play sensational football. I’ve always admired what they do.

    “To be honest I feel for Pep and the players because, wow, they did, for sure, nothing wrong. They just played football and sensational football.

    “Pep helped the league to improve football.”

  • ‘Klopp told me I was better than Salah’

    Mohamed Zidan was once the face of Egyptian football and says Jurgen Klopp told him “100 times” at Borussia Dortmund that he was a better player than Mohamed Salah.

    The former frontman was thought to have the potential to scale such heights.

    He enjoyed a productive career in Europe, representing the likes of Midtylland, Mainz, Hamburg and Dortmund.

    Zidan also took in 44 appearances for his country and was often the go-to man for the Pharaohs.

    Salah now shoulders that responsibility, having become a global star while on the books at Liverpool, but was not always held in such high regard.

    Klopp is benefitting from his considerable talent at present, but he was also a big fan of another Egyptian during his days in charge of Dortmund.

    Zidan told ON Sport: “Klopp told me that I was better than Salah 100 hundred times but I needed to be more professional.

    “Klopp said to me that I have a great talent and skills but I need to concentrate more. If I did this I could be one of the best players in the world”.

  • Ancelotti reveals he lost to Klopp for Liverpool job

    Carlo Ancelotti has revealed he lost out to Jurgen Klopp in the race to become Liverpool manager in 2015, and admits the club’s owners made the right decision in picking the German.

    Following Brendan Rodgers’ sacking in October, 2015, Ancelotti held talks about succeeding him, before Liverpool opted to hire Klopp.

    Two months later, it was announced Ancelotti was to succeed Pep Guardiola at Bayern Munich at the conclusion of the 2015/16 season.

    “It was after [I left] Real Madrid, I had a chat with the owner,” Ancelotti said.

    “They were looking for a new manager but I think they made a right choice with Jurgen. He is doing fantastic work at Liverpool, so well done.”

    However, despite his recent success against them, Ancelotti knows Everton must produce a “perfect” performance if they are to win at Anfield for the first time since 1999 when they play in the FA Cup third round on Sunday.

    “Jurgen is my friend, we have a good relationship and I had the luck to beat him last season as well, although they won the competition,” Ancelotti said.

    Ancelotti is the only coach to beat a side managed by Klopp this season.

    He guided Napoli to a 2-0 Champions League victory against the European champions in September. His side also beat Liverpool last season and earned a draw at Anfield in November.

  • I’m the wrong person to ask Qatar politics question, Klopp says

    Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp says it is wrong that managers and players are asked to make judgments on the suitability of a country for hosting global tournaments.

    Klopp is currently in Qatar for the Club World Cup, where his team are already in the semi-finals.

    The European champions will play Mexico’s Monterrey at the Khalifa International Stadium on Wednesday in the semi-final of the FIFA tournament which ends on Saturday.

    Asked at a news conference about whether it was right to play in a country where rights for homosexuals are restricted, Klopp said that was for others to address.

    “This is a real serious thing to talk about I think and the answers should come from people who know more about it. I have to be influential in football but not in politics,” he said.

    Qatar will host the FIFA World Cup in 2022 when fans from 32 nations will flock to the gulf state for a month of football action.

    “Anything I say wouldn’t help, it would just create another headline, positive or negative. I like you (to) ask the question but I think I am the wrong person,” he added.

    As in a number of majority Muslim countries, homosexual acts are strictly prohibited in Qatar although the law is rarely enforced.

    During the preparations for the competition, Qatari officials had met with Liverpool supporters groups, including the LGBT group ‘Kop Outs!’ to discuss their concerns about attending the tournament.

    Liverpool chief executive Peter Moore said the club were given assurances by Qatari authorities that their LGBT supporters would be welcomed in the Gulf state.

    Klopp said decisions on where to host events were not matters for sportspeople themselves but the administrators.

    “We arrived here, we were very welcomed. Everything is organised as it should be. Organising the competition wherever it is they have to think about it. Athletes shouldn’t,” he said.

    “We represent Liverpool, we are invited so we should go there. If sportsmen make a decision about competitions wherever it is in the world, that is not right.

    “My personal opinion, I have one, of course. I think we should all be treated equally, that is clear.”

    The German said fans visiting Qatar should respect the country, as they would anywhere else.

    “I don’t think anyone has to be concerned to come here if they do the normal stuff. You have to respect the rules of different countries, I have to respect the rules of England when I am there, it is only
    cultural but that’s how it is,” he said.