Klopp: I'll find the right words to inspire the players
As he delivers his final message to the Liverpool players ready to run out at Wembley today, Jürgen Klopp will use his years of experience to instinctively find the right words.
The German is one game away from securing a trophy within five months of his appointment as Reds manager, with Manchester City the final obstacle in the Capital One Cup.
If Klopp can successfully guide his team through the 90 minutes – or potentially more – in London this afternoon, he and his squad would crystallise the signs of progress witnessed since his arrival last October.
With that in mind, the boss’ team-talk in the last seconds before kick-off will be a speech crafted in the moment to inspire an already hungry group of players at the national stadium.
“I never write it down, that’s for sure,” Klopp told Liverpoolfc.com in an exclusive pre-Wembley interview that can be watched below.
“We will have a few words together and hopefully the right ones, but they [won’t] decide the game. It is only one part of all things of preparation.
“It’s always spontaneous, it’s always like this and I never plan things like this. My whole life is preparation for all the things I say, and that’s how it is.
“When I forget something, it was not important enough. I will have the right words. It will not be because of my words that we will lose the game but hopefully I can help a little bit.”
A much more meticulous process is required, of course, when deciding on Liverpool’s starting XI and 18-man squad to face Manuel Pellegrini’s City in the showpiece fixture.
Klopp admitted at his pre-match press conference that he had difficult decisions to make after the injury list eased in recent weeks and more options became available.
But the boss also insisted that should the Reds lift the trophy at Wembley, it would be a success for the entire squad and not just those involved – plus, it comes with the territory.
He said: “I’m pretty cool in this. I always make the line-up only to win the game and not to give presents for some players.
“When we make the decision on which is the best line-up, I don’t like to upset players, to say ‘sorry you are not involved’ or things like this.
“It’s not cool but that’s part of the deal and part of my job. I can only bring 11 into this game for my starting line-up so when we [have] made this 11, it's never a decision against other players, it is always a decision for these 11 players, then it is more easy to do this.
“I think it is silly in life too, if you have such a great thing to do like playing in a final and then think only about ‘I have to make a line-up and disappoint players’.
“That’s not how it works. You have to make decisions like this, that’s how it always is but it is not that I want to do this, it’s only part of the deal.”