BRENDAN RODGERS HAS revealed he met Jurgen Klopp at his house shortly after the German replaced him as Liverpool manager.
Rodgers was sacked in October after overseeing a disappointing start to the season, with the Reds appointing the former Borussia Dortmund coach four days later.
However, despite reaching the Capital One Cup final, Klopp has so far failed to reverse Liverpool’s fortunes, with the club stuck in eighth place in the Premier League following Tuesday’s 2-0 defeat at Leicester City.
Rodgers remains a big supporter of the 48-year-old, though, and says he gave him advice to help him adjust to life in England.
He said: “I remember spending time with Jurgen when he first got the job and I left, we sat and we spoke.
I had an incredible time at Liverpool, it’s a wonderful club, but this was a guy who was coming in from another league, you know, sit and have at chat at my house.
“[He's a] Good guy. Whatever help he would’ve needed going into the job as the manager I was there for that.”
Christian Benteke — who was signed by Rodgers in the summer — has struggled in his debut season at Anfield, with Klopp often preferring to field attacking midfielder Roberto Firmino up front.
But the former Swansea boss says the topic of patience with new players was one he discussed with Klopp during their meeting.
We were speaking about the patience element and we were talking about [Robert] Lewandowski.
“In this Premier League, he wouldn’t have been given the chance as he was given in Germany. In his first season he scored eight goals, can you imagine as striker coming in to the Premier League and scoring eight goals?
“You give them time. [Pierre-Emerick] Aubameyang, as a player after three years, is improving, so Christian over time will show that he’s a top-class player.”
…someone please put up a clip of Ryan Bairds tackle on Michael Lowry…..a thing of beauty…. and you have to have played the game to appreciate how truly exceptional it was.
@Michael Murray: Couldn’t agree more!
I saw Josh’s face in the ruck where he got hurt. Didn’t think it looked good from his reaction. A big loss to any team, except maybe Leinster.. Penny comes in and Connors comes onto the bench. Ridiculous strength in depth.
@John Thomas: Connors won’t be on the bench with Doris back.
@John Thomas: Yeh… thought the same, also why did he play on?! We were well ahead and had Penny on the bench, VDF absolutely crucial for CC and URC knockout games
As long as Joy Neville isn’t TMO again it should be a good spectacle.
Poor performance, RB exposed again soon as forward dominance is gone and he has no space he is nullified. Furlong also has never been the same player since the back injury few seasons ago, just toddles into contact no gain line anymore. Baird might be a difference and if Jenkins can have a few big games but still fear Toulouse and La Rochelle.
@Liam Kelly: …
Not being pedantic but 2 RBs in squad…specifics will help those for whom the squad players are not household names.
@Liam Kelly: RB = Rob Balacoune?!?
@Liam Kelly: Yeap, that game did no favours at all for Balacoune’s World Cup selection.
@Dave Murray: I think that Balacoune had already blown his chance on the international stage- he just doesn’t seem to have the natural game awareness necessary for Ireland’s system. I am guessing that ‘game awareness’ is a major qualification for this a Ireland team – skill set and strength etc being a given – it is clearly a common attribute of the rising stars Keenan, Doris, Hansen, Sheehan and Gibson-Park.