Liverpool FC Thread #155 :- Kyiv here we come!!!

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Jürgen Klopp declared his happiness for Steven Gerrard after he was today confirmed as the new manager of Scottish club Rangers.

The agreement was announced on Friday afternoon, meaning the Reds legend will leave his role as U18s boss at the Academy to begin his tenure with the Glasgow-based side ahead of the 2018-19 season.

“If Stevie thinks it’s the right moment then I’m sure it is the right moment. If he thinks he’s ready then he’s ready,” Klopp told Liverpoolfc.com in reacting to the news.

“How I know it, Rangers are a big club in a little bit of a difficult moment still but a much better moment than a few years ago. It could be a really good fit, it could be nice, coming closer to Celtic.

“I’m pretty sure Celtic supporters don’t think, ‘Thank God, Steven Gerrard’. They think, ‘Wow, Steven Gerrard’. That can always be a sign.

“Stevie is one of the best midfielders ever. Now he wants to be a manager. He has the passion for football and the knowledge about football. All the rest is to learn; I’m sure he learned a lot in the last year.

“I’m really happy for him to have the opportunity.”

After taking up a coaching position at the Academy in February 2017, Gerrard took the reins of the U18s at the beginning of 2017-18 and led the youngsters to third place in the league.

He also oversaw the U19s’ progress to the quarter-finals of the UEFA Youth League, where they suffered a penalty shootout loss to Manchester City.

Everybody at LFC wishes Steven the best of luck in his new role.

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Liverpool are waiting on further assessments on Emre Can and Joe Gomez to determine whether they will be able to play a part in the remaining three fixtures of the season.

Can has been out of action since picking up a back issue against Watford on March 17, while Gomez sustained a knock in the early stages of last weekend’s goalless Anfield draw with Stoke City.

Offering an update on the duo, Jürgen Klopp told his pre-Chelsea press conference: “We are in contact with Emre. An important day is next Monday and then we can make the decision if he starts training with us or not immediately.

“It would only be good news for the final, probably not for the last game of the season.

“Joe is still waiting for final assessment and stuff like that so we can really figure out what it is exactly. We will know about it in a few days probably, but he is not available for Chelsea.”

Elsewhere, as reported on Liverpoolfc.com on Friday morning, the Reds have no fresh injury concerns following Wednesday’s Champions League semi-final success in Rome.

Meanwhile, Adam Lallana stepped up his recovery from a hamstring injury by coming through a session on Thursday morning in Italy without any issues.

Klopp added: “As far as I know nothing else happened, so that would be really cool. They are all still fit.

“Adam trained his first real football session in Rome in the morning after the game. How Adam [always] is, he looked good, so that’s OK. I have no idea if we will use that or not, but I have to think about it. I don’t know, but it’s good.”

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Liverpool's progression to the Champions League final is an 'obvious sign' for Jürgen Klopp that the club is moving in the right direction.

The Reds will contest the eighth European Cup showpiece in their history, against Real Madrid in Kiev on May 26, after completing a 7-6 aggregate victory over AS Roma at the Stadio Olimpico on Wednesday night.

It is the third time Klopp has guided his team to a major final since he took charge less than three years ago, though having lost the previous two he immediately warned that ‘they don’t hang silver medals at Melwood’.

Nevertheless, as he spoke to Liverpoolfc.com on board the team flight home from Italy yesterday, the manager reflected on an ‘amazing’ opportunity ahead.

“I really think that the whole situation in the club is a really good moment,” he said.

“Yes, I think we are little bit in this direction [closing the gap on Europe’s top clubs] but we are not responsible for the rest. We don’t have an influence on other teams so we don’t think too much about it.

“But it’s important for us – for bringing new players, for keeping our players – that we really show that and make it clear that that’s our direction. For that, of course it helps massively if you have this obvious sign: being in the Champions League final.

“If you don’t win it then nobody will talk about it. But in not even three years we are now in a third final, that’s not bad. Of course we are here to win things but the only way to win things is to go to the final. If you don’t go there, there’s no chance. We are there and it’s just amazing.”

The post-match scenes of celebration inside the Stadio Olimpico will prove to be the abiding images of a game that Roma pushed to the edge with a 4-2 victory courtesy of two late goals.

Liverpool's players and staff gathered in front of a buoyant red strip of 5,000 travelling fans to share the joy of securing what will be a first appearance in the Champions League final since 2007.

And it was in those special moments that it dawned on Klopp exactly what his team had given to the supporters. “I don’t have the right words for it, to be honest,” he said.

“When I saw the boys in the dressing room and going out again and I saw the people out there, then I really got it. Since then, it didn’t feel worse! It feels good.

“When we started the season and started the project, I don’t think that you can plan a Champions League final so we didn’t. But the boys made it possible and made it happen. It’s really cool.”

Late flurries in each of the two legs meant Roma came within one goal of parity at the end of a tie that Liverpool led comfortably for the majority.

While the tension involved at the Stadio Olimpico put fans at the ground and watching from home through the wringer, the boss himself was always convinced his team would finish the job.



“I know the Champions League final is rare if you are not in this moment Real Madrid, Barcelona or Bayern. I feel the exceptional [nature] of the situation. It’s really nice, I’m really happy,” the German added.

“I saw the game and I was not anxious, to be honest. I saw everything and it was clear they had chances but they scored really late.

“We didn’t play well; we didn’t play as well as we did over the Champions League season. But I was still not anxious – I really felt during the game that it would happen. It was really cool and really special.”

