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| Alberto Moreno admits he was full of 'rage' after being overlooked by Brendan Rodgers |
IT WAS the moment Anfield came alive. Southampton’s Saido Mane was bearing down towards Liverpool’s goal when, almost out of nowhere, Alberto Moreno finished a lung-bursting, 40-yard dash by executing the perfect tackle and nullifying the threat in an instant.
“I love it when something like that happens, it's absolutely great,” said the Spaniard. “When the fans sort of get behind you and congratulate you for a good piece of play, like in that case the tackle. It's amazing.
“It's almost why you go out on the field to perform well and do things well for the fans.”
Not only did the stadium erupt, but, on the touchline, new Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp stood applauding his left-back for his goal-saving, wraparound challenge. The standard has been set.
The contrast with Moreno’s first major impression under predecessor, Brendan Rodgers, could hardly have been starker.
Back in August 2014, it had been a 40-yard dash forward and rifled finish in a 3-0 win at Tottenham with which Moreno announced himself.
It is no secret Rodgers had wanted Liverpool to purchase Ryan Bertrand, then at Chelsea, but a £12m deal was struck instead with Sevilla and over the course of last season Moreno played less.
Rodgers’ belief that Moreno was a better player going forward, than he was at defending, spilled over into this campaign with right-footed teenager Joe Gomez starting at left-back.
Moreno now admits to an inner “rage” building inside him at the situation and even when he did make the starting line-up it was as a wing-back not full-back.
“I perhaps felt that he (Rodgers) didn’t have quite so much confidence in me, certainly at the start of the season,” said Moreno.
“He told me I was training hard but then I didn’t feature for those first five or six games.
“He said to me that it was still early in the season and that my opportunity would come, but after the first game against Stoke, when we kept a clean sheet, he said he wasn’t going to change anything defensively at that point.
“I was angry. It never entered my head that I was going to leave. I want to stay forever. But I had this inner anger, a rage almost. I felt I was playing well, training well. He told me that I was training well. But I couldn’t see why I wasn’t getting a chance at the beginning.”
He has channelled that anger into trying to impress Klopp following Rodgers’ departure at the start of the month and so far, so good.
Moreno, 23, seems the sort of player Klopp will embrace and then look to smooth down the rough edges that persist in his game through time spent on the training pitch.
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| Moreno is determined to retain the trust of new Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp |
“I think that it has been a 100pc change,” said Moreno. “Everything is totally different. He spoke to all the players and the first thing he said to us was that he was going to judge things on what he saw and what he felt.
“He told us we all started from zero. He said the present had nothing to do with the past and the previous regime. We were all starting from now.
“I just get the impression that he really feels the game. He has a huge passion for the game, which I think I do. He wants you to express yourself on the field. He wants you to offer not 100pc, but 200pc, when you are performing and I think I offer that.
“It fits in with me.
“First and foremost let me tell you I haven't just learned to defend under Klopp! I have been defending since I was a kid and learnt the art of defending before he arrived.
“But what is true to say is that he spends a lot of time on the training field how we set up – not just defensively, but also where we are position wise in the middle of the field and also in attack.
“So each training session is quite tactical, we cover a lot of positioning work and strategy as well. I think perhaps you can start to see that on the field where we are working as one and seem united as a group now.
“The other reason I go out on the field is to defend well and put in challenges like that. I know that my first job is to defend, and I think this year I'm much better defensively this year, I think things have been going better for me defensively.
“That part of my game is primarily what I'm in the team for, but as well I still have that desire and love of going forward when I get the chance.”
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| Moreno was left frustrated at the lack of opportunities Brendan Rodgers gave him |
If Moreno is not spending his spare time listening to flamenco music, he can invariably be spotted walking his dog. A recent photograph showed him on what appeared a hoverboard while doing so and he paints a vivid picture.
“I was with my dog in the park – I was like a roman gladiator on a chariot!” he said smiling. “He's a powerful dog, a bull terrier who is very strong and pulls all the time, so he is trying to drag me along on it.
“The board has two wheels at the back and if you lean forward it moves forward...but it just runs on the power the dog has and I get pulled along, so I can save my legs for the football!”
Moreno starts laughing, his mood reflecting the sense of contentment he has belatedly found.
Yet he knows it is just the start and admitted Klopp is targeting one area for improvement, in particular, from him.
“He talks with me a lot,” said Moreno, speaking through an interpreter. “I do feel he trusts me. He spends a lot of time with me. He really wants me to learn English as quickly as possible, so he can get his ideas over.
“I have to brush up on my English. I'm now up to four days a week with my English lesson. It's between one and two hours a session...and it's a bit boring!
“It's at home, when I can fit it around the matches, when we have time.
“But the fact he has spent so much time with me, I think, shows up in good performances on the field.”
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