Klopp has got a B in his bonnet over jibes
JURGEN KLOPP has hit out at suggestions he has no Plan B.
Liverpool manager Klopp has been criticised for having no alternative if his high-pressing, high-tempo style of football fails.
The Reds won just one game in 10 from the start of the year to February 4, crashing out of the League Cup and the FA Cup.
But more recently they have taken 12 points out of a possible 18 and are third in the Premier League.
With Champions League football looking likely at Anfield next season, Klopp is angered at suggestions he cannot change tactics. “I’ve never thought about or listened to things like this,” he said. “Actually I lose a bit of respect if people say things like this.
“If somebody speaks to me about Plan A or Plan B, I don’t really understand this, because it has never been the case.
“We’ve played brilliant football – football at its best. If you go back and look at my teams at Dortmund, it wasn’t all pressing and counter-pressing, we played football and won games.
“This season we lost games not because we didn’t have a Plan B but because we had difficulties in different games.”
Tony Pulis, meanwhile, is baffled that his West Brom players cannot find the back
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of the net. If the Baggies fail to score against Liverpool tomorrow it will be the first time since 2003 that they have gone four consecutive games without a goal.
They have lost their last two games – against Watford and Crystal Palace – and manager Pulis said: “We’ve been practising shooting and finishing. We’ve highlighted the fact we’ve got into some wonderful positions and not hit the target.
“That’s been the biggest disappointment. We’ve been hitting people in the stands more regularly than been hitting the goal.
“We’ve got to make sure that when we get in there, we concentrate more on hitting the target.”
Liverpool know they have to be careful because Pulis prides himself on being a bogeyman to the glamour clubs. Pulis added: “How do we’ve we do it? I’m not going to tell you. But we work on certain things and we understand what we’re trying to do as a group.
“We’re good at set-pieces, but we’ve watched tapes back again in the last couple of days and Liverpool are very good on set-plays themselves.”