Jürgen Klopp - Liverpool FC Manager

Why are folks still moaning about last week's Villareal match. We wasted our opportunities to get an away goal as simple as that.
Some moan, we should have played Sturridge, now moaning why did we play Sturridge against Swansea (and still lost). Thats how the game goes at times, he took a chance with his selection and came short.

I am more intrigued about what we can expect this week at Anfield and what kind of team gets sent out to destroy Villareal. This tie is far from over...just watch our midfield and strikeforce bury Villareal on Thursday. Be positive we are in a Euro semi-final!!

We need to show real fight from the whistle although I actually expect we will start off slowly. I don't care if Sturridge plays or sits on his arse for 90 mins I want the players who take to the pitch to give us everything they have and just be positive.

I love Klopp, love that he's here but we are allowed to critizise his decisions and he did IMO stuff it up in the first leg by not playing Daniel and secondly trying to play for the draw. I'm sure, fingers and everything else crossed,  that he will get it right come Thursday night/ Friday morning our time.

Just keep thinking if that was Rodgers in the same position, same circumstances and same result, the forum would have gone into meltdown.

I didn't say that.

Oh, ok.

Don't know where all this talk of other sports has come from but I'll add to the madness...
Rugby League is the perfect 'other' sport to follow, something to get into whilst the football season is off as the season runs Feb-Oct, the off season would be unbearable for me without the mighty St Helens RLFC

Wool 

I'm intrigued with all the comments about Jürgen getting things wrong last Thursday

See I don't think he got it wrong last Thursday, he wanted to play it tight and end of the day losing 1-0 in an away European tie isn't a bad result. I just don't think he started Sturridge, because he doesn't work enough to tackle back etc, whereas Firmino does.

Sturridge will start on Thursday.

See I don't think he got it wrong last Thursday, he wanted to play it tight and end of the day losing 1-0 in an away European tie isn't a bad result. I just don't think he started Sturridge, because he doesn't work enough to tackle back etc, whereas Firmino does.

Sturridge will start on Thursday.

I agree mate, Jürgen said as much but having not seen the game or highlights I wondered why people thought it was a mistake.

I agree mate, Jürgen said as much but having not seen the game or highlights I wondered why people thought it was a mistake.

It wasn't a mistake not starting with Sturridge but in hindsight he should have come on instead of Ibe who was quite frankly well ......Ibe of this season.

You can understand why Ibe was brought on as all Villarreal were doing was pushing us out wide so all the space was on the flanks so maybe Jürgen thought some pace and trickery out wide might be the answer.....

See I don't think he got it wrong last Thursday, he wanted to play it tight and end of the day losing 1-0 in an away European tie isn't a bad result. I just don't think he started Sturridge, because he doesn't work enough to tackle back etc, whereas Firmino does.

Sturridge will start on Thursday.

That's how I viewed the game myself mate,thought he set us up not to concede (and perhaps Nick a cheeky away goal )and if we were to concede the hope was not to let in more than just the one.
As was said by a few in the actual match thread it was a typical away leg and only for that one  lapse of concentration at the end of the game it would have been a great result.
We are still in with a great chance on Thursday ,maximum effort,focus,
desire,commitment & concentration needed & im sure we will get the job. done.

That's how I viewed the game myself mate,thought he set us up not to concede (and perhaps Nick a cheeky away goal )and if we were to concede the hope was not to let in more than just the one.
As was said by a few in the actual match thread it was a typical away leg and only for that one  lapse of concentration at the end of the game it would have been a great result.
We are still in with a great chance on Thursday ,maximum effort,focus,
desire,commitment & concentration needed & im sure we will get the job. done.

Totally agree with all of that.

See I don't think he got it wrong last Thursday, he wanted to play it tight and end of the day losing 1-0 in an away European tie isn't a bad result. I just don't think he started Sturridge, because he doesn't work enough to tackle back etc, whereas Firmino does.

Sturridge will start on Thursday.

I don't think he got it badly wrong, 0-0 would have been a good result, 0-1 is not the end of the world. However I do think it was a game we could have won if we had been a little more positive in the second half.

Goals change games and their late goal changed this one.

Thursday's game will be a lot harder than it should have been, we missed a chance in that away game in more ways than one.

