Klopp analysis: Lallana, balance and a long road ahead
Adam Lallana's form, Liverpool's foundations from last season, the team's balance and the long road ahead this term were all discussed by Jürgen Klopp after Saturday's win over Hull City.
The manager watched another encouraging attacking display from his side at Anfield as they claimed a handsome 5-1 result – their fourth successive victory in all competitions.
Klopp spoke to the print media after his post-match press conference and reiterated his satisfaction with the counter-pressing on show, but also explained why he will not be getting carried away.
Read on for a summary of his points…
On Lallana’s development during his tenure…
Since I’ve been here, you saw. It’s not always about performing like this, it’s about working attitude, it’s about being involved in all the team things, in all the sessions. He likes to train, he likes to work. From the first day he was like this. This is now only the credit he takes from the work he did. All good in the moment.
On players thriving in their positions…
Always in football, we agree we all want to play a specific position. If I ask my offensive midfield players – of which we have got a lot – ‘What’s your favourite position?’ they all would say a ‘No.10’ and maybe Adam would say the same – so I didn’t ask! It’s all about playing the game and creating the spaces you need. Sometimes it’s different spaces. Against Hull it was a little bit between the lines because we knew how Hull would defend, so he did really well.
But the most spectacular situations apart from his goal were his counter-pressing. That was really impressive. We could speak about him, but look how Hendo played the ‘No.6’ where a lot of people, I think, were pretty sure he cannot play a holding position and he is. It was a team performance and a deserved win. I’m not surprised about one or the other performances.
The best photos from Liverpool's win over Hull
On the foundations that Liverpool had from last season…
We thought a lot actually about who would fit in. The big difference between us and all the rest of the Liverpool world was probably that everybody thought we should change a lot from last year’s team. We thought ‘No’. Yes, we changed a few things but most of the players who performed most of the time last year are still here. We wanted to build on this base. We brought a few new things in, a few new skills, but it’s all about the base which we already had.
On the balance between attack and defence…
The rule is be an option or be protection. If you are not involved in the offensive situation then you must protect the offensive situation. Of course, hopefully it will stay like this that the centre-halves are not too often involved in finishing situations – they can do what they want around set-pieces – so that means they are always in a protective situation.
The rest is about being creative, changing, movement. Like I said after Leicester, where the opening goal was 50 per cent Daniel [Sturridge], they play man-on-man defending as you know, so take them to the outside line. That’s how football should work. For this you need time to train together because the games are full of pressure and intensity. You can use them for learning but it should not be the only possibility to learn. We learned a few things obviously and now we have to bring them all together.
On there being a long road ahead in the season…
What would change if I said now ‘What we did in the first half I never saw in my life’ – which would not be the truth – by the way? Until now it’s a pretty good start. All games were difficult with a few ups and not too many downs but we had them already. It’s early moments, we are far away from Christmas and after Christmas we’ve got January, February, March, April, May. It’s a long, long, long race. I’m happy with the performance and I know about the need for carrying on and keep on going and all that stuff. I’m really fine.