Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
KLOPP: EU KNOW WHAT TO DO
Reds boss admits only Champions League success will allow him to complete his KOP REVOLUTION
JURGEN KLOPP is six weeks away from the game that will shape his Liverpool future.
The German knows how important next month’s Champions League qualifier against as-yet-unknown opponents is to Liverpool’s season. Lose and Klopp will see his plans take a massive hit. Win and a place in the group stages of the world’s most prestigious club competition will help accelerate the rebuilding programme he has already embarked upon at Anfield. Liverpool return to pre-season training at their Melwood base on Wednesday looking to improve on last season’s fourth place in the Premier League and banking on a lengthy campaign in the Champions League. They have eight pre-season games over the next month, and Klopp is confident his squad will be cherry-ripe for the start of competitive action. He said: “You always want to take the next step from one year to the next year. You have to see how things fit when the new players are in. “Young players are one year older. That doesn’t make the biggest difference but being involved in the first team for that extra year does. “They can make big steps because they are settled. They are not as nervous each day in training, thinking ‘Oh my God, that’s Adam Lallana next to me’ and things like that. “That can be a big difference. “You have to take one or two steps back to make five or six steps in the right direction.” Klopp largely favoured a 4-3-3 formation last season but showed in the run-in that he was prepared to adapt. Brazilian playmaker Philippe Coutinho (above) in particular made a difference when he dropped into a deeper midfield position, creating one and scoring two in the penultimate match at West Ham United before scoring from a free-kick in the win over Middlesbrough on the last day of the season. And Klopp knows what he is trying to achieve during this pre-season. He said: “Tactically, we will become more flexible – depending upon who is available – and will introduce different systems. “In 2015-16 we played most of the time in a kind of 4-2-3-1 formation. “In 2016-17 most of the time it was 4-3-3 or 4-5-1. It was best suited to the players we had. “I’m not sure which way we will play next season – there will be a few different systems. And with European football we need a bigger squad.”