Klopp eyes change in fortune
Print Edition
AFTER his side’s chastening loss to Sevilla in the Europa League final, Liverpool coach Juergen Klopp hopes the demoralizing defeat will be fondly remembered over time as a key turning point in the club’s fortunes.
A 1-3 loss to a clearly superior Sevilla team showed how much work the charismatic German will need to do in the offseason to improve a squad he took over just seven months ago, following the firing of Brendan Rodgers.
“We will use this experience together,” Klopp said. “Someday everybody will say Basel was a very decisive moment for a wonderful future of Liverpool.”
But first of all, he must address how and why Liverpool’s play slumped after Sevilla levelled the match less than 20 seconds into the second half — and then totally dominated it after that.
“Of course this team will be a little bit different next year,” Klopp said, with his mind already on the summer transfer window. “We have to work on it.”
In some ways, Klopp’s first part-season at Anfield was a holding operation — and a quite successful one — with a disjointed group he got from Rodgers.
Klopp chose not to make major changes in the January transfer window, and — with a well-organized team that had clear weak links — he almost repeated Rafa Benitez’s feat of winning the 2005 Champions League in his debut season with Liverpool.
But with no Champions League football to offer potential new signings — the place UEFA gives to Europa winner goes to Sevilla — Klopp’s immediate task has been made much harder.
Still, he will at least have a lighter schedule next season.
“That means not a lot of football on Wednesday, not a lot of football on Thursday,” said Klopp, whose hard-running, pressing style has clearly worked on his players. “It means we have time to train.”
Klopp may also need some luck with injuries at the European Championship — which will be held in France from June 10-July 10 — with seven matches in a month should any of his players reach the final.
“It will be a long tournament for a lot of my players,” Klopp said. “Belgian players, English players, German players. Hopefully they all come back healthy.”
Even if they do all come back from Euro 2016 injury-free, they will have a lot to learn after being so outwitted by Sevilla.
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