Klopp previews the season
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Busy selling players. We ain't buying anyone else. Net spend zero that's the goal.
I keep getting this feeling that this season will be Bobby's swansong and will also be one of his most important contributions.
Jurgen Klopp has outlined Darwin Nunez‘s role in the Liverpool attack, insisting “we don’t want to change him,” with more options now to “change the dynamic.”
Nunez arrives as a de facto replacement for Sadio Mane, who is one of three first-team forwards to depart Anfield this summer, having joined Bayern
Along with Mane, both Divock Origi and Takumi Minamino have left the club, with Liverpool’s £85 million outlay on their new No. 27 at the forefront of an attacking overhaul.
Excitingly, this stands to prompt a change in approach in the final third, with the Reds calling upon an orthodox centre-forward for perhaps the first time since Christian Benteke.
That has led to suggestions that Nunez would need to adapt his game to fit in at Liverpool, but Klopp insists the 23-year-old has been brought in to play exactly as he did at Benfica.
We don’t want to change Darwin in a week or two or three,” he told reporters including GOAL‘s Neil Jones.
“Do I want Darwin to play like Bobby Firmino in the same position? No, not at all. It makes no sense.
“We are talking about a false No. 9 and a No. 9. That is the difference.
“We have to adapt a bit around that, and if it will be in the first Premier League game or the second or the third or the fourth, I couldn’t care less.
“We can just work on it, and we will do. We will see in training how quickly that will go. That is what I like about it. It will be really interesting.”
The belief is, then, that Liverpool could undergo a shift in system, at least in the way their attack operates, and Klopp is clearly relishing the options at his disposal.
Not only does that now include Nunez, but the manager has also named Fabio Carvalho and Harvey Elliott as new options on the flanks.
They appear to be three of seven regular candidates to line up in the attack, along with Mohamed Salah, Luis Diaz, Roberto Firmino and Diogo Jota.
“We have Luis Diaz, we have Fabio who can play on the wing as well, we have Diogo, all these kinds of things,” he continued.
“Mo is still here, been here a long time and is good as well and we have Harvey, so we have so many different options up front that I am sure I have forgotten some already!”
Two of those the manager may have forgotten are Curtis Jones and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, though they – like academy winger Kaide Gordon – are unlikely to be considered full-time forwards.
Nevertheless, the variety of options gives Klopp the opportunity to “change the dynamic” when required.
“We need to refresh the efforts and the way we play,” he stressed.
“That always depends on the qualities of the different players and they all have different qualities, so what do we do?
“I have an idea, but I don’t want to say now that we do it like this, as I am really open to what the boys offer and from there we go.
“We have a settled formation, if you want, and everyone knows how it is like this.
But we have some real options to change the dynamics on the pitch and I think that makes sense for us.”
Jürgen Klopp on improvement ideas, Austria initiations, Darwin Nunez and more
By Sam Williams
Jürgen Klopp and his coaches are focused on elevating their team to even greater heights during Liverpool's pre-season training camp in Austria.
The Reds arrived in Salzburg on Friday for a week-long stay ahead of next weekend’s FA Community Shield clash with Manchester City.
And Klopp is eager to maximise the opportunity this time away affords as he plots to surpass a remarkable 2021-22 in which his side won both domestic cup competitions, reached the Champions League final and finished one point behind City at the top of the Premier League.
“It was top… with obviously space for improvement,” the manager told Premier League Productions of last season.
“Last year we couldn’t have done a lot better. Results could have been slightly better but performances not much, so happy with a lot but saw a lot what we can improve and that is what we are working on in the moment.
“Not only because we want to improve, but we have to improve because other teams don’t sleep. Yeah, we have to be ready for massive fights every weekend and that’s what we try.”
Read a summary of the rest of the interview with the boss below.
How are pre-season preparations going this year compared to last?
Good, but you cannot compare the two preparations. We had, again, a lot of players on international duty, they played long [seasons]. We had the longest season as a team as well with the Champions League [final]. Last year we had I think four-and-a-half weeks with all players together, which is, from my point of view if you ever want to change something in football, the minimum what we all should have, what each coach should get because you can then be really influential.
Now for us it is a normal pre-season. Since we arrived in Asia all players are back, some are already injured [and] that is of course not cool, but all players are back and we work together and it’s fine. The pre-season is where it should be. We know we played three games, lost the first and won the two others, we are physically not where we want to be but that’s normal as well. Tactically we work a lot and for the moment I am fine [but] we don’t have really time because next Saturday we play already Man City in the Community Shield and that will be a massive test.
How has Darwin Nunez fitted in and what is his potential at Liverpool?
He has fitted very well in. It’s a new club, everything is new. Liverpool is a big club, everything went pretty quick for Darwin in the last few years – his journey is an exciting one and he will make big steps with us, definitely. But it’s a hard pre-season. In the pre-season players should not play like they usually play because we train really hard, it would be kind of a bad sign that we are not working hard enough if players have the freshest legs ever in the training games. But in the same moment when you are a new player you get judged every day, everybody speaks about you. Everything is so hectic – I’m not sure if it is my age or whatever, it’s just too hectic for me. I always think, ‘Why are we judging people constantly that early?’ Not only footballers, in general. So, everything will be good. It will take time like it always takes time but it’s fine. I don’t think we know already the way it can go for him because it’s so fresh and he wants to really enjoy every day, but we have a lot of work to do and he has some work to do as well. So, all good.
