Dejan Lovren reveals a moment with Klopp that perfectly encapsulates the German’s personality.
Success is one thing that usually endears a manager to a club and seeing as Jurgen Klopp hasn’t won anything with Liverpool yet, you wonder why he is so adored by the Anfield faithful.
Tomorrow marks a year since Klopp came into office as Liverpool manager. A lot has been written about how perfect the German is for the Merseyside club with his down-to-earth nature blending perfectly with the working class of Liverpool.
You would be hard pressed to find a man not born in Liverpool more suited to living amongst its people. When it was announced that Klopp would become the new face of a historic club drenched in history and tradition, his track record with Borussia Dortmund gave fans that excited feeling in their stomachs.
And yet. It hasn’t been his electric football or intense style of play that has won fans over. Rather, it has been his pragmatism and approach to life which resonates with the people of Liverpool.
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Dejan Lovren, a player who was very much marginalised under Brendan Rodgers, has revealed, in an interview with the Daily Express, that Klopp is as good a person as he is a coach.
“There are a lot of things that I have learnt from him but he is not just a good manager, he is a good man,” Lovren said.
“I will never forget he gave me a couple of days off when I had a problem with my daughter and she was ill and in hospital. She needed an operation.
“It was at the time of the Augsburg game away in February and he said to me, ‘Go to Croatia. Be with your daughter’. These things are big for a player. He showed his personality then.”
Klopp has won his player’s loyalty with loyalty and compassion of his own. A lot is made of the former Borussia Dortmund manager swearing in pressers, but fans appreciate the expression of frustration and see his use of expletives as further proof that he is human and not some unreachable god that managers like Jose Mourinho portray themselves as.
Liverpool fans have never been a content lot. That being said, I still believe that even if Jurgen Klopp doesn’t win a single trophy with Liverpool (unfathomable as this may seem) fans will always cherish him for the man he is and not the manager of Liverpool Football Club.
Players like Lovren will run through brick walls for Klopp as he would certainly do the same for them. This is what makes Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool a force to be reckoned with. The spirit within the camp that is being fostered as a result of the German’s insistence on hard work is pushing the Reds to new heights.
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