Klopp vows to work with players, not buy new ones

Mark Holmes
Jurgen Klopp: Needs time to truly improve Liverpool

Jurgen Klopp: Not happy with Liverpool's poor starts

Jurgen Klopp has hinted he will avoid the temptation to spend in January, suggesting more transition would not be good for Liverpool.

Klopp has been linked with moves for several players since taking over at Anfield last month, but the German has dismissed the prospect of yet another overhaul of the club’s squad in January.

“I have been here three weeks,” Klopp said after the Reds’ 3-1 win at Chelsea. “I don’t read newspapers but everyone tells me: ‘You want to buy this player, this player, this player’.

“But development is to work with the players you have. It’s like if you have a problem with your wife, you don’t want to change every day!”

In understandably jovial mood after recording his first Premier League win, Klopp also made fun of questions about Liverpool’s chances of finishing in the top four this season.

“Oh,” he said. “I can’t believe that England is so impatient!”

Spotting Mark Clattenburg walking past at that moment, Klopp said to the referee: “They are asking me about the top four.”

“Welcome to England,” Clattenburg replied.

While Klopp refused to go overboard about Liverpool’s prospects for the rest of the season – he accused one journalist of being “crazy” when asked about a potential title challenge – the 48-year-old was happy to heap praise on Philippe Coutinho after his two goals at Stamford Bridge.

“I love this player. Who can’t love Phil Coutinho?” said Klopp. “I don’t expect all day perfection. I expect you to work to get better every day.

“That is how we make the next steps. I’m not interested in what happened before.

“I’ve spoken to Phil, but my job is to help him, not to say what he is not doing good.

“He knows the last three games were not perfect, but he needs the games. He needs the experience in games to feel what is good and what is wrong. This is the perfect example. The start was not good, but we came back.”

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