Klopp talks about James Milner

boss

Jurgen Klopp

had a conversation with James Milner, and he has explained what went on between him and the player.

“He was not unhappy,” he told his post-match press conference. “At half-time we changed the formation a little bit, and Milly was a little bit deeper, like a double six with Gini, Thiago slightly higher. Milly’s hamstring had stiffened up slightly, so we told him ‘be controlled, more passing than running’, stuff like this.

“But it was clear we would take him off, we just waited until Curtis was properly warmed up. Then I saw the last long, long sprint Milly had and I thought we’d missed the moment! I was really, really worried.

“He came off and said ‘you tell me I have to play deep and run less, and now you take me off!’ but then he came back [after Salah’s goal] and said ‘yes, good point, good decision!’ All fine.”

He also revealed what he told Curtis Jones before sending him in.

“The last words I told Curtis, actually, were ‘please, be cheeky, try something, be active’. I didn’t think he’d start like that with his first touch!

“Shaq’s last ball was an incredible ball. He played really good, maybe he could have played 90 minutes but the problem at the moment is we just don’t know. He didn’t play plenty of games, he had injury problems, and my mood is constantly concerned about injuries.

“We try to save everybody, like we did with Milly as well. But as far as I know nothing happened injury-wise, we played a good game and got three points, which was absolutely brilliant.”

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