Klopp Talk: “I Cannot Make People Happy”

There’s no doubt that towards the end of last season that Liverpool’s depth was tested and at times lacked quality, and Klopp addressed that this offseason by bringing in quality options like Xherdan Shaqiri. With the added quality that Klopp has comes the possibility that fringe players could become unhappy over the course of the season with a lack of playing time. In his Friday press conference, Jurgen addressed this issue.

“I cannot make people happy, I never could,” Klopp said. “What I can say is everyone who trains on his highest level - because the decision has already been made that they are good enough to play for Liverpool - has a big chance to be an important part of the team. When he plays at the highest level there’s a big chance to stay in the team and all these things. That makes us happy.”

“There are more difficult things in life than not being in a match squad for a day, there are much more difficult problems in the world,” he continued. “I see it like that and you always have a chance to change the situation when you are part of the squad. It is not about my decision. I make the last decision - yes or no. But before that there are plenty of things that the players are responsible for. That is not a problem. The ideal size of the squad is 11 and nobody is injured. Then they are all happy - a little bit exhausted but all happy! If you have 12 then you already have one who thinks ‘why am I out?’ That is exactly the same problem.”

Klopp finished with, ”Everything will be fine, but if someone has a problem with it he will have a problem with me because he does not respect the situation we’re in.”

Obviously, having quality in depth is a good problem for the manager to have. We know that Klopp is a big fan of rotating the squad, especially early in the campaign. I would not be surprised to see multiple changes against Palace on Monday night, and then even more rotation the following weekend against Leicester.