Klopp Talk: This Is a Very Good Start to the Season

A 4-0 win over West Ham is exactly the kind of start to the season Reds supporters were hoping for. With a brace from Sadio Mané and a goal each from Mohamed Salah and Daniel Sturridge, Liverpool spent the entire 90 minutes comfortably in control of the game. But it’s just the first game of the season, and while some of us are already extrapolating how continuing at this rate guarantees us the title, Klopp is less inclined to look beyond the positives of the day.

“[This was a] very good start, for sure,” Klopp said after the game. “Yes, it’s a start — perfect as well because we won the game. For us it was not perfect, but really good. Nobody knows exactly how well you did or how worthy your pre-season is. Always you see things in pre-season [against] different opponents and in different moments, but now the Premier League is a proper fight and immediately today that’s the biggest change and then you hope as a manager that your team is ready for that, because you cannot test it before you have the test. For that… the start was good.”

“Result good, performance good, let’s carry on.”

Of all the performances on the pitch today, Naby Keïta’s was probably one of the strongest, especially considering he’s new to the team. Klopp had nothing but praise to heap on him and how well he worked with the rest of the team.

“[He had] absolutely a good performance, of course,” Klopp added. “Naby is in because he’s a really good footballer, and I’ve said it from the beginning that he’s obviously settled really quick and has a similar style of play in a similar position as he did at Leipzig. He can play different positions of course, but I think No. 8 is his best in the moment, so that’s all cool. He has a lot of help from the players around — Sadio works really hard and the same with Gini and Millie and Robbo in this case. So that’s really good. I’m pleased, absolutely, but actually that’s what we expected.”

So, all in all, an exuberant win for the fans and a very satisfying day for the boss. We couldn’t have asked for a better start to the season.