It’s a “exciting time” for his revamped squad, according to Jurgen Klopp, who feels he has the energy needed to return Liverpool to the top.
The Reds, who have taken 10 points out of a possible 12 so far, will return to Premier League action on Saturday afternoon when they welcome Wolves at Molineux. In the event that Klopp’s team wins in the Black Country, they will top the standings before Manchester City’s trip to West Ham United later that day.
newest hires Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister have excelled since joining Liverpool, and Ryan Gravenberch, who joined on deadline day, is available for Saturday’s match with Wataru Endo, the captain of Japan, who was acquired from Stuttgart last month for almost £16 million.
And a fired-up Klopp expressed his delight at what he had seen from his restocked ranks while praising the young players at the club, claiming that he still had the same drive and ambition as the Liverpool team that had won every major trophy available to them between 2019 and 2022.
that’s the first year, I know I said that, but I also feel it, Klopp stated. “I don’t want to manage past achievement and fail to achieve it again. No, we must not. All large teams must occasionally [rebuild], and we are currently doing it under the same old manager, but my energy levels are not at all an issue. I enjoyed the preseason and the beginning of the season, and it is obvious that we must continue. That won’t ever alter.
I am aware of my advancing years, but when I see the 16-year-old players in training, I can’t help but think, “OK, in two years they’ll be 18; there’s a decent possibility I’ll have them, without hurrying them into the first team. Years and years ago, when you watched a game and you questioned, “Who is that?” I had that with Mario Gotze (at Borussia Dortmund). I had no idea Mario Gotze was 16 years old. When are we able to bring him?
The club has some incredibly talented young players, and we don’t need to start them when it’s too soon for them. You can see that Bobby Clark has come a long way. Are they on the starting lineup? Most likely not. Are they lent to you? No, because we want them around, and no one ever brings up your 18th or 19th year of life at the end of a career.
“Our job is to assist the boys in handling a massive advantage of time in the best way possible because they have all the time I have, and obviously Vitor Matos and Pep Lijnders are the biggest supporters of all these boys. If you were outstanding, it could cause you more problems, and if you aren’t in yet, you could feel like you didn’t make it yet. They are completely aware of them, and I occasionally see them, so I can say that it’s good.
It was no secret that we were looking for someone else, too, so we wanted a No. 6 as well, and we have it, according to Klopp. The issue was that Stefan Bajcetic was always known to exist. We have a lot of respect for him, but he was hurt for five months. Everyone who saw him during the previous season likely thought, “My God! What will happen to this?
“We always knew Mac Allister could play the position, but we weren’t sure to what extent. We learned from last year’s experience just how little you can actually do to set up a scenario in which Macca can play the 6, since it only functions when you are compact as a team. It won’t seem good if you have large spaces and you can’t defend against counterattacks. We added Endo, who is a top-tier player. He might be more of a traditional six. They are not all of the alternatives we had, of course.
“Our midfielders were fantastic footballers; I’m not sure why that was the case. However, they gave up their own interests to benefit the group. James Milner only plays football because he wants to win, which is why people ask him, “Why don’t you do that in a game?”
