KLOPPEL GANGERS
Kop boss can now field two top teams and he says: I can’t just put 11 players out there who are good friends..no-one is guaranteed to start
JURGEN KLOPP has warned his players there can be no moaning as a new dawn breaks at Liverpool.
The signing of £75million Virgil van Dijk and the impending arrival of £55m midfielder Naby Keita means the already intense competition at Anfield will become ruthless. The Reds boss can field two equally strong teams and he bluntly told his squad it is not his job to keep them happy – and no one is safe. “We want to become one of the best teams in world football and you cannot go there with just 11 players who are best friends,” said Klopp. “We are professionals. My job is not to keep them all happy.
“I can’t do that every day. But I can as often as they let me do it. But now, if you perform it’s not guaranteed you will play the next game.
“The players know it’s difficult to play all the games. If you ask them it is, ‘Yes, I’m ready’, but they aren’t all the time.
“No player should or can play a whole season. It’s part of professional football – you get new players in. The really good players will say the challenge of new ones will help you.”
The German has already been ruthless in his squad rotation and it is testament to the quality he now has available that few people can name an obvious first-choice starting XI.
He does have his ‘Fab Four’ front men, but with Adam Lallana returning and the option to play a more solid midfield three, even the likes of
£120m-rated Philippe Coutinho is no longer an automatic choice, while Sadio Mane – arguably the star so far this season – has been dropped recently.
But for Klopp, it is a fact of football life and he told his team they have to grasp it, respect their team-mates when they are not selected – and not undermine Liverpool’s quest to be a worldclass team.
“If you want to be part of a really good football club you need to respect there are a lot of other really good players,” he added. “I didn’t see any holes in the performance. With the performance level we’ve delivered, it’s really high. “Results-wise, maybe it’s not sexy, but all the draws we were closer to winning than losing. That is another important thing.” Klopp will make big changes for the trip to Burnley after the impressive comeback win over Leicester. With Mo
Salah injured, Lallana may get his first start of the season and Simon Mignolet returns in goal. Technically, Van Dijk will be a Liverpool player today, but the paperwork will not be clear in time for him to play at Turf Moor, although he could face Everton in the FA Cup on Friday. Klopp has hinted the defender must fight for his place, with his back-four showing great resolve – especially at Anfield – in recent weeks. After the Leicester win, he praised his rearguard. “This much-criticised defence did not do bad, eh?” he said afterwards. “Leicester had their moments. “It only took us two years to defend the throw-ins of Leicester properly! Probably a year ago we would’ve conceded three, so it was really good to see that we were absolutely spot on. “All of them were aggressive in a very legal way.”