Jurgen Klopp admits he's still judging his Liverpool players to see if they fit his vision

Jurgen Klopp wants his Liverpool players to play with a smile on their faces ahead of Newcastle tie

JURGEN KLOPP wants his Liverpool players to perform with a smile on their face as he insisted he is still judging whether they can be part of his long-term Anfield vision.

 

Klopp rejected the notion he was a “genius” despite an eye-catching start to his Liverpool tenure in which he has lost one of 11 games while also rejuvenating a dressing room and galvanising a club.

Liverpool face struggling Newcastle United tomorrow when they will seek to maintain an improvement which has fuelled renewed optimism.

It is an outlook he is keen for his team to adopt and Klopp said: “Football always looks only like work in difficult times.

“I don't expect someone to go into a one-on-one situation with a big smile on their face but, you know what I mean, it's important to be able to enjoy what you are doing.

 

“That is best for everybody.

“That's what I mean by it is a game and a game you have to play. You can't always play with a miserable face – ok, that's how I play tennis but that's my problem.

“Football is always hard work but it looks easier when you are on a good run and that is enough to enjoy.”

Klopp will reach the milestone of his 600^th game in management at St James’ Park and his experience means there is little chance of becoming distracted by the adulation his first months on Merseyside have brought him.

 

He down-played parallels between the work he is currently overseeing and the team he built at Borussia Dortmund which usurped Bayern Munich to win back-to-back titles.

And he said he cannot promise what success, if any, he will have because he is still getting to know his team.

“We worked in completely different circumstances and with different individuals in Dortmund,” said Klopp. “We didn't have a Dortmund plan and say, 'Ok, give us three years and we'll win the German title'.

“We don't have that plan here either. We just always try to learn and understand more about the players. That is really the most important thing.

“It is not our job to find a new way to play football. For this you need a genius and we are not. We try to make the best with the players we have and at this moment we don't know what is best.

“We only know about the way to go. There are another 30, 35 games to go this season and I don't know how long it will take and I don't think about that.

“I only think about the next game and how all of us can enjoy our next game. We could enjoy the second half of the Southampton game on the bench, not because the game was finished but because the players never lost concentration and did what they had to do in the game until the end.

 

“You could see the body language of the Southampton players change, not my side. That is a good thing.”

He continued: “I don't think about the moment when it dips. We can think about that when it happens. I'm not here long enough to know about the consistency of this team.

“Everybody can win one game but the second, and the third, is more difficult. Everybody wants to reach the highest level they can but, when you show it, you have to reach it more often. That's what we have to do in football.

“If we can do it we won't have a bad season.” 

While Klopp knows the work of Steve McClaren from the latter’s own time in Germany, he admits facing Newcastle does throw up its own problems.

“When we first came here we had to watch a lot of videos, but it's much easier to know about Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United when you are in Germany because of Europe,” he said.

“It's not so easy to see each Newcastle game. We try to learn as much as we can but, in the end, in my opinion it's not so important when you are preparing a game to know all about English football, just to study the opponent's last three or four games.

“Not more. They may have a special style of play but that can change in two or three weeks.”