Klopp assesses impact of Liverpool duo in new positions
Jurgen Klopp has praised Harvey Elliott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain for their performances in new positions for Liverpool on Tuesday.
The Reds played two 30-minute friendlies on the same day and drew both matches 1-1 against Stuttgart and Wacker Innsbruck.
Oxlade-Chamberlain – who has been plagued with injury issues since joining Liverpool – played in a false-nine role, while Harvey Elliott was delpoyed in a central midfield role.
Kalvin Phillips should take Henderson place at Liverpool too…
And Klopp was full of praise for the way the duo adapted to their new roles in the team and was also impressed by new boy Ibrahima Konate.
“I don’t think Harvey had ever played that position for us, but he looked good,” Klopp told Liverpool’s official website. “Ox you could see in the first few minutes immediately that it is an option, definitely. We will see how that goes on.
“Ibou [Konate] did really well and that’s what we expected, he looks really good in training.
“First game with all the young boys, they have really showed up in training but it is different than when you play a first-team with all the kids together in the team. It is tough, but no problem – life is tough and we have to give them the opportunity to get tested in these kinds of games. We do that and now we carry on.”
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On the two friendlies, Klopp added: “It was a workout and it was good. Physically it was all that we wanted to see, we had to do it and it was an important test for that. From a football point of view, obviously a lot of space for improvement; I saw a lot of wild pressing.
“We wanted a wild press, we had a little competition between the two teams to see who wins the ball back more and how many counter-presses we have. We’ll have to think about the prize that the team will win!
“First game was obviously a very young team, Innsbruck did well and were obviously in a better moment than we are because they start next week with the league and we started last week with pre-season, so it’s different.
“But the kids did well in all the situations, they lost a little bit of organisation here and there, that’s how it is. The second game was a tough test, Stuttgart are a really good team. We started really well and then conceded a goal. Then we came more and more in the game again and scored a really nice goal.
“I’m really happy about it, it’s all good. I saw what I expected to see, actually – it would be strange if I was standing here and saying, ‘My god, I didn’t know we can play this kind of football’ but I am fine with it and now we keep working.”
