Jurgen Klopp: The last 13 months were pretty special for us

The Liverpool manager addressed the media in a press conference after the club was declared as the Premier League champions.

Liverpool’s first Premier League title and their 19th overall victory in the English top-flight football was commemorated by Jurgen Klopp addressing a virtual press conference. The German international has completely turned around the club’s fortunes ever since taking over the managerial mantle in October, 2015. He led the Reds to the UEFA Champions League title in 2018-19 and capped off this campaign with the Premier League victory that has eluded Liverpool for so long.

When asked about his thoughts on the road ahead, Klopp stated, “I don’t know what is next. The last 13 months were pretty special for us. I would like to involve the year ahead as well. To win this amount of games, win those matches, I didn’t experience it really. I had good parts in my career but not that good. We will not stop, that’s it.”

He elaborated that he could not promise that they would emerge victorious in every competition but he could surely guarantee a gradual improvement in the footballing elements. Klopp insisted that maintaining consistency in such performances is a challenging task and hence quipped, “I would like to show that consistent performing is possible.”

Regardless of the professional aspect of the sport, it is a very emotional moment for all the individuals involved with this achievement too. The Liverpool manager admitted to have shared a quick moment with his family just before the final whistle of the game between Manchester City and Chelsea. Klopp revealed, “I called my family 10 seconds before the final whistle. We had a Facetime call. I told them I loved them, they told me they loved me. We cannot be together, that was not nice, but that’s how it is.” He then asked for the call to be continued as something special was about to occur within a matter of seconds.

Liverpool’s style of play is attributed to the relentless attitude that their players display on the field. After 31 matches this season, the team was ranked fifth in the list of the Premier League clubs who have covered the most distance on the field in the present campaign. They were surpassed only by the likes of Newcastle United, Burnley and others who generally adopt such a playing style. Thus, no doubts could be cast upon the perseverance and work-ethic of Klopp’s men.

He was encountered with a question pondering upon whether this current setup is the most hard-working group of players that the 53-year old has come across in his managerial career.

The gaffer politely clarified that all of his teams including Mainz and Borussia Dortmund were extremely professional and further explained, “This group is a mix of lot of really world-class players, but the consistency comes from the mix with determination, buying in the idea, attitude, character, personality. That’s what makes this group so special. All are very confident because we won some stuff but they are very humble and that is very important for the future.”

Astonishingly, Liverpool have lost only two Premier League matches since the beginning of the 2018-19 season. Such peerless regularity of performances has propelled the team to remarkable heights. To formulate a setup that delivers such results on a weekly basis was never a convenient task but Klopp reiterates that it would have been difficult to win the Premier League title without such stability in terms of their results.

He observed, “I am not sure it was possible to do more than what we did the last year. It helped massively because we won the Champions League in the end.” The former Dortmund boss mentioned, “If you want to win the league, you cannot lose any game because City simply do not lose football games. That’s what been the case since Pep has been here. We have seven games to go and we want to play our best football in those games.”

The Premier League victory marks the culmination of the project that Klopp undertook with Liverpool almost five years ago. There have been certain significant improvements; there were moments when it seemed that they have attained unfavourable results. However, the manager never deterred from his philosophy. He instead won over the club and it allowed him to acquire the required player signings that were necessary for these outstanding results.

“We try to squeeze everything out, it didn’t work out all the time but the intensity was never less. We know there are other teams who will do a lot to improve their situation. So it will be a hard fight. That’s how the Premier League is, there’s a hard fight every three days. We will play six matches in 18 days so that would be very intense,” Klopp commented.

Accordingly, the Liverpool manager was asked whether he came across any particular moment in his tenure so far when he believed that claiming victory over the league was not possible. Upon this, the former Eintracht Frankfurt II player elucidated, “I really knew that we would become a really good football team but others are good too. So the consistency was incredible. We were good four years ago, we were really good three years ago, we were unbelievably good last year and then smashing the record so far this season is absolutely exceptional and second to none.”

Jurgen Klopp never fails to heap praise on his players for the success achieved by the team over the years. Even today, it was a similar case. . “It is all about the boys’ commitment, desire and understanding of the club’s heart and soul,” the Premier League winning manager declared.

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