Klopp Talk: I’ve “Never Had” a Squad This Strong

The fans may never be happy, always wanting new signings in to improve the starting eleven or to add depth. And in January there was certainly a lot of talk of potential new signings—a Philippe Coutinho replacement, a new midfielder, maybe even a goalkeeper.

Jürgen Klopp, though, has always been a manager happier to work with the players he has at hand, at least when he can’t get his very top targets in. And in his current crop of players, Klopp says he’s got no reason to complain—that they’re the best he’s ever had.

“It’s really hard in the moment to make the squad,” Klopp noted of the problems of an abundance of quality he has to deal with. “We’ve had a few players not in the squad. Wow, I’ve never had a situation like that with the quality of the players not being in the squad.

“Dom Solanke was not in the squad but is in outstanding shape at the moment. Ragnar Klavan, unbelievable. Ben Woodburn makes steps and is really close to everything. It’s difficult, it’s getting more and more difficult, but that’s good—very good—for us of.”

Those and other players travelled for last week’s Champions League clash against FC Porto and didn’t make the bench. All have either played key roles at times this season or came into it with high hopes of doing so. All have in recent weeks been stuck watching.

There may still be room for improvement in places, of course. A more creative midfield player to replace Coutinho would still be useful. Then there’s Emre Can, whose future in a deeper role remains up in the air, and Jordan Henderson, whose injury record is worrying.

Plus there’s the question of whether Loris Karius will continue his strong play of the past few weeks and earn the starting goalkeeping job long-term. Still, despite that, it’s a strong squad, something the fans can sometimes forget as they daydream about new signings.