Liverpool dressing room reaction to Jurgen Klopp’s new contract

Liverpool midfielder James Milner answered a question about Jurgen Klopp’s new contract with the club with his trademark wry humor after the Reds clinched a 1-0 win over Newcastle

Jürgen Klopp delighted Liverpool fans last week by signing a new contract to stay until at least 2026.

That means Klopp will be trophy-laden at Anfield for nine years. midfield player James Milner has the judgment on the German contract extension from the Liverpool dressing room – and an amusing, unconvincing description.

Milner joked, “He’s not a bad manager, is he? Yes, we’re all happy.” Milner was at Anfield when Klopp arrived in October 2015 and has charted the team’s development from wannabes to Real Thing – and chasing a quadruple this season.

He added: “It’s outstanding. I witnessed this process step by step. See signs, but don’t be consistent every week. Then we build it up and we get better and the counter press comes along. And then the quality with the ball. It was a big process. He’s done an incredible job and the longer he’s here the better for the football club. You can see the changes – there were many changes in terms of personnel and gameplay.

“The ideas are similar, obviously they have evolved and evolved as the team has evolved. The intensity has always been there, but we manage to maintain it now. I think you see the level the guys played during the week and then to do it again on Saturday is amazing. It’s a process that’s about getting the level of fitness, the mentality to do it and bringing the squad together. You couldn’t talk about the competitions we’re still in at this stage of the season if we didn’t have a squad full of strong players.”

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Reds boss Klopp, on the other hand, praised Milner’s continued professionalism newcastle, and his influence on the rest of the club’s players. He said: “Millie is incredibly important to us, that’s very important because when you talk about the dressing room people think… yeah it’s helpful. He’s very helpful there, especially with a manager who’s not a native speaker. But he played a great game on the pitch too, great game, I don’t want to take anything away from him, but I also liked Naby Keita’s performance a bit.

“Hendo on six, that worked really well. It was the boys turn Fire, we played football, we kept the ball at the right moments. We fought for the second ball fights, we knew that before the game, because there is no way – at least I know that – to defend them 100 percent. So tricky, 50-50 balls in between – that’s not cool to defend. But other than that, I really enjoyed the game. James was a big part of it.

“It’s difficult to be fitter than Millie. He’s a role model; I told him and I can tell the world that none of what we have achieved in recent years would have happened in recent years without James Milner . It’s as simple as that, whether he was on the pitch or not. That’s because he set the standards in a way that not many people can set standards. He raised us all.”