Klopp supports Dutch confidant: “Incredible trainer”

Liverpool will take on Aston Villa at home on Saturday. The club still has the opportunity to reach the top four clubs in the ranking, although this will be difficult. However, Jürgen Klopp will not be present on the sidelines.

Trust in Liners

The coach was suspended and must therefore watch the home game from the stands. Although Klopp is disappointed that he has to watch the game from a distance, he has full confidence in the qualities of his Dutch assistant Pepijn Lijnders. “Pep is an incredible trainer and will be there,” he says at the press conference.

After Lijnders had worked at both PSV and FC Porto as a youth and technical coach, he was given the opportunity in 2015 to become Klopp’s assistant. Two years later, he then went for the challenge of head coach at NEC, but that partnership was unsuccessful. That is why he returned to Liverpool six months later.

Klopp’s confidence in Lijnders is therefore great, although he also tries to exert influence himself. He keeps a lot of contact with his technical staff during the game. “Vitor Matos has headphones on so we can discuss everything. But if players don’t defend, there’s no one who can yell at them like me.”

Fight for fourth place

The deficit to number 4 Manchester United (a place that entitles you to a Champions League ticket) is only one point, but Erik ten Hag’s team still has a game to catch up on. Manchester United will play at the same time as Liverpool on Saturday afternoon and will visit Bournemouth, which can be found in fourteenth place.