HAS NO MERSEY Title’s in sight but boss just won’t let up on Gini and Co
JURGEN KLOPP is showing his runaway leaders no mercy – and is cracking the whip all the way to the finish line in the championship race, according to Gini Wijnaldum. Far from easing up on his Kop stars, Dutch midfielder Wijnaldum says Klopp is keeping standards high as Liverpool close in on a first title in
30 years. Klopp is not letting his men look any further than the game against West Ham at Anfield tomorrow as they chase an
18th straight League victory and attempt to bounce back from Tuesday’s Champions League defeat at Atletico Madrid. And the ruthless
Dubliner expects the Hammers to try and frustrate the Anfield crowd just like Diego Simeone managed to.
The Irishman, 56, said: “Winning the league is the holy grail for Liverpool.
“It’s such a huge thing for them to win it so I don’t think they will rest any players. I would be amazed if Klopp
German boss (below) is not slow to bring his players crashing back down if they lose focus.
Wijnaldum said: “We have a manager who makes sure that we have both feet on the ground whenever we’re not fully concentrated or something like that.
“We think of one game at a time, try to give everything every game and at the end you will see what will happen.
“We don’t really think about results.
“We just train hard, look at it game by game and try not to look that far ahead.
“It’s worked well for us until now so let’s try to continue this run until the end.
“It’s hard and tough but we also enjoy it because it’s a good feeling if you give everything on the pitch and feel that you’ve succeeded at decided to make wholesale changes at this stage.
“He’ll want his best players out there again and to get the game won.
“West Ham will set out to try and do what Atletico did during the week.
“They will want to frustrate and defend.
“David Moyes has always the end of the game. We also enjoy the journey – but I have to say that it’s easier because we are winning.” Wijnaldum, 29, claims it is not just Klopp who keeps the Merseysiders on their toes with the players themselves taking no prisoners if harsh words are needed. He added: “We’ve played together a few years already so we also know each other as people.
“We just have a group that is like friends. With each other, it feels like family. “Maybe sometimes we have to say something the other person might not like but that helps us also to be a better team because we all expect from each other that the person you play with is giving 100 per cent.
“We, as a team, have to make sure he does. We’re honest with each other and help each other out to do as good as possible.” been a cautious manager. He’s someone who worries about stopping the opposition first but West Ham will be relying on luck to get anything from the game.
“They don’t have the same quality as Atletico so they’ll need some good fortune and Liverpool to have an off night to get anything at Anfield.”
LIVERPOOL assistant boss Pep Lijnders has revealed how Jurgen Klopp has harnessed the Scouse spirit.
Lijnders, 37, returned to Anfield in the summer of 2018 to become Klopp’s right-hand man.
And the Dutchman reckons the secret to the Kop manager’s success has been his ability to tap into the Liverpool way.
He believes no-one illustrates that better than Scouser Trent Alexander-Arnold, 21, the right-back he helped to develop when he first arrived on Merseyside six years ago to work in the club’s academy.
Lijnders said: “It is so important that we achieve success with young players from the Academy and that there is a strong bond between the city and the team.
“We want to see the city of Liverpool itself in the team. We work hard, we fight, we are angry when we don’t have the ball.
“We always show we are together whether we have the ball or not. We are constantly one aggressive piece of rock and there is just no way you can escape against us.
“The big difference between a good team and a world-class team is when players with such massive individual quality put the team above themselves. That is Liverpool.
“Trent was my captain in Liverpool’s Under-17s team.
“Our bond was so strong and what he is doing right now makes me so proud.
“He is working like crazy to improve all the time and he has a drive to perform at a very high level.
“He is a boy from the street, a real Scouser, and he is so close with the supporters.”