Klopp on Liverpool non-negotiables, referee ‘irony’ and teeth grinding
Jurgen Klopp has explained what it takes to play for Liverpool, revealing that it’s “not actually as intense as it looks”.
In a new film, The End of the Storm, which chronicles Liverpool’s title-winning season, Klopp speaks out on the challenge of turning the Reds from nearly men to a dominant force in Europe once again.
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He touches on a number of topics, including his relationship with his father, the point at which he realised the scale of his task, as well as what playing for his Liverpool team requires.
“You don’t have to be fitter to play for Liverpool,’ Klopp said. “You just have to be fit and to fit our plan. Our game is not actually as intense as it looks. We do the things we do to save energy.
“Winning the ball back immediately is a two or three-yard sprint. If you don’t win the ball there, 10 players have to run 50 or 60 yards to win the ball, it’s much more exhausting.
“Even when we are attacking we need to have players who are ready to defend. Because the only time in life when you can feel free is when you have protection.”
Klopp is one of the most enigmatic managers on the touchline and the German boss is well aware he can sometimes “look like a complete idiot” and explained how his sarcasm has often got him into trouble.
He added: “The most obvious thing is people see me very animated constantly, grinding my teeth and pointing. I cannot look overnight like The Thinker, standing out there like this [adopts Rodin pose] and everybody thinks obviously something must be going on in his mind. At specific moments I still look like a complete idiot on the sidelines, I know that.
“I still have the most red cards, or certainly the most fines, as a manager in the history of the Bundesliga. Irony doesn’t help. Referees cannot really deal with that. I think it was my first red card as a manager, I went to the assistant referee and I said: ‘How many wrong decisions are allowed? Because if it’s 15 we have one left.’ He raised his flag, and whoosh, I was already on my way to the stands. But I can’t sit down.”
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