Lifting mood of despair was the key for Jurgen

JURGEN KLOPP says his biggest challenge in creating champions was to change the mood at Anfield. The title-winning boss inherited a squad that had painfully missed out on the title by a single point and then fallen apart as stars like Luis Suarez and Raheem Sterling left. That created a toxic mix of fear and frustration amongst suffering supporters and Klopp explained that was the change he desperately needed to address. “We had to change the atmosphere at the club, that was the most important thing,” he said. “We had to bring the people onside. Don’t forget it’s not that long since we played a back pass and the whole stadium was like, ‘Ah, oh my god’. Here, it was not allowed.

“It’s not too long ago that if we are only 1-0 up, there will come a set piece, and it was clear it would either be a goal or a chance for the opponent, which can change the momentum of the game.

“You cannot change it by saying something. We had to earn the trust and faith of the people. That is what we tried to do with effort.”

Klopp also had to alter the mindset of the players, who he says took the burden of expectation too much on their shoulders.

“Brendan Rodgers is an outstanding manager, but it didn’t work out,” said Klopp. “The team was exceptional and they wanted to carry expectation on their shoulders. But the first thing I had to tell them was, ‘That’s not possible, we have to get rid of that’.

“If you can start running with joy, working with joy... because I saw that was not there. That was an important thing we had to change.”