Brannagan: I'm here to be called upon by Klopp
"I'm here to be called upon," pledges Cameron Brannagan as the Liverpool midfielder targets more chances under Jürgen Klopp this season.
While several of his peers departed the club on a permanent basis or with a loan move during the summer, the 20-year-old remained with the Reds.
He is eager to build on the nine first-team appearances he has accrued to date, especially after being handed a number of opportunities by Klopp last term.
Brannagan is determined to catch the manager’s eye again and will try to do so by performing impressively at whichever level he finds himself each week.
“I’ve just got to keep working hard,” he said.
“If the manager needs me, I’m here to be called upon. The U23s games are coming up and I’ve just got to keep playing well in those and trying to show what I can do.
“My priority at the minute is to keep working hard and when I get the chance to play, keep playing well. Playing last season just gives you the incentive that you want to play more.
“It’s not always the case being a young lad coming up, you know that you’re not going to be able to play 20 games a year – it’s not normal.
“When I’m at Melwood, I’ve just got to keep trying to impress the manager as much as I can. Even when I’m training at the Academy, I’ve got to try to impress the manager and the U23s training staff. We will see where that takes me.”
Part of Brannagan’s plan to force his way into contention is to improve the areas of his game that require work to become suited to Klopp’s style of play.
That includes an increased presence in the opposition penalty area and, as a natural consequence of being further forward, more of a goal threat from midfield.
He added: “I think there’s loads to my game that I can improve on.
“I’m only a young lad and there’s loads that I’m working on at the minute – my finishing around the box, my weaker foot, I was practising free-kicks and corners as much as I could.
“I’m always there working with the manager and the coaching staff after training. I’d like to add more goals to my game. When we’re attacking, the manager wants as many people in the box as possible.
“If the full-backs are near the edge of the box then he wants them to get in the box. He’s more concerned about you being in the box rather than not in the box.
“At a minimum when we’re on the attack, he wants four or five people in the box at one time to try to score as many goals as we can.”