Jurgen Klopp sent his Liverpool squad a ‘long, long text message’ to get his thoughts off his chest the day after their capitulation at Aston Villa as his stars left for international duty
- Jurgen Klopp sent his players a ‘long, long’ text after their 7-2 loss to Aston Villa
- Liverpool were shocked as they were thrashed at Villa Park earlier this month
- Klopp is hopeful that his players will be able to respond when they face Everton
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has revealed that he sent his players a ‘long, long’ text message following their 7-2 defeat to Aston Villa.
Klopp’s side have produced some hugely impressive performances in recent seasons and have been widely praised for their defensive resilience.
However, they suffered a shock defeat away to Villa on October 4.
Jurgen Klopp sent his players a ‘long, long’ text message after the 7-2 loss to Aston Villa
Ollie Watkins scored a hat-trick for Villa, with Jack Grealish scoring a brace, while John McGinn and Ross Barkley were also on target. Mohamed Salah scored twice for Liverpool but it wasn’t enough to prevent a heavy defeat.
With most of his players away on international duty, Klopp chose to text his players, which he said made him feel better.
Klopp told BBC Sport: ‘The night after the game was not the best night of my life, but I got up in the morning and I knew I had to speak to my boys but they were not here.
‘I texted them a long, long message. It was pretty much my thoughts about what had happened, and, after that I felt much better because it was out and from that moment on we could carry on and that’s what we did.’
Liverpool were shocked as they suffered a 7-2 defeat to Villa before the international break
Klopp is hopeful that his players will be able to bounce back when they take on rivals Everton
Klopp is eager for his players to respond when they face rivals and league leaders Everton away on Saturday.
He said: ‘We’ve had really enough time to deal with it. Losing a game is always exactly the opposite of what you want. Losing 7-2 makes it of course worse but sometimes it can be more useful. We have the chance to show that on Saturday lunchtime against Everton.
‘That makes it really interesting because we face a team who is flying obviously and we got a proper knock. Now let’s see who deals better with what.’
The continued absence of first-choice goalkeeper Alisson, who has a shoulder injury, is a major cause of concern for Liverpool, with his deputy Adrian having produced a woeful performance against Villa.
Prior to the Villa game, Liverpool had taken maximum points from their first three league fixtures of the season, and they will still be hopeful that they can retain the Premier League title.