Jurgen Klopp has revealed he was able to get plenty “off my chest” during a team meeting on Wednesday, one that did not include shouting but rather plenty of “perspective.”
Liverpool find themselves in a difficult spot after just three league games, with inconsistent performances, among other issues, making for just two points on the board.
It’s a slow start that the Reds cannot afford and with the schedule only ramping up, Klopp took the time to sit his team down and share what was on his mind, and he says he is feeling much better for it.
“It was more [getting stuff] off my chest,” he said of the meeting with a laugh. “The good thing about this week is I feel much better after that.
“It’s not that I shout at the players, not at all. It’s about putting things in perspective, talking about the stuff we did well and didn’t do well.
“We live in a world where, we spoke about it plenty of times, everything is judged, under the glass but in the end only one thing is important; what we really think ourselves.
“We cannot do things to please the outside world, to act in a specific way, to make crazy challenges, get a red card. We never were that.
“We will never sort our problems on the back of something else. For us and for me, it’s clear what we have to do.
“I cannot go into detail but of course, we talk about pretty much everything, especially about important things for us and try to exclude the not-so-important stuff.”
Klopp has a brilliant ability to be in tune with his side and its needs, not to mention his emotional intelligence, which is made clear when he explains the significance of his team meeting.
“Yes, I can [tell them things they don’t already know]. I am 55 and they are 30,” Klopp added.
“The situation changes constantly, the perceptions from outside change constantly, the pressure gets bigger, it’s never the same.
“I don’t want to leave the boys alone in moments like this, ‘you have to deal with it, get along with it’ or whatever.
“It’s about showing perspective, that’s it.
“As a human being when you are in a team sport when you are in a difficult situation you deal with yourself in the first moment.
“But you should not forget you have around 10 players who are maybe in a similar situation, but you can use them for help and you can be a help for them as well. These kinds of things we forget.
“It was a bit of a longer meeting, these meetings are always longer, and after that, as I said, I felt better.”
