- Title: Liverpool manager Klopp hails Rodgers' impact at Leicester
- Date: 4th October 2019
- Summary: LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND, UK (OCTOBER 4, 2019) (REUTERS) LIVERPOOL MANAGER, JUERGEN KLOPP, ENTERING NEWS CONFERENCE WHITE FLASH (SOUNDBITE) (English) LIVERPOOL MANAGER, JUERGEN KLOPP, SAYING: "It's going really well (for Brendan Rodgers). To be honest, I'm not too surprised about that. I knew it when I came here that he was not the reason that things did not work out. And since then, he did an incredible job at Celtic, obviously, and now at Leicester building - or rebuilding, I'm not sure. A lot of the players there before him are still there, but good signings as well. Really good signings and a brilliant team. What they do is really good. I don't have to say that, I think everybody knows at the moment when you watch the Leicester games, it's just exciting. It's just fresh, just good. Defend well, play football and especially counter attacks are pretty threatful. So, good, congratulations for that. But, the reception, I think will be good from my side as I said, from the supporters I think as well. But still, it's then not a friendly game and that's what we want to make sure of, of course. We are there to perform as well, and yeah, hopefully we can do that." WHITE FLASH (SOUNDBITE) (English) LIVERPOOL MANAGER, JUERGEN KLOPP, SAYING: UNIDENTIFIED JOURNALIST ASKING QUESTION: "After Wednesday's (October 2) game, Salzburg released a video of the coach's half-time team talk. Switching between English and German speech with the players. I was just wondering, firstly, would you ever have a video camera in the dressing room? And what would we see if you did? KLOPP, SAYING: "If LFCTV would put out a video with me in a situation like that, I would leave the club. That's the truth. That's the truth. So, that's all I have to say about that. [KLOPP STANDS UP TO LEAVE BEFORE BEING STOPPED BY PRESS OFFICER]." PRESS OFFICER, SAYING: "No, we're not done yet. We're not done yet. Unless that's you leaving the club. [LAUGHS]" KLOPP, SAYING: "I thought Carl was the last one. I only wanted to make it more dramatic." UNIDENTIFIED JOURNALIST, SAYING: "It worked." WHITE FLASH (SOUNDBITE) (English) LIVERPOOL MANAGER, JUERGEN KLOPP, SAYING: "It's different with goalkeepers, yes. It's different with Ali (Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson Becker) maybe, but the good thing, other than the well, we don't feel pressure. So, that's good. We don't want to have to rush it, but we don't. He's been training already for - I think nearly ten days. So, it's not now, but now team training - it's really difficult most of the time, but (when it comes to) the little things that we can do between games when we play all three days, we don't really need a goalie, or we have goalies for that, so it's more important that Ali can then do the important stuff with much higher intensity than it would have been in a five-side or whatever we could do between the games. If yesterday would have been the first session for him in training we would of course not even think about it. And I don't know if we think about it. I have to talk. My [inaudible] is in town so I've had a lot of meetings since then so I couldn't talk about the goalie situation to anybody. But I will do that after the press conference, immediately, and then I will call you. Or not." KLOPP LEAVING NEWS CONFERENCE
- Embargoed: 18th October 2019 16:42
- Keywords: Liverpool Juergen Klopp Brendan Rodgers Leicester City Premier League Alisson Becker
- Location: LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND, UK
- City: LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND, UK
- Country: United Kingdom
- Topics: Soccer,Sport
- Reuters ID: LVA001AZOMTRZ
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: EDIT CONTAINS WHITE FLASHES
Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp has praised the club's former boss Brendan Rodgers for building an exciting Leicester City squad, capable of finishing in the Premier League's top-four this season.
Leicester are currently third in the table after a bright start to the campaign and would provisionally overtake defending champions Manchester City if they beat leaders Liverpool at Anfield on Saturday (October 5).
Only Liverpool and Manchester City have recorded more points in the English top-flight than Leicester since Rodgers arrived at the King Power Stadium.
Leicester were the last team outside the established 'top six' to qualify for the Champions League when they defied the odds to lift the Premier League title in the 2015-16 season.
Klopp took over from Rodgers at Anfield in 2015 and lives in the former Celtic boss's house.
Rodgers, who guided Celtic to back-to-back domestic trebles during his time in Scotland, will return to Anfield for the first time since his departure and Klopp said he expected fans to give him a warm reception.
When asked, Klopp said he would "leave the club" if Liverpool where to release a half-time locker-room video of him speaking to his players similar one Salzburg released of coach Jesse Marsch.
His quick response led to a humorous moment in the news conference when Klopp suddenly stood up to leave only to be stopped by a press officer who said the newser had not yet finished.
Klopp fielded one more question on goalkeeper Alisson Becker who he said has returned to training after recovering from a calf injury but remains a doubt for the weekend's clash. The coach also said Joel Matip and Xherdan Shaqiri remain unavailable.
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