JĆ¼rgen Kloppās half-time ārocketā made the difference for Liverpool against Manchester City
Paul Joyce, Northern Football Correspondent
April 12 2018, 12:01am, The Times
JĆ¼rgen Klopp roused Liverpool from their first-half stupor against Manchester City by delivering a ālittle bit of a rocketā in a stinging team talk that laid the foundations for progress into the Champions League semi-finals.
The midfielder Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain provided an insight into the away dressing room at half-time at the Etihad on Tuesday with Liverpool trailing 1-0 after a period in which they had barely set foot in the oppositionās half.
Klopp ordered his team to move higher up the pitch and demanded that they displayed greater composure in possession before watching them respond with goals from Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino, sealing a 2-1 win, and a 5-1 aggregate success, to ensure passage into tomorrowās draw.
Oxlade-Chamberlain echoed Virgil van Dijkās pre-match comments that Klopp was the ācomplete managerā, and added: āJust as much as tactically he had a good plan, he also has the fire in him to get you all motivated and that is what he did at half-time.
āHe calmed us all down and then gave us a little bit of a rocket and just said, āNo matter what we do now ā if we go through, we go out ā we are going to do it our way,ā and I think we did that much better in the second half.
āWe just said, āWe need to get a grip of ourselves and really try to control the game,ā as we were still in a strong position. We knew we werenāt at the right level in the first half, but even when you are not playing so well it is important to see those moments out.ā
The Liverpool managerās desire for his players to work out solutions for themselves, and not always be told the answer, was taken up by the defender Dejan Lovren. He also imparted advice during the break.
āTo be honest I was shouting a bit at half-time,ā the Croatian centre back said. āI told the lads we were sitting too deep.
āPeople talked from the beginning about Manchester City being favourites, and they were ... but I think after this there should be more respect for Liverpool.
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