As Liverpool host Tottenham Hotspur at Anfield on Sunday, Jurgen Klopp will clash with one of his former teammates.
When you’ve been working in football for as long as the German has, you’re bound to run into a lot of familiar faces after they’ve stopped working with you.
This was the situation on Merseyside last weekend. Klopp met with Neco Williams, a former player after the game was over.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp is one of the best man-managers in modern football without a doubt. He has been successful at Mainz, Borussia Dortmund, and now Liverpool because of his relationship with his players.
Naturally, he is much more than just a beaming smile, booming laugh, and signature bear hug. However, these relationships extend beyond his current workforce.
The German will no doubt be looking to make time for former Borussia Dortmund midfielder Ivan Perisic. Perisic joined Tottenham on a free transfer from Inter Milan last summer.
Klopp publicly spoke highly of the Croatian last season ahead of locking horns in the Champions League.
“There’s Ivan Perisic, I worked together with him,”
he said when reflecting on the Inter squad.
“We were very successful, we won the double in Germany so I’m really looking forward to meeting Ivan.
After, we met when he played for Wolfsburg. We (Dortmund) lost a cup final in Germany (in 2015). But since then, probably not anymore. I like Ivan Perisic a lot.”
Liverpool boss Klopp slammed Perisic for his unnecessary outburst
However, the two of them had a bad relationship when they were together at Dortmund.
Klopp hit back when Perisic criticized him in front of the media before selling him to VfL Wolfsburg a few months later.
The Croatian hit out at his manager in an interview back in his homeland, accusing him of favoritism and having a personal problem with him.
“I cannot be pleased with my situation at the club. I don’t get a lot of time on the pitch, very much like last year,”
he told NovaTV in November 2012.
“The stats show it: When I play I score. But when I don’t score in a game, I am not an option for the next two or three games.
We have no relationship. He is the best coach in Germany right now, the number one, everyone accepts the subordinate role. And rightly so, what we achieved in Dortmund over the past few years is unique.
The atmosphere in the team is perfect, but it is as if he has something against me. He has three to four players with whom he discusses things, shares his opinions and his thoughts. The rest of us are pros, doing their job.”
Klopp was unavoidably immediately questioned about the Croatian’s remarks.
“I heard a few statements and it’s nothing dramatic,”
he told reporters.
“I already know Perisic is not happy, it would be strange if he was. That is a fact and perfectly normal.
With players, it is a withdrawal of love if you don’t put them on the field. It’s not the first time this has happened and I know that, that’s normal. But the timing of the statement is not okay.
I heard they tried to talk with me. I’m not that far away so we could have discussed this issue earlier. Before you give an interview, not really because of Ivan because this has happened a few times, but in future if you think you can generate pressure with such statements you are wrong. That’s nonsense, doing that will get you nowhere.
Of course I will tell him that and get the chance to know what he has really said and then we will fix that. Furthermore, there is nothing to say. It’s no big deal.”
He continued:
“An old team-mate of mine once said: ‘Nobody has ever talked his way into the team’. I have so far not been able to draw the great potential he has out of him and he has not been able to do so as well. It’s my responsibility to help the boys to get their potential onto the pitch.
A professional footballer is unhappy when he is not playing. But if he shuts his mouth afterwards his chances are good it will get better. Public whining belongs to kindergarten, not to the world of adults. You shouldn’t do that.
If he doesn’t play, a football professional should shut his mouth, work hard and make the coach select him – not complain about it to the reporters. If he then keeps his mouth shut, it is better for him at the end. Complaining in public is childish.”