They are a very disciplined side and I don't think we will find it as easy to break then down now, as we might have in the first leg.

Certainly not complaining as I think we did well over there, but in all honesty I think we could have done better.

I don't think he got it badly wrong, 0-0 would have been a good result, 0-1 is not the end of the world. However I do think it was a game we could have won if we had been a little more positive in the second half.

Goals change games and their late goal changed this one.

Thursday's game will be a lot harder than it should have been, we missed a chance in that away game in more ways than one.

They are a very disciplined side and I don't think we will find it as easy to break then down now, as we might have in the first leg.

Certainly not complaining as I think we did well over there, but in all honesty I think we could have done better.

I agree with you on this one. I think we could have won last week with a little more confidence to go for it in second half. Unfortunately, they nicked it late, which puts increases pressure this week.

I think we can pull out ahead though, just have to work hard the full time and not concede after taking lead

It wasn't a mistake not starting with Sturridge but in hindsight he should have come on instead of Ibe who was quite frankly well ......Ibe of this season.

You can understand why Ibe was brought on as all Villarreal were doing was pushing us out wide so all the space was on the flanks so maybe Jürgen thought some pace and trickery out wide might be the answer.....

So his choices do make sense now mate.

Didn't start so we could press and harry from the front.

Didn't come on as the space was on the flanks.

Benteke brought on to help out the defense at corners.

So his choices do make sense now mate.

Didn't start so we could press and harry from the front.

Didn't come on as the space was on the flanks.

Benteke brought on to help out the defense at corners.

More desperate defending there than we showed at Swansea Debs.

I don't think Klopp needs it mate. Everyone thinks he is great...just not infallible.

Well done to Ranieri - just shows what is possible in sport if you dont buy into the idea that money is the only route to success.

I'm sorry but this thing won't happen again in 2-3 decades.

Don't buy the idea that "money is the only route to success"? Yea its possible in sport that you can win things without much money,  but can you win things without money more consistently ?... No, you can't.

Anybody who even talks this is probably quite short sighted.

More desperate defending there than we showed at Swansea Debs.

I don't think Klopp needs it mate. Everyone thinks he is great...just not infallible.

Course he doesn't mate and he couldn't give a sh*t what we think anyway.

Let's hope if he keeps making these "mistakes" that people don't like, they don't end up driving him out of the Club.  Afterall we clearly know far more about football than he does 

Jürgen Klopp does not regret putting Liverpool's Daniel Sturridge on the bench against Villarreal
By Allan Valente

Last Updated: 29/04/16 11:58pm

Jürgen Klopp has no regrets about leaving Daniel Sturridge on the bench for Liverpool's Europa League defeat to Villarreal and says he would make the same decision again.

The England international, who has scored four in his last five matches, was an unused substitute in the semi-final first leg defeat in Spain on Thursday night, despite the Reds lacking a cutting edge up front.

Thousands of fans on social media were left bemused by the decision but Klopp insists he has to make difficult decisions in the best interests of the team and, if he was given the chance again, he would still not change his line-up for the game.

"It is about finding stability.  With decisions like this it is always two questions," Klopp said.  "Was it the right decision to choose this line-up?  With a 1-0 defeat you cannot be sure it is 100 per cent right.

"The next question is: Would I do it again?  Yes.  Then it is finished and I don't have to think about it again.  That is my life - making decisions and in the end accepting the result.

"With Daniel [Sturridge] in particular it is not about how it is always, it was a decision for this line-up.  That is very important.  It was not against Daniel.

"My job is not to do what you the media want, what the player wants, it is to try to help the player and help the team in this moment.  I always try to do my best and because I am not perfect maybe it sometimes does not work.  But next time I will try it again."

The 26-year-old is likely to return to the team for Sunday's trip to Swansea and Klopp has no doubts the striker will be at the top of his game.

"The mentality of Daniel is really good, very confident, because he has all these qualities and he knows about these qualities," the German added.  "Daniel came back from injury and now he is fit for the longest period.  That is very important.

"We could have let him play in the first few weeks, hoping he could do something special, but that would not have been the right decision for him because then he would have been injured again.

