Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
KLOPP: CITY DON’T NEED A NO.9
BY DAVID LYNCH JURGEN KLOPP is relieved Manchester City failed to land an out-and-out striker this summer.
The Premier League champions have opted to use a ‘false nine’ this season after being priced out of a move for Tottenham’s Harry Kane.
But Klopp is thankful that Pep Guardiola’s attacking arsenal was not added to, and said: “I know they didn’t score 500 goals and the world is talking about they how need a No.9. Yeah, imagine if they had a No.9 on top of that! It’s a luxury problem, let me say it like this.
“It was like that last year and then Ilkay Gundogan (left) arrived like 500 times in the box and scored from close range. So we thought, OK, how is that possible? If in football it would be that easy – mark the No.9 and he cannot score – that would be really great!
“It is the decisive area in and around the box where City traditionally, at least since I’m in England, always have enough options.
“Which number they have on their back is really not important. They bring in players in all the moments – the wingers are influential like ours are, I don’t know how many goals City scored from close range with a square ball in the six-yard box.
“So you would think playing against
City, the whole world is defending against City, so there is one area where always a defender or
more than one defender should be, that is in their own six-yard box. But in the end they just square the ball and at the second post is completely free.
“And that’s not because all the other teams are dumb, it is because they do it really well, they pass the ball at the right moment, the positioning is close to perfect. That is why it works out that often.”
City’s visit to Anfield this afternoon will feature two of the Premier League’s finest centre-backs in Ruben Dias and Virgil van Dijk (right).
The pair’s exploits in title-winning seasons have seen them scoop individual awards in recent years, and Klopp is pleased to see defenders earning more recognition.
He added: “The game’s changed in the last 10 years so everything is much more tactical than it used to be.
“It is not enough to win challenges,
one-v-one situations, you have to organise a whole defensive set-up, you have to be good on the ball, you have to be fast, physically strong, technically good so yeah, centre-halves nowadays are a different animal.
“I don’t say that other centrehalves from 15 years ago, Rio Ferdinand and John Terry or others, that they were not good.
“No, no, they were good but why they didn’t get the recognition I don’t know but meanwhile people have more of a look at that and think, yeah, centrehalves can be player of the season.”