Karaoke initiations for new players and quiz nights – are they on the agenda again this year and why are they so important to you?
Yeah, they are on the agenda. It’s not that we enjoy it too much but you have to go through these kind of things when you are new in the club! We have a couple of new staff members as well so it will be very funny. I don’t know exactly when it is planned for, to be 100 per cent honest, but we will find the moment when we definitely will do it and these nights are quite funny and quite embarrassing for the guys who have to do it. But that’s part of the deal: when you sign a contract in a new club then you have to do these things.
What effect has Mohamed Salah’s new contract had on the squad and Mo himself?
Well, you have to ask Mo that but he looks like he always looks: sharp, top fit, full of desire for success and working extremely hard, coming back extremely fit. Mo is like this. I’m not sure Mo needs a pre-season, he could start the season immediately. He needs it for the rhythm and all these kind of things but not from a physical point of view. He just has a talent in this department but he is working extremely hard as well. So, I know Mo is very, very happy that we found an agreement. We were his club before he signed a new contract, now we are definitely his club and that feels pretty good.
You took the fans on an incredible journey last season, what can they expect in 2022-23?
That we try to do it again, at least like we did last year and if it is possible then to do better. We will try, it will not not work or not happen because we didn’t try hard enough. We will give our absolute everything, that is what I can promise. But you just have to look around at what other teams are doing, they didn’t get weaker and we didn’t win the games we won six or 7-0, we won them 1-0, 2-1 or whatever was necessary [and] we did that that often that we ended up one point behind Manchester City. It will be a tough season, our people know that and I hope they are ready to enjoy the season again.
How convinced are you that this squad can do it all over again?
No, I don’t have to be convinced about anything. I know that it is possible, it’s not extremely likely but we realise now that it is possible with luck here and there. Especially in cup competitions you need luck to get through all the rounds, we scored late goals and all these kind of things. So we know that it is doable but not very likely that another team or we will do this again, but we will just play it game by game, starting with the Community Shield and then the Premier League, at some point the League Cup will start, Champions League will start… so yeah, it will be tough [and] it was very tough, but we enjoyed it as well. So it was not only tough, there were a lot of moments where we really thought, ‘Wow, it is a pure privilege’… we really enjoyed it but who knows what will be.
By Sam Williams
Jürgen Klopp and his coaches are focused on elevating their team to even greater heights during Liverpool's pre-season training camp in Austria.
The Reds arrived in Salzburg on Friday for a week-long stay ahead of next weekend’s FA Community Shield clash with Manchester City.
And Klopp is eager to maximise the opportunity this time away affords as he plots to surpass a remarkable 2021-22 in which his side won both domestic cup competitions, reached the Champions League final and finished one point behind City at the top of the Premier League.
“It was top… with obviously space for improvement,” the manager told Premier League Productions of last season.
“Last year we couldn’t have done a lot better. Results could have been slightly better but performances not much, so happy with a lot but saw a lot what we can improve and that is what we are working on in the moment.
“Not only because we want to improve, but we have to improve because other teams don’t sleep. Yeah, we have to be ready for massive fights every weekend and that’s what we try.”
Read a summary of the rest of the interview with the boss below.
How are pre-season preparations going this year compared to last?
Good, but you cannot compare the two preparations. We had, again, a lot of players on international duty, they played long [seasons]. We had the longest season as a team as well with the Champions League [final]. Last year we had I think four-and-a-half weeks with all players together, which is, from my point of view if you ever want to change something in football, the minimum what we all should have, what each coach should get because you can then be really influential.
Now for us it is a normal pre-season. Since we arrived in Asia all players are back, some are already injured [and] that is of course not cool, but all players are back and we work together and it’s fine. The pre-season is where it should be. We know we played three games, lost the first and won the two others, we are physically not where we want to be but that’s normal as well. Tactically we work a lot and for the moment I am fine [but] we don’t have really time because next Saturday we play already Man City in the Community Shield and that will be a massive test.
How has Darwin Nunez fitted in and what is his potential at Liverpool?
He has fitted very well in. It’s a new club, everything is new. Liverpool is a big club, everything went pretty quick for Darwin in the last few years – his journey is an exciting one and he will make big steps with us, definitely. But it’s a hard pre-season. In the pre-season players should not play like they usually play because we train really hard, it would be kind of a bad sign that we are not working hard enough if players have the freshest legs ever in the training games. But in the same moment when you are a new player you get judged every day, everybody speaks about you. Everything is so hectic – I’m not sure if it is my age or whatever, it’s just too hectic for me. I always think, ‘Why are we judging people constantly that early?’ Not only footballers, in general. So, everything will be good. It will take time like it always takes time but it’s fine. I don’t think we know already the way it can go for him because it’s so fresh and he wants to really enjoy every day, but we have a lot of work to do and he has some work to do as well. So, all good.
