Både Liverpool och Southampton står på 13 inspelade poäng inför söndagens drabbning på Anfield.
Oavgjort mot både Tottenham och Rubin Kazan. Det går inte att påstå att Jürgen Klopp har fått någon flygande start på sin karriär i Liverpool. Hittills har den dubbla tyska mästarmanagern framförallt prioriterat försvarsspelet, där den föredragna backlinjen verkar bestå av fyra spelare i form av Clyne, Skrtel, Sakho och Moreno. Jag tycker att Sakho är den backen som har imponerat klart mest i matcherna mot Spurs och Kazan, vilket Klopp verkar hålla med om. Under matchen mot Kazan sjöng hemmafansen Sakhos namn – någonting som Klopp har förståelse för: “I can understand why they shouted his name. Mama was really spectacular defending and good playing football,” kommenterade 48-åringen hyllningarna av Sakho.
Däremot väntar vi fortfarande på att anfallsspelet ska komma igång på allvar. Att både Benteke och Firmino kunde hoppa in mot Kazan var väldigt positivt, med tanke på vilken individuell kvalitet de besitter. Detta i synnerhet eftersom Coutinho, Lallana och Origi inte har imponerat under deras frånvaro. Framförallt Origi har haft svårt att sätta avtryck i matcherna, vilket förstås delvis kan förklarar med att han knappt spelade fram till Klopps inträde. Även en ung spelare kan bli ringrostig utan speltid. Dessvärre har inte Origi stärkt sina aktier och får nog finna sig att vara tillbaka på bänken den dagen både Benteke och Sturridge är tillbaka.
Benteke är alltså tillbaka i spel, men Sturridge dras alltjämt med en skada. På gårdagens presskonferens kommenterade Klopps den engelska landslagsanfallarens skada enligt följande: ”I spoke a few minutes ago with [Daniel], it’s not much better at this moment. With Daniel’s injury we have to see day by day. If he can train tomorrow – if – completely normal, then he’s an option. Because the break is not so long now then not maybe as a starter but he’s an option [for the squad]. Today we have another treatment, another scan, because there’s a little bit of fluid in the knee. We have to see but it’s day by day.”
Det blir onekligen spännande att se Liverpool mot Southampton. Bortalaget försöker spela bra fotboll och slår många inlägg mot sin stora anfallare Graziano Pellé, som dock bara har gjort 3 av sina 17 PL-mål på bortaplan. Enligt BBC Sport har Maarten Stekelenburg och Cedric Soares haft problem med skador, men ska kunna spela mot Liverpool. Däremot är det oklart om Jay Rodriguez kommer till spel, eftersom den otursförföljda 26-åringen dras med en fotskada.
Jag tycker det är motståndet ska passa Jürgens filosofi ?
Kevin Grosskreutz om Klopp:
” Jurgen Klopp may bump heads with his players on Saturday, he may even slap them but one message will be clear: it is not about you, it is about the team.
Klopp is an emotional guy. You have seen on television how he is on the touchline living every kick? Let me tell you he is equally animated in the dressing room. He is colourful, angry, emotional but he definitely has a plan. He has a clear strategy, he combines brains and guts.
Before every game, he made sure the atmosphere inside the dressing room was always highly charged. He would speak to each player individually, pumping them up, telling them what he wanted and then he would address us all as a group.
Lots of things went on with varying degrees of roughness; you could compare it maybe to what you see in American football or the rugby world cup, he’d bang heads with players, slap them. It was not in an overly aggressive way but in a way buddies would motivate each other.
He wanted to get inside our heads so that he knew we were going out to win. He wants everyone to put their body on the line and that will be his mantra: One for all and all for one. Any Liverpool individual who doesn’t buy into that will soon find himself out of the group.
It’s true he wants his team to run 120km every game. By pushing ourselves further we made it difficult for the opposition to keep up.
One of my first key games for him was against Hoffenheim and I ran 13 kilometres during the game.
Afterwards, Hoffenheim’s coach Ralf Rangnick came out and said: ’Kevin Grosskreutz ran more than my whole team put together!’ I was delighted and I knew Klopp was too as I then started nearly every game for him. I understood what he wanted. It was putting yourself apart for the sake of the team.
Klopp knew that despite Dortmund having talent such as Mario Gotze, Robert Lewandowski and Marco Reus, he needed players such as me who were prepared to run into the ground.
It is important for players to understand the team comes before themselves. There is not much room for individuals. With him it is important that everyone is equal. He can be your friend and your boss, like sugar and spice.
We went through every emotion: laughing, crying, anger but I will never forget the experience of working with Klopp. What he taught me will define me as a player and person for the rest of my career. It was like a reality show at times.
He is The Real One as well as The Normal One. I have written to him to wish him all the best of luck and he wrote back thanking me, saying he appreciated the message. On Saturday morning I’ll be ready to watch Tottenham against Liverpool and I’ll be cheering for him and for ’the reds’.
Our last season did not change our opinion of him as a coach or as a man. At the conclusion I have never witnessed such an outpouring of emotion for a manager. There were 85,000 people including the players, coaching staff and Klopp in tears. It was a sad time but one that showed what all of Dortmund thought of Klopp. He’s a great guy, that coached a great team in a great city and does so again. All the best to you, Jurgen and to Liverpool. ”