Football
Glenn Price, Liverpool correspondent 7y

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp 'has no time' to celebrate first anniversary

Jurgen Klopp says he has no intention of celebrating his first year in charge of Liverpool as there is plenty of work still to be done.

On Saturday it will be exactly one year since the German was appointed to replace the sacked Brendan Rodgers.

In his 12 months at the helm, Klopp has guided his side to two cup finals and the Reds currently lie just two points adrift of Premier League leaders Manchester City.

But Klopp was not interested in looking back on his first year at Anfield when asked by reporters.

"I have no time," Klopp said. "And I am not in the mood for reflection, to be honest.

"It's a year, I'm a year older and all this sh--, but everything else is good. Not perfect, but in a good way. That's what we hoped, that's what we said.

"After one year standing here, we can talk like this. There was doubt, there was a lot of rumour around me. People said 'obviously he was a good coach at Dortmund but a German managing here doesn't work' things like this. That's better now.

"The thing is, I'm not here for a year, I'm here hopefully for the long-term, and it means that we have to use all the information we have until now and learn from it.

"That's how life works, collecting experience, learning from it and being ready for the next challenge.

"My year is what, the 8th of October, yes? We will not celebrate, I can tell you that! Hopefully nobody brings me a cake!"

He added: "We have to create hope, dreams, whatever. The only problem is that we cannot hope and we cannot dream!

"Everyone else is allowed [to dream]. So far this season it's a very positive thing to talk about but we have to go out and do it. I liked the club before I was here, but when you are in it it is so different.

"This club has a lot of work to do, it's not about enjoying the history, it's about being part of it. And being a part of it is nice."

Liverpool produced a comeback on Saturday afternoon to beat Swansea City 2-1 after a second-half turnaround.

Klopp did not hide his frustration at his side's display in the opening 45 minutes at the Liberty Stadium and believes it was a reminder to his players that complacency is not allowed to creep in.

"It was such a positive week," he said. "Interview here, interview there, 'the manager is brilliant', 'everyone is enjoying themselves'.

"And then at the end of the week, Swansea is waiting with the knife between the teeth, and you have to go and perform again!

"That's what I mean. We have to get used to it. To be a successful team you need to be a challenger in each game, challenging for three points in every game.

"I'm happy with the performance from the stands, it was great! We didn't make it too easy for them, but you saw that they took each good moment from us to help us back in the game. That was nice.

"Look, in situations like this, you see one or two sessions in the week and you think 'Oh my God, it was so good!' And it's really difficult to keep that level up.

"We had one session this week where everybody was 'wow!' We had 22 players on the pitch and every single one was angry, greedy, clear, hot, however you want to say it. And you think 'Oh my God, what was that?!'

"The problem is, there is one time in the week where you really need all this stuff. And that's in the game. Of course you prepare in training, so you can rely on it in the game. That's what I say.

"We will learn to push the button in the right moment, to train all during the week to prepare for this game."

^ Back to Top ^