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Mohamed Salah's outstretched arms celebration has became a regular feature at Anfield and across Europe this season.

The Egyptian has notched 43 goals on his way to bagging the PFA Player of the Year award as well as the FWA gong, and the summer signing from Roma will also contest a Champions League final in his first season at the club.



Salah also elaborated on another aspect of his celebration in an interview with CNN's Inside the Middle East programme.

Part of his routine involves falling to his knees and pressing his head to the turf, which is often confused for the Egyptian kissing the ground.



The forward, however, revealed it's actually a period of prayer.

“No. It's not kissing the ground," he said. "Something like praying or like thank the God for what I have received, but yeah, it's just praying and praying for a win. [I’ve] always done that since I was young, everywhere.”

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Good omens?

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“I loathe to compare people but there’s definitely so much of Shankly in him, there really seriously is. He’s a completely different version, but a modern day version of Shankly.

“I’m not getting carried away because they’ve got to the final. It’s just the way that he is."

Mark Lawrenson wasn't getting carried away.

He was highlighting a view which has been aired before - that in Jurgen Klopp Liverpool have a manager who embodies some of the finest qualities of the most inspirational Liverpool manager of all-time, the legendary Bill Shankly.

Do HOW do they compare?

We've taken a look.

Charisma

This one goes without saying. Shankly and Klopp can command an audience with the power of their oratory.

When they spoke, people listened.

It still remains to be seen whether Klopp can silence 100,000 screaming Kopites assembled at St George's Hall just by raising one hand.

Maybe he'll get his opportunity on May 27!



Affinity with fans

The most obvious characteristic the two share.

Bill Shankly helped forge the incredible bond Liverpool enjoy with their supporters to this day.

In 1959, when he took over as Reds boss, he explained: “It is my opinion that Liverpool have a crowd of followers which rank with the greatest in the game. They deserve success.”

From his own arrival at Anfield in 2015 Klopp set out on his own mission to turn "doubters into believers."

“We have to change from doubters to believers. Now,” he declared.

And he regularly referenced the Reds fans.

He famously assembled his entire team in front of the Kop following a home draw with West brom, he spoke of "walking alone" when some fans left a match early - and after memorable backing at a Europa League tie at Old Trafford he declared: "I always go to thank the fans for their support after every game but at Old Trafford my gratitude was even stronger than usual.

"That was because the 3,000 Liverpool supporters in a crowd of almost 75,000 had somehow made themselves sound like there were 10 times as many in the away end.

"We heard them before the game, we heard them during the game and, most importantly of all, we heard them after the game when we needed them most.

"To hear them singing so loudly after the game had been lost gave me one of the strongest feelings I have had since I came here as manager."

It might have come from Shanks himself.

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Left-wingers

Shankly and Klopp share the same politics.

Klopp said in a recent interview: "My political understanding is this. If I am doing well, I want others to do well, too. If there's something I will never do in my life it is vote for the right. I'm on the left, of course.

"I believe in the welfare state. I'm not privately insured. I would never vote for a party because they promised to lower the top tax rate.”

They are political views shared by Shankly himself.

"The socialism I believe in, is everybody working for the same goal and everybody having a share in the rewards. That’s how I see football, that’s how I see life."



Talent spotting

Both Shankly and Klopp have a knack for spotting unappreciated talent - not least when it comes to left-backs.

Shankly picked up the unheralded Alec Lindsay for £67,000 from Bury - and his raiding runs down the left were instrumental in him collecting league, FA Cup and UEFA Cup winners' medals. He was also on the bench in the European Cup final in 1977.

The similarities with Andy Robertson, an £8.5m steal from Hull City are evident. Except Robertson would be expecting to start in Kiev later this month.

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The challenge Liverpool will face at Stamford Bridge on Sunday is similar to that which they experienced in Rome in midweek, believes Jürgen Klopp.

Chelsea host the Reds in a pivotal fixture for the Premier League top-four race knowing that victory is imperative to keep their pursuit from fifth place alive.

A win for Klopp’s men would guarantee another season of Champions League football while a draw would mean only an unlikely set of circumstances could deny them their objective.

The delicately-poised scenario puts the onus on Antonio Conte’s men – as was the case when AS Roma tried to eradicate a three-goal deficit in the European semi-final earlier this week.

“Chelsea is a similar situation to the [Roma] game – fighting with all they have, they don’t have anything to lose,” Klopp told Liverpoolfc.com.

“If we draw it’s not good for them; if we win it’s not good for them. They have to win and they will try to do so. It’s like a Champions League semi-final, to be honest.

“We will see what we can do there. The good thing is that we have another game but we don’t think about that at the moment. We need to be ready for the game.

“We had a few really nice moments already this season but you never have time to celebrate it for a second! There is always the next one. Now we have to play that game – Chelsea are waiting.”

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Gerrard Out, Fowler In

Robbie Fowler is in the running to replace Steven Gerrard as Liverpool’s Under-18 manager according to the Daily Mirror’s Aaron Flanagan.

The reporter writes: “Fowler has been actively working in youth football since hanging up his boots and has previously worked with Liverpool’s academy.

“He is also the face of the Robbie Fowler Education and Football Academy in Merseyside, which combines football with post-16 studies and is producing impressive results.”

There’s going to be a few names bandied about for this role, but Fowler would surely be the perfect replacement, wouldn’t he?

The current crop of youngsters must have been delighted going into training to work with Stevie everyday - and Fowler isn’t far off his iconic status at Anfield!

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