adminLiverpool’s under-performing stars have been told to break the shackles, be braver and “play like our best dream” as Jurgen Klopp ruffled feathers before his Premier League bow.
Klopp, who takes charge of his first game at Tottenham tomorrow, wants the Reds to play an expansive brand of football in a quest to arrest the dip in results to have preceded his arrival.
Liverpool have scored just eight goals in their first eight games, and Klopp said: “We play against a very good Premier League team in Spurs. They are fine tuned. We know how they want to play.
“I know how I want to play. At the end it is only football. Now we have to open our chests, run and fight and shoot.
“We have to play like our best dream.
“I want to see more braveness. I want to see fun in their eyes. I want to see that they like what they do.
“The bravery is to make mistakes. This is a fantastic game, football. We all love it because it can be spectacular, fast, hard.
“But it doesn’t work without faults. We all, as human beings, think about them, but it’s not important to think about how many mistakes you make.
“You can always get better, if you accept that mistakes will happen. It’s not the biggest thing in the world.
“We have to be compact, close together tactically, and if you are close then you have options to play with and who can support you. You don’t always have to try the most risky ball if you are compact.
“You have to run, to fight, until the moment, and then bang you take it.”
One player who Klopp will be without for the foreseeable future is Joe Gomez, who faces a season out with a serious knee injury sustained on England duty.
The new manager hasn’t enjoyed the benefit of a full week’s training with his squad given the international break.
“We’ve had some problems,” he added. “The players were with the national teams. It’s a little bit different because I don’t know so much about the players. You’re always nervous.
“We didn’t have perfect information in the case of young gun Gomez.”
Klopp took charge of his first full training session on Wednesday and rejected assertions that he needs to oversee an overhaul at the club.
“We had three very good training [sessions] — the boys are really willing to listen, to understand what we want. It’s not the time to change so many things,’ he added.
“I watch football at all times, learning things about my new players.
“Everything will be better if we’ve worked together for six weeks but it’s not a perfect world.”
The German appears already to have made an impact in the short time he has had to work since being appointed last Friday, with Brazilian midfielder Lucas noting his “passion”.
“He seems to be a very open manager and someone that likes to be close to the players, but very straight as well. That’s what I’ve learned from the last couple of days and I think it was a positive way to start,” he said.
Allardyce takes over a Sunderland side he briefly played for in the early 1980s, currently propping up the standings with north-east rivals Newcastle United, the only teams without a league win this season.
The man known as “Big Sam” has been out of management since leaving West Ham United at the end of last season and begins his latest stint in the hot seat with a trip to West Bromwich Albion tomorrow.
“We have to try and install a little bit more confidence in the team,” he said of a side who have amassed just three points from eight games.
Last season’s champions Chelsea find themselves just three places above Sunderland in 16th and owner Roman Abramovich was moved to publicly back manager Jose Mourinho after their fourth league loss of the season against Southampton.
English Barclays Premier League Fixtures
Tomorrow: Tottenham Hotspur v Liverpool (White Hart Lane 13:45), West Bromwich Albion v Sunderland (The Hawthorns 16:00), Southampton v Leicester City (St Mary’s Stadium 16:00), Manchester City v Bournemouth (Etihad Stadium 16:00), Everton v Manchester United (Goodison Park 16:00), Crystal Palace v West Ham United (Selhurst Park 16:00), Chelsea v Aston Villa (Stamford Bridge 16:00), Watford v Arsenal (Vicarage Road 18:30).
Sunday: Newcastle United v Norwich City (St James’ Park 17:00).
Monday: Swansea City v Stoke City (Liberty Stadium 21:00). — Dailymail-Reuters.
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