Former Jurgen Klopp favourite says he can tell Liverpool boss ‘has changed’

Add as preferred source on Google

Former Jurgen Klopp favourite Nuri Sahin says the Liverpool boss has changed. Watching one player shows it.

Nuri Sahin have an interview to TuttoMercatoWeb this week where he discussed becoming a manager. The former Liverpool player is now coaching Antalyaspor in Turkey.

And when he’s discussing managers, one name was always going to come up: Jurgen Klopp. Sahin says he’s taking inspiration from his former Borussia Dortmund boss, as well as his replacement Thomas Tuchel.

But the ex-Turkey international admits that the game has changed since he worked under Klopp. The Liverpool boss has, too.

“The World Cup showed that you need to mix everything,” says Sahin.

“Argentina behind it had a knife between its teeth: [Nicolas] Otamendi, [Christian] Romero, [Lisandro] Martinez, the goalkeeper [Emi] Martinez and then the brains in midfield and up front. [Alexis] Mac Allister, [Enzo] Fernandez, [Julian] Alvarez, [Lionel] Messi.

“You can’t win only with physicality and last season’s Champions League with [Luka] Modric proves it. Klopp, too, has changed: watching Thiago at Liverpool was the missing piece.”

Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool

Klopp absolutely made a big change with Thiago – one many believed wouldn’t work. In came one of the most technical players around, slotting into a midfield that had been overwhelmingly physical.

And it worked. Thiago was sensational last season as Liverpool came two games from winning every trophy. He was arguably the best passer on the planet, too, and helped transform the side.

The Reds needed that. Teams had begun to nullify their side by sitting deep and not allowing any pace in behind. They’d forced Liverpool to play in front of them – so Klopp added a technical midfielder who wanted to do that.

He didn’t exactly come cheap, either. Per Capology, Thiago is Liverpool’s third-highest-paid player at £200k per week.

This season? Liverpool have gone too far the other way and lack any real physicality – something they’ll look to change this year.

But Klopp unquestionably changed, as Sahin said. We still believe it was for the better.