After so many issues, when Sturridge actually plays again, he’ll (probably) be so anxious about sustaining another injury (and/or his ability to retain fitness), that it’ll affect his game.
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Klopp is two matches away from Wembley, where he last visited as Borussia Dortmund manager when they lost 2-1 to Bayern Munich in the 2013 Champions League final, and has impressed on his players the significance of seeing things through to the end. “He’s scoring goals, making runs behind lines, playing as more of a false-nine”.
Manager Juergen Klopp’s hopes of ending his first season in English football with a top-four Premier League finish and a place in next season’s Champions League suffered a blow when Liverpool started the new year with a 2-0 defeat at West Ham United on Saturday. He didn’t have session with the team.
“What we are doing now is to try to fill his body with energy and strength, that’s what we have to do”.
“We were passive. That’s not good in life or in football. When he’s had a row of sessions, I will pick him”, Klopp said. Before that we had issues with set-pieces. He continued that “of course, West Ham had chances in the first-half” and pinpointed the “set-plays, throw-ins and bad defending” which he showed to his players at half-time.
He admitted that it is their own responsibility and called it “not a day for being disappointed” rather “only a day for being angry” about their own performance – which he added “that’s what we are”.
He admitted that Liverpool “could have done much better” against the Hammers and said that “we had our moments, we played football and we tried” – but stated that “if you don’t fight, if you fight in these moments not with 100 per cent but with 95 per cent” then “it’s not enough”. “Simon Mignolet is a really good goalkeeper”.
“It is not what we always want to do, but at a time like this football is not easy”. Clear in our words.
“If you don’t try to go for it, it’s a waste of time”, Klopp said about participation in the Capital One Cup.
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“It is not our target to be part of the final, there is only one reason in tournaments like this and it is to win it”.
