Up until last summer, James Milner was one of the few players left in the Liverpool squad who had been there from the beginning of Jurgen Klopp’s arrival.
Milner arrived while Brendan Rodgers was in charge on a free transfer from Manchester City. During his time at Liverpool, he experienced it all. Winning the Premier League and the Champions League among many trophies.
However, last summer it was time for him to move onto pastures new.
James Milner on Jurgen Klopp
Now Milner has been reflection on his time at Liverpool. Speaking on The Football’s Greatest Managers Podcast with Jeff Stelling Milner has revealed how Jurgen Klopp completely changed during his time at the club.
“Yeah, he did.” Milner answered to a question about whether Klopp had ‘mellowed’ over time at Liverpool.
“At the start there were not many days off, a lot longer and harder training at times. And then I think to his credit, Germany was a lot different as they have the winter break, whereas England Christmas is the busiest period and I think he learnt to trust the team.
“I think he had ideas about players and maybe English players as well, they like to drink a lot, don’t prepare well and I think he saw with the squad he had that it wasn’t like that and if players got a day off they would look after themselves. To his credit he changed things and softened as time went on, but never lost his edge.
“He was more definitely aggressive at the start, he lost his rag a bit more at the start, but that is setting the standards, it’s probably the players he had wasn’t his squad and he wanted to get his point across.”
Klopp’s change has been evident even watching from afar, but it’s interesting for Milner to confirm this. It just goes to show the little nuanced differences managers have to make adapting from one league to another – even at the highest level.
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