Klopp: The time to win a few things is now


Jurgen Klopp has told his players to embrace the opportunity to win more silverware as they prepare for the Carabao Cup final against Chelsea on Sunday.



There was a time in the not too distant past where this competition was seen as a major distraction to the top teams as they looked to the major prizes on offer be it a League title or European glory.


 But since Swansea beat Bradford City in the 2013 final, it has been dominated by teams in the top echelon of the Premier League.
 Man City have won it six times, Man Utd and Chelsea once have triumphed in that period with City winning it for the past four seasons in a row.


With that run of success, they have now tied Liverpool for the amount of total League Cup wins with eight.
 But with the captivating modern day rivalry that the two teams are engaged with, you sense that Liverpool would take a deal of delight in edging ahead with success tomorrow.


Speaking at his pre-match press conference, Klopp spoke about the topic of legacies and how every opportunity should be taken with both hands as the Echo reported.


 "This team, we all know that in the moment the people are really happy,”


"But in 20 years if you want to talk about this team, I would not be surprised if people would then say if we don’t win anything any more, they’ll say ‘yeah they were good, but they should have won more’.


That’s why we should try now to win a few things. And the next chance, the best chance we have this weekend, is against Chelsea when it’s really tricky.”


Klopp admitted that City have dominated the discussion when it comes to success on a domestic front in the modern era.


While some may conveniently look to overlook Liverpool’s presence, it is clear by recent comments of Pep Guardiola, that he knows that the Reds are breathing down their necks and pushing them all the way.


The consistency the boys showed over the years is absolutely crazy. There is only one problem – there is another team who is even more consistent just that little bit, and that's City.


"It's not a problem for me, it's just in general because you would talk about this team (Liverpool) completely differently if the other team would not be there.
 And, by the way, City would have won the league the one year we won it and probably the Champions League the previous year as well, because we kicked them out.”


 As the manager looked at what this team could accomplish in the future, he also gave a revealing insight into the “dark days” of the 2020/21 season.
 While the pandemic was rumbling on, Klopp was in charge of a team crumbling with injuries as well as players and the manager himself dealing with personal tragedies.


With all this taking place, the rumours started that the German had lost his passion for the game and needed a sabbatical emerged,  especially when you consider the energy that he puts into every moment of his work.


"I never thought more about football, and I think a lot about football, than in this period,” he says. “How can we make it work? How can we make it so we just have a chance?


"That was really tough, while everyone was talking about the former champion and now the worst-ever defending champion. Thank you very much, that was really nice.


"Yes, it was an incredibly intense season and, yes, I was more than happy for a holiday. For the first 10 days, I didn’t take one time the phone out or whatever and ask ‘could we have this player?’.


"I couldn’t have cared less at that moment, just get through it and that is absolutely true.
 
Why shouldn’t managers be different? But for all of us it was the same. We were all like really drained. Just finished. Done.”


Klopp certainly understood the measures required for games to be played last season, but that didn’t mean to say he liked them, with the lack of fans striking at the heart of the team and to a large extent causing a substantial dip in form particularly at Anfield.


But they say that you learn more about yourself when the times are tough than when it is all smooth sailing.

Klopp certainly found about a few things about himself
.

“One thing is that it was more intense but I learnt more again last year than I did before. 


“Because dealing with difficulties is the best way to force you to find solutions. I was not happy with all the solutions in the season but looking back, most of them I would do the same.


 
“What did I learn? I'm calmer than I thought in difficult moments. I knew that before because I obviously had a lot of difficult moments in my life.”