Jurgen Klopp reckons Liverpool stars are like his SONS (but most of them are younger than German’s own kids!) – The Sun
JURGEN KLOPP has revealed his Liverpool stars are like sons to him.
The Reds boss claims he is more like a father figure than a manager at Anfield.
But, like all good dads, the German is not frightened of dishing out discipline and a few home truths to his brood.
He said: “I’ve always been the same as a manager. I was always close to the boys.
“I wanted them to feel faith and trust so I never had to change. It’s exactly the same with my sons. My players are my sons.
“My actual sons are now turning 35 and 32 and it’s pretty much the same with them.
“There are times when you are a father and there are times when you are a friend.
“There are moments you have to criticise them and it’s always exactly the same.
“I always did that with my players as well. You can have a really close relationship with them and the closer you get the more you have to tell the truth to the boys because they judge you on that.”
And just like a parent, 52-year-old Klopp knows he cannot be best pals with his players.
A friend has to tell you the truth, a friend has to tell you what you can do better… That’s what I do but never in a manner so they cannot get up the next morning.
Speaking on Sky Sports’ The Football Show, he said: “I really want to be the friend of my players but I cannot be their best friend. That’s how it is.
“A friend has to tell you the truth, a friend has to tell you what you can do better. A friend will tell you always what is right and what is wrong.
"That’s exactly what I do — but never in a manner so they cannot get up the next morning.
“It’s always for the same reason. I want to help them. My job is to help the boys be the best players they can be.”
Klopp, whose Liverpool team are 25 points clear at the top of the Premier League table, revealed his superstars know exactly who is boss.
He said: “We have situations like the Champions League semi-final second leg last year when you find out afterwards Georginio Wijnaldum was really angry he didn’t start.
“I didn’t see it in training, that’s the most important thing. I tell the boys you don’t have to be happy with my decisions, you only have to accept them.
"Then after the game we can speak about them. Before the game we cannot.
“So if you say I am a friend of the player — believe me, around matchday, I am the friend of 11 players and all the others have something to criticise me for.”
Klopp has warned rivals there is more to come from his European champions.
He added: “This team is not the finished article, we have a lot of space for improvement and we work on that.
“We have fresh blood internally coming through. We can improve with this team, which is great.”
The Reds are waiting to discover when football will resume following the current coronavirus lockdown.
But Klopp vowed: “We will not change, that’s the first thing.
“But whether we’ll be successful depends on what other clubs are doing as well because they all have the chance to do things better.”
The pandemic has put Liverpool’s first title celebrations for 30 years on hold.
But Klopp remains calm in the crisis and said: “We know what we want and the first thing that we want is that everybody is safe and healthy.
“If football can help in some departments with lifting the mood, then we have to start training. But I don’t know when that will be.”
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