READY FOR NEW ANFIELD CHAPTER
TRENT Alexander-arnold admits it will be “weird” without Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool next season.
Klopp is the only Liverpool boss Alexander-arnold has known since he handed him his debut as an 18-year-old in October 2016.
The defender has blossomed under Klopp to become the Reds vice-captain and an England international under Gareth Southgate.
He knows instinctively what Klopp wants on the pitch and says it will be “strange” adapting to the new manager’s style.
“I’d probably say I’m sat on the fence with regards to my feelings on a new manager coming in,” he said speaking to Gary Neville in the latest edition of Skybet’s The Overlap.
“It’ll be a completely different situation and it’s going to be weird to then turn up to preseason, having to adopt a new playing style.
“Whereas now, without anything getting said to me, I know all the manager wants me to do. I turn up to pre-season, I know to jump there, I’m to press there, but my next pre-season will have a completely different message.
“It’s going to be strange, but I like the idea of a new challenge for the team, the players and the club.”
Alexander-arnold, 25, says it was a total shock when Klopp called a team meeting before training in January to tell them he was leaving at the end of the season.
As stunned as he was, he understands Klopp’s desire to go because he did not have the energy for another season at Anfield.
“It was a weird morning when Klopp told us he was leaving Liverpool at the end of
the season,” he said. “We arrived at the training ground around 10am and then we’d have a meeting at 12pm after we’ve trained.
“But this time we arrived as normal and the manager wanted to have a meeting straightaway, and it’s the first time I’ve ever had a meeting at 10am. Everyone was in the changing rooms and we’re all looking around thinking what’s happening. He just said ‘I want to let you know that it’s breaking now,’ and he said he ‘was done’, not like completely done, but I could tell this was it.
“He knew another season would be too much, but he has enough in the tank to get us to the end of the season. That’s certainly something he always taught us and something I’ve adapted to as a player, is that you take it season by season, no matter what goes on, no matter what situation you’re in.
“Jurgen has been nothing but incredible. I owe everything to him as a player. The only thing you can ask for as a young player is an opportunity and that you’ve got a manager that’s
willing to give you a chance, and I was fortunate enough to have that.
“Not only that, he put his arm round me and guided me through the ups and downs, winning and losing games, and taking it game by game, because your first bad game you think you’re never going to kick a ball again, but he gives you that reassurance.”
Sporting Lisbon boss Ruben Amorim is the new favourite to take over after Xabi Alonso ruled himself out and Alexander-arnold says Liverpool will be fine if the players maintain their winning mentality.
“The new manager is going to come in and change the way we play, and it’ll be a different culture and different messages,” he said.
“But as long as the mentality to win, the eagerness to win and the internal pressure within ourselves and the demand to win things and be in a title race next season are all still there, no matter who the manager is, then we’ll be fine.
“That’s what we expect from ourselves.”
I like the idea of a new challenge for the team, the players & the club