Vincent Kompany admits there’s something he’s now starting to ‘understand’ about Jurgen Klopp

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Vincent Kompany has admitted that he’s becoming more understanding of Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp.

Kompany and Klopp were previously great rivals, with the former Manchester City captain denying the Reds boss a couple of Premier League titles.

But now retired, Kompany has crossed the white line to become a manager himself. The two met for the first time as peers last night, with Liverpool beating the Belgian’s Burnley side 2-0.

The game came slap-bang in the middle of a hectic Christmas schedule for both teams – a schedule Klopp has often vocally rallied against during his time in England. Experiencing the Christmas squeeze in the Premier League for the first time, Kompany was asked by Amazon Prime Video Sport how he is finding it.

“I’m starting to understand Jurgen,” smiled the 37-year-old. “As a player I loved it. As a manager I get where Jurgen’s coming from.

“You do lose players in this period of time, it’s a difficult schedule to get everything right in terms of protecting the players and getting the performance out of them. But I’ve been in England long enough to also embrace it. Does it make sense? Not really, but I do enjoy it still.”

Kompany sees the light

This very same thing always seems to happen with Klopp’s point of view on certain topics. People initially rail against it, before realising that the German is actually right.

Jurgen has never been one to hold back if he’s unhappy with something. And throughout his time at Anfield, nothing has gotten his goat quite like the unnecessary fixture pile-up.

Player welfare is, of course, always right at the forefront of his mind here. With so many games played in such a short space of time, players are much more at risk of injury.

We’ve seen that this season once again with Liverpool. The squad have been dropping like flies in December, with Kostas Tsimikas the latest to feel the pinch.

Thankfully though, we’re now almost through the annual crazy Christmas frenzy.

With six days between last night’s win over Burnley and Monday’s clash with Newcastle United, Liverpool finally have some breathing space.

Diogo Jota has already made a goal-scoring return but will be fresh to go against the Magpies, too. Meanwhile Alexis Mac Allister seems set to be back in contention as well.

Liverpool have navigated the festive period well, and sit top of the league heading into the New Year. But as Kompany is now finding out, it’s never an easy ride. You’ll soon learn, Vincent – Jurgen is usually right!