Jürgen Klopp on Grujic, five-goal win at Fleetwood and more
Jürgen Klopp explained why there were both positives to take and lessons to learn from Liverpool's 5-0 victory over Fleetwood Town on Wednesday night.
The Reds were comfortable winners against the League One side, with goals from Marko Grujic, Ben Woodburn, Lucas Leiva and Roberto Firmino (two) securing the result at Highbury Stadium.
Klopp spoke to the press shortly after the final whistle and touched on a number of subjects, including the performances of Grujic and Woodburn plus the work still to be done in pre-season.
Read on for a summary of the manager’s thoughts.
On the positives from the game…
A few good things. But we have to work, that’s clear. I saw a few good things, chances we created and a few good defensive actions, and good individual performances from one or two players. In the first half especially, I was not happy with the team play. Because we could have done better and we should try to do better. In a game like this, if the only situations you have are because of the individual quality of the player then something is wrong. Like we scored the goals in the second half – it was a nice pass, a good run, another nice pass and an easy goal. That’s how football should work. We did better in the second half. In the first half we had our chances but it was not that clear and the goalkeeper made a few good saves. It was absolutely OK. But in the pre-season you really have to fight against the intensity of training in the games, that’s really important. I think we can do better. We have to learn because we will not have easy games in the Premier League, so we have to create situations where it really doesn’t feel easy for the boys. In games like this, against a team like Fleetwood, there are a few difficult moments and you have to be ready to find a solution. Sometimes we had a solution, sometimes not – 5-0 at the end, everything is OK.
On Grujic’s debut display…
He is still a young lad – he is 20 years old and that means there is a lot to develop physically and, of course, in the football parts. But it was absolutely OK, but then you saw defending together in a little triangle together with Kev Stewart… in the end, Kev Stewart made all the work and the other boys were in the half spaces. That’s OK, it’s no problem, but they have to learn and they have to improve, of course. They all can play football, that’s really good to see. He scored a goal in his first game in the first situation – it’s a dream. You saw it, in a friendly game not often a player celebrates like him but obviously it was a big moment. It was nice to see. We are ready to work with the boys, they will improve – and they have to improve – but for the first game it was absolutely fine.
On Woodburn’s performance…
He’s a natural offensive player. It’s nice to see, really nice to see. I had a long talk to Alex Inglethorpe and sang the big songs about the boys because they trained great and it’s really good to have them around. Ovie [Ejaria] – what a player, [in] the first game and today again. They are a little bit tired. Really good players, smart players, well educated. It’s good to see. I’m happy with this.
On the work still to be done in pre-season…
A lot. I don’t want to say it’s so hard or something like this. It’s important because the whole season you have no time to train actually. Maybe this year we will have a little bit of time to train but now it’s really important. But we are not together – the first three weeks we are with one group and the other group. It’s important but at the end we have to bring these two groups together. All the players that are not with us at the moment, they played actually last year so that means they are quite important players and we try to bring these two groups together and find the best solution for the first game, find the best for the second game. It’s very important. We can do a lot and so that’s why I say it’s not that I stay here and watch the game and think it’s only a friendly. No, it’s very important. It’s an important test.