Charlie Adam feels Jurgen Klopp has been ‘too loyal’ to some of his players after Liverpool exited the Champions League. He also views Pep Guardiola as an example to learn from.
Real Madrid dumped the Reds from the UEFA competition on Wednesday night after a 6-2 win on aggregate. It is the heaviest defeat on aggregate that the Anfield natives have ever suffered in Europe. Goalkeeper Alisson Becker also prevented it from getting much worse.
Liverpool boss Klopp named an aggressive line-up for their trip to Real Madrid having lost 5-2 in the first leg. Mohamed Salah, Darwin Nunez, Diogo Jota and Cody Gakpo all started at the Santiago Bernabeu. Yet the Reds rarely looked like going all-out to start a comeback.
Klopp has stayed loyal to various Liverpool players for a number of years
James Milner was the only player to start for Liverpool at Real Madrid who was not signed by Klopp or a product of the Reds’ academy. But at 37 years old, their on-the-night captain was the eldest player to start for Liverpool. Virgil van Dijk was the next oldest starter at 31.
Brendan Rodgers signed Milner way back in 2015, while Trent Alexander-Arnold made his debut for Liverpool under Klopp in 2016. The German also signed Andrew Robertson and Salah in 2017 before then adding Van Dijk, Fabinho and Alisson in 2018 plus Jota in 2020.
Read Related Also: Kaley Cuoco Makes Her Return To Gym One Month After Welcoming Daughter
Ibrahima Konate in 2021, Nunez in 2022 and Gakpo this January were Klopp’s most recent signings to start for Liverpool at Real Madrid. While the Champions League tie marked 321 Reds games for Milner plus 293 for Salah, 262 for Alexander-Arnold and 256 for Robertson.
Adam feels Klopp could learn from Guardiola in how to keep his squad fresh
Adam now feels Klopp could learn from how Guardiola has kept his Manchester City squad fresh in how to stay loyal but put the club first at Liverpool. The ex-Reds star adds how the Citizens axed Joao Cancelo. He joined Bayern Munich on loan with a £61.5m option to buy.
“I think Jurgen Klopp has been a little too loyal to these players,” Adam admitted on BBC Radio 5 Live. “Especially when you look at what Pep Guardiola has done with the likes of Joao Cancelo and moving players on to bring others in.
“But I think as a manager you also have to respect what the players have done for you and those are decisions that have to be made by the staff.”
In other news, ‘They appreciate him’: Reporter suggests Liverpool may target ‘incredible’ £40m Chelsea player
!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)
{if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?
n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};
if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version=’2.0′;
n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;
t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];
s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,script’,
‘
fbq(‘init’, ‘677672980820926’);
fbq(‘track’, ‘PageView’);