"It does not work.  The Premier League, Europa League, everything is too intense.  It is about balance, absolutely always.  I've said a few times that I always think more about the strengths of a player than the weaknesses."

http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11669/10263420/Jürgen-klopp-does-not-regret-benching-liverpools-daniel-sturridge

I'm intrigued with all the comments about Jürgen getting things wrong last Thursday in not playing Sturridge or not changing things at half time. 

I didn't see the game and I haven't seen any highlights, did we not have any attempts on goal or no chances to score?  Were we under the kosh for most of the game and in danger of losing by more than one goal?  Was it a similar game to Swansea where we never looked in the game?

I explained this last night. The issue is that he used tactics that involved an out of form player rather than adjusting his tactics to take advantage of an in-form player. Could or should that match of ended 0-0? Probably so but is that good enough though? Should any Liverpool manager play for a draw? That's the mistake. He played for a draw when he should have played for a win. Might we have lost if he had? Sure and if we had we'd be no worse off than now but we'd sure as hell would have had a better chance of going to Anfield with an away goal if he had.

I explained this last night. The issue is that he used tactics that involved an out of form player rather than adjusting his tactics to take advantage of an in-form player. Could or should that match of ended 0-0? Possibly, probably. Is that good enough though? Should any Liverpool manager play for a draw? That's the mistake. He played for a draw when he should have played for a win. Might we have lost if he had? Sure and if we had we'd be no worse off than now but we'd sure as hell would have had a better chance of going to Anfield with an away goal if he had.

And you know this for certain how? 

Can't remember hearing him say we were playing for a draw, or seen any quotes in the media that he did.  See what I posted above about his thinking on the game.

It never ceases to amaze me when people use hindsight as an accurate form of justification for their belated opinions.

Hopefully they don't need to use the same hindsight on Friday morning.

I'd agree with that normally...I don't think he got it wrong in the first half as he and most of us expected more from Villareal BUT I think it was clear at half time that Sturridge or Benteke could have easily won us that game, that's not hindsight and there's no guarantee we would have won,that was my genuine opinion at HT .

Wool 

Someone has to be 

And you know this for certain how? 

Can't remember hearing him say we were playing for a draw, or seen any quotes in the media that he did.  See what I posted above about his thinking on the game.

Read between the lines of what he said post-match. Also look at the team selection. No one knows anything for certain other than the man himself but it's fairly obvious what the tactic was. If you think we played for the win, perhaps you can explain why we played an out of form false nine rather than a genuine number nine in red hot form going into that match? I understand the concept of 'keeping it tight' but I would like to know how 'keeping it tight' with a player that has offered no goal threat for a couple of months now is going for the win?

Read between the lines of what he said post-match. Also look at the team selection. No one knows anything for certain other than the man himself but it's fairly obvious what the tactic was. If you think we played for the win, perhaps you can explain why we played an out of form false nine rather than a genuine number nine in red hot form going into that match? I understand the concept of 'keeping it tight' but I would like to know how 'keeping it tight' with a player that has offered no goal threat for a couple of months now is going for the win?

I didn't see the game and haven't seen any highlights, which is why I raised the question of why people think it was a mistake to leave him out.

Personally I'm fu**ed off with having to read between lines, gauge F***ing body language, question or defend whether we've got the right man for the job, I just want to enjoy the football and I'm excited about what I've seen so far. 

Including the fact we finally have a Manager who is his own man and not some wimp who's more interested in keeping the press onside and bowing to keyboard warriors who think they know better than him how to handle his players.

And you know this for certain how? 

Can't remember hearing him say we were playing for a draw, or seen any quotes in the media that he did.  See what I posted above about his thinking on the game.

He certainly didn't go for a draw but keep it tight at the back. He was hoping to nick an away goal not play gung-ho like Dortmund (who would give us a chance at the back).

We had our chances Debs, unfortunately didn't take them. Perhaps, if Sturridge was on the pitch he might put one away. Heck, Firmino even hit the post - we came that close.

We also had couple of other changes but didn't take them. People are only moaning because they just managed to nick a goal because 'our friend with no brain' (Moreno) was well over the halfway line in the last minute of the added time.

IMHO - Klopp knows more than all us and he set up the team correctly for me.