‘No deal’ is right for us, says Klopp
JURGEN KLOPP has urged his side to write another ‘wonderful chapter’ but warned it is not realistic to expect Liverpool to rack up 97 points again.
Klopp’s men open their campaign tonight against Norwich and there will be a sense that little has changed. The Anfield manager made a conscious decision not to get involved in the transfer-market frenzy as he believes his squad will improve without the need for reinforcement.
The German pointed to the examples of Barcelona — who dominated Europe from 2006 to 2011 without making huge signings — and Sir Alex Ferguson’s great Manchester United side who won three consecutive Premier Leagues by only adding one or two new faces.
Having lifted the Champions League in June, Klopp has faith that this group’s peak years are coming and Sunday’s second-half performance in the Community Shield gave him belief that Liverpool will be strong again this season.
But after churning out so many victories last year — and finishing 25 points ahead of third-placed Chelsea — Klopp does not think the gap between the top two and the rest will be anywhere near as pronounced this season.
‘It looks like we will all be closer to each other,’ said Klopp, who has reported Sadio Mane fit for duty, even though the Senegal forward only returned to training after his break on Monday.
‘If that is the case, then you can’t get 97 or 98 points. You have to win all the important games. The best way is to win all the games. The only thing we know at the moment is that nothing will happen for us in a positive way if we don’t win our games.
‘Friday for us is deadline day. That is because pre-season is over, now let’s perform as good as possible. Let’s be as difficult to play against, be as direct as possible, prepare our situations as good as possible, be 100 per cent in the defending mood.
‘A season has a story and there are different chapters but, without a first word, you cannot start. This is what we do. We start our story and there’s no reason why it should not be a wonderful story.’
Klopp’s decision to only add the junior signings of Fulham’s Harvey Elliott and Sepp van der Berg from FC Zwolle has been debated by Liverpool fans. He, however, provided a compelling reason for not getting involved in any bidding.
‘We are a good team in a very difficult league with a lot of competitors desperate to get the position we are in,’ said Klopp. ‘Nobody knows how it will look, but Sunday showed we will be fine.
‘The rest is what we make of it, scoring at the right time, defending with passion as much as organisation.
‘I really hope we will not talk about it anymore and I’ve been looking forward to someone saying no transfers are possible. Now let’s play the season.’
Meanwhile, Norwich boss Daniel Farke is determined to step out of Klopp’s shadow this evening.
The German pair have travelled similar roads, but until now their paths have never crossed.
Farke’s Norwich return to life in the Premier League at Anfield and the 42-year-old is in no mood for pleasantries.
‘It’s not the time in this business to sit together with the German coaches and do some philosophy about football and life,’ said Farke.
Farke has never worked with, or against, Klopp but the Anfield boss has loomed large in his career. Farke took over Borussia Dortmund’s second XI months after Klopp left the club in 2015.
David Wagner and Jan Siewert also coached at Dortmund, while Thomas Tuchel replaced Klopp there and is now at Paris Saint-Germain.
Farke admits Klopp has been a role model and a ‘door opener’ for other German managers but of Norwich he said: ‘We are pretty much a possession-based side. We want to control the game.’
The Canaries boss has called Liverpool ‘probably the best team in the world’.
Farke added: ‘I can’t speak highly enough about Jurgen Klopp. The job he’s done at Liverpool is outstanding.’
Tonight, though, is more than a meeting of two coaches off the Dortmund conveyor belt.
‘You have to judge not in general — we’re different coaches, different style,’ said Farke. ‘I wouldn’t say it’s coincidence because Borussia Dortmund is always looking for good coaches.’