Jürgen Klopp on Adam Lallana in the No.6 role
Jürgen Klopp sees the No.6 role as one of the potential positions for Adam Lallana in the forthcoming season.
The Liverpool midfielder has been used in the deeper-lying spot in each of the two pre-season friendlies so far this summer.
Lallana is preparing for his sixth campaign with the club and if the No.20 retains his current fitness level, Klopp expects his ‘outstanding’ ability to earn game time.
“You see the sessions here, what a footballer he is, it’s incredible,” the manager told Liverpoolfc.com during an extended interview in Indiana on the pre-season tour of the United States.
“Still it feels like people say, ‘He was injured, he was injured’ – yes, but in the moment he is not. I had, for example, Ilkay Gundogan, who was twice, if not three times, really seriously injured and now for one or two years he is playing completely without any injury. So just no pressure, no rush, build up, really build a fitness level, work with the experience you made in the situations. And then everything will be fine.
“Football-wise, there is absolutely no doubt about Adam.
“In the moment he plays a slightly different position, he enjoys it. He’s not now fixed in the No.6 position; we have players who played that position before and played it really well. But Adam is a midfielder through and through and he is an outstanding player. Outstanding players, you always try to find the best position on the pitch and in some games it’s possible the best position for Adam Lallana is the No.6. It must be a very dominant game, by the way, but he can play that.
“That’s why we do it, using pre-season for little experiments. That’s it.”
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