Conor Coady has noticed a discernible change in Jurgen Klopp’s demeanour following Liverpool’s defeat to Crystal Palace on Sunday.
Speaking to Sky Sports shortly after the final whistle, the Reds manager said that the result felt ‘really, really rubbish’ and the game was ‘horrible to watch’, excusing only Curtis Jones as he accused his players of not ‘chasing’ enough.
During a guest appearance on BBC 5 Live’s Monday Night Club, Coady said that was struck by how ‘downbeat’ the German came across during his post-match interview.
The ex-Liverpool defender stated: “Klopp’s interview after the game, we all felt the same. We all felt it was a little bit downbeat.
“Sometimes when Liverpool lose he’s still got a smile on this face, he seems to smile on the line when a goal goes in and different things. You always think there’s something coming from Jurgen Klopp. It was very downbeat.
“You just wonder a little bit when he came out and did the interview when he was leaving about how tired he was, he’d had enough, it was a strain on him. Is that now becoming a strain on the players?
“The amount of balls they lost first half and the mistakes they were making, the three midfielders. It’s not known for Liverpool midfielders to be doing that. You just wonder if everything that’s happened with the manager this season is just taking its toll come the end of the season.”
When Klopp announced in January that he’d be stepping down as Liverpool manager at the end of the season, he attributed his decision to ‘running out of energy’.
Having been in charge of one of the biggest clubs in world football for the best part of a decade, with the strain of trying to compete with a ludicrously wealthy Manchester City in that time, it’s no wonder those exertions seem to have taken a toll on the 56-year-old.
Hopes of sending him out on the high of winning four trophies have since ended, and the Reds’ recent slump has left them all but out of the Europa League and requiring favours from elsewhere to clinch the Premier League title, in addition to taking care of their own business.
There’s a danger of Klopp’s wonderful Liverpool reign ending in anti-climax if the team’s post-Easter form is maintained to the end of the season, and it’d be a crying shame to see one of our greatest managers bow out on a muted note.
Hopefully the squad can lift themselves and produce a barnstorming finish to the campaign. The German deserves a glorious send-off, not an exit on a whimper.
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