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As Tina Turner said, simply the best!

 

Even for Jurgen Klopp, this was a relaxed mood. After a whirlwind few days that kicked off with title-winning celebrations at the Formby Hall Gold Resort on Thursday night and ended with an open letter to the readers of this newspaper on Sunday, the Liverpool manager was ready to chat.

 

From the Merseyside celebrations and his days at Borussia Dortmund through to his relationship with owners Fenway Sports Group and plans for the summer transfer window, Klopp was in full flow. For over 40 minutes, the Reds manager, currently one of the most in-demand sportsmen on the planet, sat down to talk.

The ECHO was there alongside a handful of other publications whose reporters have followed the Reds home, away and abroad this season.

 

After finally getting over the line in the hunt for a first league title for three decades, Klopp exuded an aura of calm, even through the medium of Zoom video chats.

 

Being the man to end a three-decade wait for a Liverpool championship will do that to you, evidently.

 

When did you know you had a team to win league?

"I never thought that we will win the league until pretty late in this season, but that we can win the league obviously I learned last year. What I knew as well is that pretty much everything has to click with each other just because of the unbelievable strong opponent.

 

"I don’t know when that was last year, but it was not when we were seven, eight, nine points up because I knew we had a long way to go. I thought we could win the league at 60-70 minutes in the City-Leicester game until Kompany finished my dreams. There was always the possibility but it was not that we will win the league. That is just not possible.

 

"And this year I had a moment when we won against Bournemouth and City lost the next day against Manchester United. It was a big gap. I didn’t think we would win the league but it was a big gap and it felt quite good, but that is it pretty much.

 

What has been your message to the team?

"It was a message for the players! (laughs) I would love to share everything with you but we will now not start. These are the important moments, when you come together and you judge the situation. You talk about the past, the present and what will be. We have had one of these meetings already. It’s on the table. I have not had to do some magic or invent to show what targets we want to achieve.

 

"We came in this place in a specific way and this will not change. It will not change, the desire to be a part of this team. They have to show that on the pitch. We have space for improvement, of course. We have the chance to make competition internally. The doors are all wide open for the boys to come into the first XI. I am happy with all of them.

 

"I love all of them. It’s my job to line up the best XI for this specific game. I felt relief, of course, when we won it. But it’s not like you are relieved you have reached the pinnacle and that’s it now – there is nothing to come. I think there is a lot to come. We have to fight for it and we will try."

 

How did you approach season after winning first title with Dortmund?

"There was absolutely no pressure in Dortmund to win the title again because we had no chance in 2011 and the worst thing you can do in Germany is fire up Bayern Munich. That is not a good idea usually because they strike back pretty heavily. So there was absolutely no pressure.

 

"When we became champions in 2011 nobody told us we had to become champions again, especially because we lost Nuri Sahin who was player of the season that year in the Bundesliga. We brought in Ilkay Gundogan and Ivan Perisic as well. Pretty good players but at that time Ilkay was not the Ilkay Gundogan we see now. He was a kid. He finished school a few days before we came in. We tried to develop the team again just to be ready for the Champions League. That was the target.

 

"We were very ambitious, we played good but the results didn't come. We were a little bit stiff, we were not free, and we tried to defend the title. But then we had a very important game at Mainz funnily enough which we won pretty lucky in the last minute with a shot from 30 yards that rolled through plenty of legs and that was the changing point of the season for us.

 

But that was a different time. You cannot compare the situations. People may expect from us to win the league again. That is possible, I don't know. But I will not go into the season like this. I want us to play the best football we can play. I don't see it that you can win something if you defend something.

 

"We won it last year, nice, and now we will attack again. There is no guarantee that we will do it but we will try. There are a lot of things to go for and hopefully the world will be in a better place then and people can come in the stadium again. Hopefully we can relax a little bit in our private life, besides the job we do. That is what concerns me more in the moment.

 

"The rest is football and football problems and we will have solutions. But when I think of next year I don't think about winning it again. That doesn't mean we don't want it, only that there are a lot of steps to go between now and then.

 

What was the biggest thing you needed to add to turn team you took over into a title-challenging one and did you have to change anything about yourself?

"As well we had to change the atmosphere at the club, that was the most important thing. It was one game and people thought 'Klopp is in and things will change'. Instantly or whatever, that is of course not the case. It's always like this.

"The person you don't know that well is the perfect fit but the guy you know pretty well has no chance. Brendan Rodgers is an outstanding manager which he shows not only now but also at Celtic as well and here at Liverpool but it didn't work out. Then it's like 'Ah we're done'. But it was only we hope he is the right fit, and with we hope with these players you can do anything. That was pretty much the message I got.

 

"I didn't see it that way because each development needs a start and this was a start. For a start this team was exceptional but it was always clear it would not be the team for five years later but it was exceptional. From a character point of view these boys wanted to carry the expectation on their shoulders, the first thing I had to tell them was 'Thank you very much for trying but that's not possible so we have to get rid of that'.

 

"If you can start running with joy, working with joy and all of that stuff because I saw that was not there. We had to bring the people onside. Don't forget it's not that long since we played a back pass and the whole stadium was like 'Ah, oh my god'. The back pass is not my favourite pass but it is a proper opportunity to keep the ball from time to time. That's absolutely OK.

 

"But here it was not allowed. It's not too long ago that if we are only 1-0 up there will come a set piece and it was clear it would either be a goal or a chance for the opponent which can change the momentum of the game. We had to earn the trust and faith of the people.

 

"You cannot get brilliant overnight but you can change the effort overnight. It was most important for the start. Our work rate was not bad before but the reason for the work rate was different. The reason before was 'we had to do it otherwise we lose'.

 

"We changed it to 'We want to do it so we can win'. It is exactly the same amount of yards but one is much more positive and gives you a much better chance to achieve what you want."

 

Is there one moment, personal or footballing that can sum up this incredible year?

"Yes - the Crystal Palace game. The Palace game sums it up, sums us up, because all of what these boys did, they did for the club for the people and for what we stand for. When you come here there are how many clubs out there you can go to.

"But if you choose Liverpool over other clubs, then there are two reasons for it: you don’t have another offer, or you do it because you know we are a special kind of club. So it is clear. We do it for them, the people, the special connection everyone has.

 

"At away games, we usually have fans, not as many but they are there - and we still try to be as emotional, and passionate as possible for this reason – because we chose a special club.

 

https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/jurgen-klopp-biggest-change-made-18514624

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  • 3 weeks later...
Guest Pistonbroke

Legend. The quote that gets me is on society in general. 

 

'' If I'm doing well then I want others to do well, I'll never understand the selfish right.'

 

Any right wing cunt supporting us should read his quotes ( along with Shanks and Paisley) then fuck off. 

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