Jurgen gives team the bottom line

LIVERPOOL boss Jurgen Klopp accepts he has been a hard taskmaster after successive home defeats without scoring.

He felt his players were too soft and slow in delivering the final pass during Wednesday’s 1-0 defeat by Brighton and has used a colourful German expression to demand what he’s looking for.

‘It was about the tempo of the ball against Brighton. They were only able to close the gaps because our passes were not hard enough,’ said Klopp, whose side host Manchester City today. ‘The boys have known me long enough that if you pass the ball nine million times in exactly the right way and three or four times not, then we talk only about these three or four times. It is not too cool but it is important. We will work on the tempo. Just “Bam!”

‘If the situation is there, we have the ball, no pressure on us and two or three runners (and don’t capitalise), then we destroy with our backside what we build with our hands. It is a translation from a German phrase and that was the situation against Brighton.’

The champions trail City by seven points but a similar gap was overturned in 2019 when Liverpool led by the same margin going into a 2-1 defeat at the Etihad and Pep Guardiola’s men went on to become champions.

‘I had forgotten about it completely. Yes, now I am on fire, let’s give it a try,’ said Klopp. ‘This is a completely different situation now but of course it shows things can change quickly.’

Klopp is buoyed by goalkeeper Alisson and forward Sadio Mane being able to return and Ozan Kabak has received international clearance to play.

Klopp is hoping the poor display against Brighton was a hangover from tough games in London against West Ham and Spurs, saying: ‘I saw those matches and we paid the bill. It happens. Let’s go for the next one.’