‘Klopp is joker made of steel’

BEHIND the Jurgen Klopp joker’s mask is a man of steel. The German master (below) might like a laugh when the camera lenses zoom in on him – but don’t be fooled.

Former Liverpool forward Mark Walters has seen and heard enough during the past few years of Klopp’s reign to know that the happy-clappy boss who parades in front of the press has a decided edge once the dressingroom doors are closed. He said: “Jurgen Klopp comes across as very jovial, a bit of a joker. He’s very amiable and personable – that’s his public face.

“But I understand he’s deadly serious about his football.

“When he first joined and Liverpool were losing matches, he used it as a learning experience.

“I always remember what happened to

Mamadou Sakho.

He looked like he could be the answer long before Virgil van Dijk was signed – a proper centre-back. But he fell out with the manager ahead of a pre-season tour to America.

“In the next transfer window, that was it – he was sent out on loan to Crystal Palace.

“So, don’t be fooled by the act. Klopp has instilled discipline into that side – and that’s very important when you are trying to win trophies.”

And Klopp believes he will know if his Liverpool are up for defending their title when he looks in their eyes at the start of next season.

He said: “If next season doesn’t start like it should start, as long as I see in the eyes of my boys that they are ready, it will be absolutely no problem.

“At Dortmund, we never felt that we had to win the league just to show the world that we are still on it.

“After five matches, I’m pretty sure we were seventh.

“In Germany, they were throwing at us that we’d pretty much lost focus. It was all the obvious rubbish.

“Then we won a game away at Mainz, with a scrappy goal, and that was the moment the team stepped into the season. “From that moment on, we won 81 points, not losing for 23 games.

“So that’s how it is. What we have to do is keep the good things we already have and improve the things we are not so good at.”