Klopp waits to give flops home truths
FRUSTRATED: Klopp cut unhappy figure in Serbia JURGEN KLOPP held an inquest at Liverpool’s Melwood training base yesterday after their horror show in Belgrade.
Manager Klopp did not tear into his players straight after Tuesday’s 2-0 defeat by Red Star Belgrade in the Champions League.
Instead he kept his counsel as usual in the aftermath of a bad defeat to avoid losing his cool when in an emotional mood.
Klopp also likes to watch the game back before going over the faults made by his players.
The German watched the replay of the Group C clash on the flight back from Serbia late on Tuesday before studying it again yesterday morning.
He then held a meeting with his players to point out their errors in a defeat that leaves their hopes of reaching the knockout stages in the balance, before they went through a cool-down session.
Klopp does not allow his players to speak until he has made his point and he will hope to find the solution to rediscovering their attacking verve after such a limp display.
Defender Andy Robertson expected the meeting as he revealed Klopp’s routine after defeats when he spoke at the Rajko Mitic Stadium on Tuesday.
“The lads are disappointed,” he said. “There’s no hiding that. You don’t forget about these results quickly and that’s what happens.
“The gaffer, win or lose, always speaks more the day after the game because that’s when he can clear his head and that’s where he gets the best out of us, where he can talk through his thoughts.
“It’s no different if we win or lose but we’ll definitely have a debrief and I’m sure a few things will be said.”
Liverpool have lost their two away games in Europe this season after the 1-0 defeat by Napoli in Italy last month.
They travel to Paris Saint-Germain next in the Champions League to take on Neymar and Co, and defeat in France could leave them needing to beat Napoli at Anfield by two clear goals in their final group game.
But Robertson is confident they can go to Paris and get a result.
The Reds beat PSG 3-2 at Anfield in the opening group game and the Scot said: “We have to believe. We believe we can win every game, that’s always been the case with us.
“Away from home last season, we were very good in the Champions League. This season we’ve found that a bit difficult.
“But arguably we’re still to play the best team away and we need to go there and put in a much better performance than we have done.
“We knew this group was going to be tough and it’s proving that way. It’s a tight group and it’ll go right to the wire.
“We’ve got two games coming up that we’ll look forward to and we know what we need to do in them. We’re still confident we’ll get through but we need to try to prove that now.”