Jurgen Klopp says his respect for Arsene Wenger has gone up a notch since he took over at Liverpool and experienced the intensity of Premier League life first hand.
Speaking ahead of Arsenal’s visit to Anfield, the German jokingly labelled his peer a ‘maniac’ as he paid tribute to the Frenchman’s longevity in England.
“My respect goes up day-by-day because it’s really intensive to work in the Premier League, especially in a team with international matches [for their players] too,” said the ex-Borussia Dortmund coach.
“He had always my biggest respect but now it’s a little bit bigger since I’m here. That’s really a brilliant job he’s done – 19-and-a-half years.
“He’s a high-quality manager, one of the best in the world for sure. This long period, it’s really rare that you can do this but he did. He’s a football maniac, in the best [sense of the word].
“It was always a challenge to play against him and again a challenge that I’m looking forward to.”
Wenger and Klopp have locked horns on six occasions in the Champions League; the Gunners beating Dortmund on three occasions, losing twice and sharing the spoils once.
As has been well documented, Liverpool’s current injury crisis is pretty damn bad. It’s so bad in fact they’ve been forced to loan ex-Spud Steven Caulker from QPR for the rest of the season to fill a gap in the centre of defence.
Martin Skrtel, Dejan Lovren, Philippe Coutinho, Divock Origi, Daniel Sturridge, Joe Gomez and Danny Ings are all definitely out, although the likes of James Milner, Jordan Ibe and Jordan Henderson do look set to feature.
Despite the situation Klopp remains bullish having been impressed by his depleted side’s ability to secure a victory and clean sheet away at Stoke City in the League Cup semi-final last week.
“Arsenal, together with City, are the two best teams at this moment in the Premier League,” he continued.To stay in a good position against Man City, they need all the points, they cannot [pick and choose] where they want to get it.
“To stay in a good position against Man City, they need all the points, they cannot [pick and choose] where they want to get it. They will show us that they have real ambitions this year. They’re in a good moment.
“We can be, we’re not that consistent in the performances in the last weeks but [the 1-0 win over] Stoke was a good sign of what my team is capable of.”
Maths
The little trick writer and reporter has in their sleeve for intense discussion.
If you’re looking for basic arithmetic undertaken correctly…well, you’ve come to the wrong place.
despite the fact that you post a ” By the numbers ” article after every match ? 😛
No he doesn’t!
A must not lose match for me, even though our record at Anfield’s been pretty good recently.
Oh yeah if you completely forget the 5-1 hammering there two seasons ago, and their last minute equaliser last season…
We should all completely forget those things. The world will be a much happier place.
Hope our players are not expecting easy win due to much worse injury crisis at the other side.
I respect you too.
“five occasions in the Champions League; the Gunners beating Dortmund on three occasions, losing twice and sharing the spoils once” – six?
Klopp and Wenger need to get a room. 😀
Less ugly than the kind of spat you get with Mourinho, Pullis or Allardici… which is hardly surprising.
When arsenal lose men the press dont seem to support us as they are protecting the pool right now cos they are injury ravaged. And so many seasons we are being robbed by the injury gods and who cares. Arsene is truely the best manager in the World….#Respect
Absolutely, I don’t think there are many existing managers who can pull it off like Arsene did in the past 5-6years, compounded with injuries and departures. I think the one thing that helps Arsenal so far is that, there are often background players who can rise up to fill the gaps, last year, we had Le Coq, the year before Ramsay was brilliant, and the year before that Van pussy suddenly exploded before he deflected. Maybe it is really Arsene’s faith in his players!
Bellerin
To me, the biggest attribute of AW, is that he does all he does with such class. Absolute class! Never injects ugliness into anything he does, even when he would have an absolute right to do so.
“Wenger and Klopp have locked horns on five occasions in the Champions League; the Gunners beating Dortmund on three occasions, losing twice and sharing the spoils once”……I know my maths is bad, but something doesn’t quite add up here NewsHound ?
Give up mate. Nobody’s perfect. That’s why they invented the calculator. The important is the containing information and the fact that we’re beating them tomorrow
It wasn’t invented for single-digit arithmetic…
I love klopp. Good manager and decent person.
However he did definitely underestimate the premier league. His “heavy metal” brand of football would not last the whole season. He didn’t think that teams would have been as competitive as they are.
Also how come klopp’s tactics aren’t at fault for his injury record, but Wenger is always held accountable?
Because he’s been the manager for a couple of months not 19 years!
How was his injury record at dortmund? hmm…
I don’t know, but the same level of accountability can not be placed on someone with less than 19 games experience to someone with 19 years.
It’s not beyond the realms of possibility that Klopp might learn from his experiences in a manner which Wenger has struggled to do, it’s ridiculous to suggest otherwise.
All things considered, I think Arsene has a done a brilliant job for our club. He could have gone to any club in the world, but he chose to stick with us. Especially during the difficult years, post 2006. I was reading Amy Lawrence’s ‘Invincible’ the other day and players that have played under him have great things to say about him in terms of the way he revolutionized the game with his training methods, knowledge of sport science and players’ diet. So, I think we need to give him a little more credit. I think we’ll come to appreciate… Read more »
What’s that got to do with holding someone with 19 years experience to the same level of accountability to someone with 3 months?
Nothing. I thought what you said about Wenger struggling to learn for the last 19 years was a bit harsh, that’s all.
There’s nothing harsh with saying that because we’ve had the same problem for about 6-7 years, so it’s perfectly valid.
I’ll tell you something, Klopp won’t be Liverpool manager in 19 years time if he doesn’t get to grips with the rate of injuries.
