Klopp bans WAGs and cuts down days off at Liverpool

Jurgen Klopp: Hit the ground running

Jurgen Klopp: Hit the ground running

Jurgen Klopp has banned wives and girlfriends from the Liverpool training ground and cut back on the players’ days off.

The former Borussia Dortmund boss started work at Anfield this week and introduced himself to the players with some new rules, as he looks to lift the club into the top four.

Klopp wants the focus of the training ground to be work and the squad have been told that Melwood is not the place for their loved ones during working hours, he said: “Melwood is the headquarters of football.

“I want to see a change in mentality, to go from the first second until the last second.”

It’s a similar scenario to the one the German imposed during his time in the Bundesliga with Dortmund. Klopp was insistent that the players’ families and girlfriends must not be invited whilst the players are working, but it’s claimed he was not as strict as to impose a total ban because he was understanding that their presence was necessary in special circumstances.

Time off chopped

The 48-year-old tactician has also warned the players there will be a dramatic cut back on the amount of time off they were allowed to take under former boss Brendan Rodgers.

Klopp scheduled three training sessions on the first day all players were back from international duty this week and he will make sure that players earn their days off – like the old regime under Rafa Benitez.

“We need to train for as often and as long as possible,” said Klopp.

“I have to give the boys things that they are able to do.

“Not because it was bad before but because that is the most easy thing to change. We have to go to London, go out of the stadium, go out of the dressing room [and show] what we can do.

“That’s what we are waiting for the whole week. That’s what we dream of. All the tactical things, that’s very important because we do not have to work so much on the physical side.

“My ideas are not better than Brendan’s. They are different, of course, and so we need time. That’s a big challenge: to find a way [to make] the first step and that you can see that it is better. They have to get better in the games.”