Jurgen Klopp names the two Liverpool players he treated differently & why
Jurgen Klopp has made a name for himself as one of the best man managers of the 21st century and that became clear during his time at Liverpool.
Of course, the German boss is also one of the most tactically astute managers in the game, but it’s his personality and man management that has made him an all-time great.
During a recent interview on the Diary of a CEO podcast, Klopp lifted the lid on his management style and how he had treated some players differently within the Liverpool dressing room.
Presenter Steven Bartlett asked Klopp: “Were there certain players in your team that you felt you could be tougher with and others that you never really felt you could be tough with because that would hurt their performance?”
To which Klopp responded: “Of course, Sadio Mane and Mo Salah are two top examples.
“In the end, there are not a lot of people who saw it coming. We knew they were great, we knew they were massive talents, had fantastic potential, but they were not who they became later on.
“To be successful as a football team, you have to organise a football team to get stability.
“To get stability, you need to find a way to defend properly and together. If you have that, based on that, they can start flying.
“They are obviously not defenders, but we were famous for our pressing and counter-pressing.
“But then with years, and not because they changed or whatever, but here a little bit less [defensive work], there a little bit less.
“And I have to decide, do I go for them? Like I would go for a young boy playing in that position saying ‘come on, turn, run, fight, jump’ and take them off?
“No, of course not, you don’t do that in that moment.”
Klopp then opened up on his famous bust-up with Salah during a game against West Ham away back in May 2024.
The Egyptian international was preparing to come on in the 79th minute when he had a heated discussion with Klopp on the sidelines.
“We had this one argument with Mo at West Ham at the sideline when he didn’t start and I brought him on and he was not happy.
“Our problems then were always in public, it’s not real [not a] big thing, but in that moment we didn’t agree.
“So how do you deal with that the next day? I think I can say we have a very good relationship today, even though on that day it didn’t look like it.
“So you learn. You try to do it the right way, show players respect, but at one point, it’s never enough and you have to accept that as well.
“Because the players grow, they get bigger and bigger.
“You can never get it 100% right, but you can only do as good as possible for you and that’s what I tried all the time. To create a relationship where even when we had arguments, we always found our way out.”
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