Karaoke initiations for new players and quiz nights – are they on the agenda again this year and why are they so important to you?
Yeah, they are on the agenda. It’s not that we enjoy it too much but you have to go through these kind of things when you are new in the club! We have a couple of new staff members as well so it will be very funny. I don’t know exactly when it is planned for, to be 100 per cent honest, but we will find the moment when we definitely will do it and these nights are quite funny and quite embarrassing for the guys who have to do it. But that’s part of the deal: when you sign a contract in a new club then you have to do these things.
What effect has Mohamed Salah’s new contract had on the squad and Mo himself?
Well, you have to ask Mo that but he looks like he always looks: sharp, top fit, full of desire for success and working extremely hard, coming back extremely fit. Mo is like this. I’m not sure Mo needs a pre-season, he could start the season immediately. He needs it for the rhythm and all these kind of things but not from a physical point of view. He just has a talent in this department but he is working extremely hard as well. So, I know Mo is very, very happy that we found an agreement. We were his club before he signed a new contract, now we are definitely his club and that feels pretty good.
You took the fans on an incredible journey last season, what can they expect in 2022-23?
That we try to do it again, at least like we did last year and if it is possible then to do better. We will try, it will not not work or not happen because we didn’t try hard enough. We will give our absolute everything, that is what I can promise. But you just have to look around at what other teams are doing, they didn’t get weaker and we didn’t win the games we won six or 7-0, we won them 1-0, 2-1 or whatever was necessary [and] we did that that often that we ended up one point behind Manchester City. It will be a tough season, our people know that and I hope they are ready to enjoy the season again.
How convinced are you that this squad can do it all over again?
No, I don’t have to be convinced about anything. I know that it is possible, it’s not extremely likely but we realise now that it is possible with luck here and there. Especially in cup competitions you need luck to get through all the rounds, we scored late goals and all these kind of things. So we know that it is doable but not very likely that another team or we will do this again, but we will just play it game by game, starting with the Community Shield and then the Premier League, at some point the League Cup will start, Champions League will start… so yeah, it will be tough [and] it was very tough, but we enjoyed it as well. So it was not only tough, there were a lot of moments where we really thought, ‘Wow, it is a pure privilege’… we really enjoyed it but who knows what will be.
With Liverpool bringing Darwin Nunez to the club in a deal that could be worth £85 million, and Erling Haaland choosing the Etihad Stadium as his next destination, comparisons between the two are in full flow.
Both arrive in the Premier League for big money, both have long hair, and both scored a lot of goals last season!
But for Jurgen Klopp, that seems to be where the comparisons end. Many fans are desperate to see which signing will turn out to be the most successful, but Klopp seems completely relaxed about his new No.27.
When asked to name similarities and differences between the pair, the Liverpool boss responded with a typically laid back answer.
“One is left-footed, the other is right-footed,” Klopp told Viaplay Fotball, before
One is from Norway, the other one is from Uruguay, they are big differences!
“I’m not sure if the temper builds that up, I think Erling could be from South America as well.
“Darwin could not be from Norway. Norwegian strikers tend to be slightly crazy, how you know best,” he aimed at interviewer and famous Norway striker Jan Aage Fjortoft.
The Liverpool boss did eventually give Fjortoft something closer to the answer he was after, claiming Haaland is “an absolutely great player” that he “loves.”
However, it’s another example of Klopp taking a classic social media topic and turning it into a laughing matter.
He clearly has complete confidence in Nunez and doesn’t need him to be compared to anyone else.
Nunez’s own confidence certainly won’t be in a bad state, after the Uruguayan opened his Liverpool account with four goals against RB Leipzig last Thursday.
Next time you’re getting riled up by someone trying to tell you how much better Haaland is than Nunez, just have a listen to the boss!
The whole Nunez/Mane comparison thing is a bit ridiculous, given since January we've signed two left sided attackers who aren't Darwin Nunez!
As for the Nunez/Haaland thing, one of them could finish top scorer and not win the league, so the success of either signing is all relative.
As for the Nunez/Haaland thing, one of them could finish top scorer and not win the league, so the success of either signing is all relative.
Salah has finished top goalscorer 3 times out of the last 5 seasons (almost 4 out of 5; 1 behind Kane the year before last).
In each season he's done this, we've not won the league.
The one time he finished way behind Vardy, we won the league at a canter.
If Nunez scores 15 goals, Salah scores 15 and Haaland 35, but we win the league, I won't give a fook about comparisons.
In each season he's done this, we've not won the league.
The one time he finished way behind Vardy, we won the league at a canter.
If Nunez scores 15 goals, Salah scores 15 and Haaland 35, but we win the league, I won't give a fook about comparisons.
Nunez looks strong in the heading department- like he can head with power.
I agree about Trent - but also Robbo & the greek Scouser will welcome more of a target to hit.
Darwin reminds me of the Uruguayan Nunez. Like for like comparison.
Balls on the line comment incoming. Robbo will assist Nunez more than Trent.
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