There were expectations that newly appointed Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp would do something special at White Hart Lane against Tottenham, in his first match in charge of the club. With a smile on his face after the 0-0 draw in North London, the German manager said, “We don’t have to sprinkle magical dust on them and say ‘And now you can play football.’ They know how to play.”
Talking about his players, he added, “I’m not sure how many games you saw like this from Adam Lallana? What do you think? I know him since he was at Southampton and knew he can do 20 to 30 per cent more.”
“Philippe Coutinho? Do you not think he can play better football than that? Of course, he can.”
“Lucas? You don’t think he can play balls on the right and left? Of course he can.”
“Emre Can? Learning between running and passing. He can learn.”
“James Milner? The complete football player. The perfect professional. A machine.”
“Everything is there… We just have to create a situation where it’s possible to do these things. There’s pressure but not the biggest pressure, these guys are running for their life.”
“Of course we should play better football. Not because I say but because we can. When we have the ball the other team has to run. The most important thing is for the players to be prepared to be a little bit wild.”
“We are only three days together and you can see that something changed. We
didn’t want to do it too complicated because it is not physics it is football.”