KLOPP HAS A CUNNING PLAN (OR TWO)

Jurgen answers ‘one-trick pony’ slur

JURGEN KLOPP says he has once and for all nailed the accusation he has no Plan B.

The Anfield coach has adopted a different approach in the last few weeks, insisting his side “must forget they are Liverpool” and instead aim to win ugly as the race for a Champions League slot hots up.

That has prompted critics to claim that his famous highpressing style makes too many demands on his players.

But Klopp has rejected those claims – and dismissed the idea that he is a one-trick manager.

As he prepares for another battle at West Brom tomorrow – and contemplates a back three to counter the aerial bombardment Liverpool will face – he insisted he has no respect for those lumping him in with Pep Guardiola as coaches who cannot adapt.

“If somebody speaks to me about Plan A or Plan B I don’t really understand,” he said.

“Actually I lose a bit of respect if people say things like that.

“This season we have had a lot of possession and won games against teams like Hull and Leicester. It was brilliant football. It was not high-intensity pressing, it was football at its best.

“When you go back and look at my Dortmund teams in 2012 and 2013, it was not all about pressing and counter-pressing – we played football and won games. This season we have lost games not because we didn’t have a Plan B but because we were having difficulties in different games.”

Liverpool took on Stoke last week with a more physical approach and a three-man central defence and it paid off, eventually, with the Reds showing massive character to come from a goal down to snatch a huge win at the bet365 Stadium.

Klopp has suggested that his team do not always need to go on the offensive and can “surprise a few teams” by sitting deep and hitting on the counter.

He could well do the same at the Hawthorns tomorrow.

But the German coach insisted that he hasn’t changed in recent weeks – he has always had that ability to adapt. “We didn’t adapt in the last few weeks – we did it from the first day of the season,” he said with a note of annoyance in his voice.

“We knew at the beginning of the season that opponents would come to Anfield and sit back. Pretty much all the teams are doing it, apart perhaps from Manchester City and Tottenham.

“We knew we had to adapt to this.”

While Liverpool have been forced to shuffle their pack