MT Sports

Klopp beware of Pochettino

Published:2023-08-13 By Hồng Duy(MetaSports) Comments
Before the great battle at Stamford Bridge in the first round of the English Premier League, coach Jurgen Klopp praised Mauricio Pochettino and believed that his colleague would turn Chelsea into a formidable opponent.

Klopp dominated the head-to-head record when Pochettino was still managing Tottenham. The German coach won six, lost one and drew four matches. In particular, the most memorable result was Liverpool's 2-0 win over Tottenham in the 2019 Champions League final thanks to Mohamed Salah's penalty kick and Divock Origi's cross corner kick.

Before meeting Pochettino for the first time as Chelsea's head coach, Klopp praised his colleague as a class leader and helped the London team change its face. Klopp said he had watched Chelsea's pre-season games, where the opponent was unbeaten when respectively defeating Wrexham 5-0, Brighton 4-3, drawing Newcastle 1-1, winning Fulham 2-0 and drawing Dortmund 1-1.

"Pochettino is a top coach and Chelsea will be hungry to show," Klopp said on August 12 at his pre-match press conference. "We have to be very ready. The way Chelsea plays shows the mark of Pochettino. Liverpool played against Pochettino many times during his time at Tottenham, and you can see a lot of similarities at Chelsea now."

Klopp considers the farewell to pillars like Jordan Henderson, James Milner, Naby Keita, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Fabinho or Roberto Firmino this summer as a new beginning for Liverpool and wants his students to share the responsibility. "Be the best version of yourself and then you'll have a good chance of helping the team in the best way possible," he said.

In the opposite direction, Liverpool recruited Dominik Szoboszlai from RB Leipzig for $ 76 million and 2022 World Cup champion Alexis Mac Allister from Brighton for $ 46 million. They also reached a record $ 139 million agreement with Brighton for Moises Caicedo, but have not yet convinced the Ecuadorian midfielder to give up his intention to join Chelsea to move to Anfield.

In 2016, Man Utd spent a record $ 131 million to bring Pogba back to Old Trafford, breaking the record of $ 111 million that Real paid Tottenham in 2013 for Gareth Bale. At that time, Klopp thought that spending such a large amount of money on one player was the wrong approach. When asked about this statement, the 56-year-old coach admitted that he changed his mind when the transfer market changed, and Liverpool were forced to spend heavily to try to catch up with opponents with very strong financial backgrounds.

Liverpool spent the 2022-2023 season not meeting expectations when they were soon eliminated from the Champions League, FA Cup, League Cup and only finished fifth in the English Premier League. Klopp sees no need to repeat the poor results last season and is pleased with the way the team performed in pre-season. "Wanted, focused, ready, open-minded," he said. "I've seen a lot of positive things in the team. I don't have to remind the players how last season was. It makes no sense. We have a lot of goals and motivation ahead of the new season." .

During his eight years at Liverpool, Klopp won the Premier League, FA Cup, League Cup, English Super Cup, Champions League, European Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup. The German coach has the opportunity to complete his trophy collection when he joins Liverpool in the Europa League this season. He helped Liverpool reach the final of the Europa League in 2016, but lost 1-3 to Sevilla in Basel, Switzerland.

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