KLOPP KEEPS EYE ON ‘EXCEPTIONAL
Neil Moxley
JURGEN KLOPP claims “exceptional” Trent Alexander-arnold has become a victim of his own dedication to the Reds’ cause.
The right-back only celebrated his 20th birthday last month and already has appearances in the Champions League final and World Cup under his belt during a meteoric start to his professional career.
But his levels have dropped in recent weeks, culminating
Harry Pratt in his midweek substitution at half-time during the 2-0 defeat to Red Star Belgrade.
He enjoyed only two weeks’ holiday after returning from duty with the Three Lions in Russia where he featured in the group game against Belgium.
He was offered the option of an additional seven days by Klopp, but chose to return to training early – and may now be paying the price. to us. Trent has played constantly. I have spoken to him about it – but not along the lines of ‘This is good’ or ‘That isn’t’. It’s more general advice. He is still a young boy.
“He had two weeks off in the summer – that’s not a lot.
Important
important that he stays injury-free.”
With Alexander-arnold called up again to represent his country in the next fortnight, there are not too many chances for Klopp to rest the youngster.
Involvement in the Champions League has only added to the defender’s workload as Klopp admitted he was choosing from almost a fully fit squad for the visit of Fulham today.
He said: “Trent is important to the way we play, but we do have an option to change it. It’s good for us if we have a good number of
want my team to show. In the end, it was just one more surprise result in football. But it showed you never know what happens in this game.
“Anything is possible and any gap can be closed – by being a team and fighting together.”
Those ingredients were missing in Fulham’s performance last Monday when they lost 1-0 at Huddersfield.
But, rather than rant and rave postmatch, under-fire Jokanovic revealed he gave his flops the silent treatment.
The ex-watford coach added: “I do not scream at players afterwards.
“I say everything I need to beforehand and at half-time.” players to work with. I’ve been lucky in always working with good right-backs.
“I had too many at Mainz. I had fantastic Lukasz Piszczek at Dortmund.
“So, for Trent to be performing as he is at his age is quite exceptional.”
The Reds’ unbeaten start to the campaign has raised expectations.
Consistency
In the pre-match press conference, Klopp said: “We win a game and afterwards we have to apologise that we didn’t win it the City way.”
But he added: “Last season we were in the Champions League final – we were the better team for 25 minutes.
“OK, we didn’t win. There is room for improvement.
“In the Premier League, to finish one, two or three, how can you improve? You improve your consistency.
“We dropped unnecessary points last season.
“So far, we have 27 points. For me, that’s an outstanding number. But there is one team who has 29 and a goal difference of plus 47.
“But I haven’t put rockets up anyone this week – we have to enjoy our football.”