Klopp: My main hope for this season? That it's spoken about in 50 years

The Reds travel to Arsenal on Sunday on the Premier League’s opening weekend, with feelings of excitement, optimism and anticipation coursing through all football supporters across the country as competitive top-flight action makes its return.

Klopp is no different as he gears up to lead Liverpool into his first full term at the helm, brimming with enthusiasm at the possibility of what may unfold over the next 10 months.

And asked by Liverpoolfc.com at Melwood what his main hope for this coming campaign is, the boss replied: “A positive, remarkable season.

“Hopefully this planet will still work for another two or three million years and in 50 or 60 years, somebody looks back and says that this season, 16-17, was a really wonderful season, ‘we played this, we won this’ and all that stuff.

“That’s what I want because that is what life is for – and especially a football life is for.

“If you have a season that at the end of it everybody wants to forget it in a second then for sure a few things went wrong.

“I want that in the next summer break, we look back at this season with big smiles on our faces.”

A first pre-season in charge of Liverpool has enabled Klopp and his backroom team to fully implement their training methodologies on the squad during multiple daily sessions since July 2.

But still, the manager acknowledges there is room for development and growth within his group – and he’s looking forward to watching that happen between now and the conclusion of 2016-17.

“That’s what we always want – learning in life and developing in football never ends,” said Klopp. “Even when you are 35, you have space to develop if you want, or you can use your experience better than you did before.

“It’s a big, big aim for us to really make a step in the right direction – together and individually as players. That’s what they need to do and my job is to help them as good as I can so that everybody can see.

“If after a game, only I am satisfied then it is better than nobody being satisfied but it’s not enough. We need to show that we work together, we need to show that we have improved and we need to show that we will still improve. All together.

“The start of the season, big expectations from every side and each team has their own expectations, so it’s exciting. That you don’t know for sure what will happen makes it even more exciting, so all good!”

‘Excited’ – or a variable of the adjective – is a word Klopp repeats on several occasions throughout the interview with Liverpoolfc.com at the club’s training complex.

It offers an insight into the 49-year-old’s mindset as he gears up to watch his Reds side put all the hard work amassed over the last six weeks into action at Emirates Stadium.

“I don’t know exactly how excited our fans are, but of course we’re very excited,” continued Klopp.

“Pre-season is a very important part of the season, but it’s ‘pre’ so everything we do is done to be perfectly prepared for the season.

“I would say pre-season in this specific year with the European Championship, and maybe one or two need a little bit more time to make them strong and fit enough, but we’ve had a lot of players in training over the last few weeks and [it meant we] could do a lot.

“We feel as well prepared as possible and that means, yes, we’re looking forward to the season.”

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