I think many has held his tactics accountable, even England’s best that is Fat Sam had a go. And to be honest I think that’s where Klopp is admitting he underestimated the league when he’s paying tribute to Wenger for managing to persevere all these while. Unlike some fucker who lasts 3 seasons at most. The cunt.
This is how I always imagine Wenger if he happens to read some of the stuff that people say about him:
http://cdn0.dailydot.com/uploaded/images/original/2013/7/16/brentrambooriginal.gif
I bet he has a lot of respect for Allardyce too.
Mourinho can certainly take a leaf out of Klopp’s book. Notice how all the classy managers notice Wenger is a great coach (Pep, Klopp, Ancellotti, Pellegrini), despite his shortcomings over the years. Which in my opinion if we win the league this season, (my dear God please let it happen!!!) proves that he still is a top class manager. Three years in a row we have money, two he’s delivered trophies (how quickly our fan base forgets huh?) and the current one looking bright. If we don’t win the league though, I’ll put my hands up and say he’s still… Read more »
He is pretty stringy.
It’s not that Mourinho didn’t notice Wenger is a great coach. It’s that Mourinho is a great but un-classy manager who wants to win by every means, including psychological warfare against the opponent”s coach. (And his un-classiness is both part of his winning formula and his inevitable downfall.)
Campbell.
Campbell is to remain on the wing. Alexis in the middle if need be. Alexis did it with Barcelona, you know ?
Wenger clearly knows a lot more than we do. Would have been good though to have Afobe in the squad this season as another striking option
We still a very decent chance of securing victory at Anfield. But I stil want see Wenger going for speed. A front 3 of Walcot in the middle, flanked by Campbell (right) and Ox (left) can really put a lot of pressure on Liverpool’s obvious weak defence. Giroud has been in fine form lately, but this kind of game suits pace more than his way of playing. Besides, he can stil do a job from bench, though. Whatever, I am still confident of victory.
“Wenger and Klopp have locked horns on five occasions in the Champions League; the Gunners beating Dortmund on three occasions, losing twice and sharing the spoils once.”
Maths may not be my strong point (though pedantry might well be) but I seem to make that six occasions?
Blogs, you have this twice: “To stay in a good position against Man City, they need all the points, they cannot [pick and choose] where they want to get it. “
Message to blogs. If you don’t get rid of that bloody audi ad on the mobile page… Well… I must just accidentally click it again for the millionth time.
Sorry man – what’s this?
Don’t know if you’ll see this now but I’m referring to the add which sits between article and comments. I do. The know why but the audi ad seems way more sensitive than any of the others and always opens as I’m scrolling down. Doesn’t happen if it’s a different ad. I know you’re careful about what you put up on the site so thought you might want to look into it. Cheers
Thanks, will look into it
I enjoyed Klopp’s style of football when he was in charge at Dortmund, but he’s come across like an aggressive drunkard since arriving in England. Pellegrini is the only manager I don’t mind from our immediate rivals: quiet and refined, and the primary reason why I can’t loathe city as much as Chelsea and Man U despite their snapping up a lot of our players in past seasons.
Methinks, save Mourinho and Big Sam, the rest of the managers in the recent history of the EPL can reasonably be called gentlemen.
Stingy for good reason most times
You can say that again.
I would agree. M’villa, Lacazette and a few springs to mind. But how often has him being stingy cost us dearly? We’re not asking him to do a Man City but at least numbers wise we should be there. Last season we’re short on CB and he made the Gabriel purchase out of injury. Same can be said of Elneny and the DM position this season.
Stingy for good reasons most times
Wenger is an honorable man. His only weakness is that he prefers philosophy to pragmatism.
This blog is full of praise singers. Atimes u need to stand back and objectively take a dispassionate view of things. Flattery don’t make us better, its a short term make-over.
And he occasionally gives a faint waft of oak.
3 points please, this game is huge in terms of our title credentials.
Well, that’s Klopp taking over from Wenger when the time comes then….
For me he really is Mr.Arsenal. He could have left a long time back when the likes of Real Madrid came calling and achieved greater success,but he decided to stay.His rivalry with Ferguson was always top class to watch during our Highbury days but after we moved to Emirates,it was a different story.He took over all the pressure on himself and he has always delivered when you think about it. Football fans have recently started becoming too greedy.The Arabs and The Russians have corrupted the minds of the football fans and Football-‘The Game’ on the whole,to be delivering instant success.Some… Read more »
We were top of the league, playing pretty well when we went to Anfield that year and got hammered 5:1. Then one, things went pretty bad for the remainder of the season.
This year, I want to believe reverse will be the case… Let’s go get’em Scousers!
I think all Arsenal fans should be proud to have him as our leader. It is a rare thing to see a head coach act with such class, and be as successful as he has been.
Meh, you overanilze everything these days in the press, The Klopster’s just seen him on the dancefloor before.
Arsene Staduzt they called him.✨
Of course that was back in the invincible days in Alsase, Klopp hasn’t seen the last ten years of SAF, Mourinio, the press etc where Arsene’s been quietly nodding his head to “Redemption song” knowing all along It will be iree
Klopp has more recently seen himself beaten 3 times by Arsene.
Plus he knows he could not maintain Dortmund at top of the Bundesliga despite that league being less competitive. Where as Wenger has never fallen out of fourth spot in the PL for the last 19 seasons.
Currently Klopp is struggling to Gherkin press his team up the table.
😉
That said, we have to be in top form against Liverpool regardless of their injury list (who says Wenger is the only one with a medical back room staff problem?
Not a squeak from the media.
We need to take them seriously and give them due respect. If there is a probelm with Arsenal, it is to always take the eye off the ball against these ‘lesser’ threats. Complacency.