LIVERPOOL boss Jurgen Klopp has opened up on his strict fines system and axing players who don’t fit within his principles.
The Reds are taking on noisy neighbours Everton on Saturday, where Klopp’s men will be hoping to make it three wins in a row.
Klopp says discipline is the main non-negotiable
Klopp has rarely fallen out with players at Liverpool
Following a sluggish start to the Premier League campaign, Liverpool have now registered a 9-0 win over Bournemouth and a narrow 2-1 thriller against Newcastle.
Ahead of the trip to Goodison Park for the Merseyside Derby, Klopp was interviewed by BT Sport about his ‘non-negotiables’ as a manager.
The German, 55, highlighted how important discipline is when managing players.
He revealed: “I’m very disciplined. I’m very relaxed, but sometimes things happen – not really bad things – and I ask ‘do we have a fine for that?’
“And then they tell me ‘no, we don’t have a fine for that because it’s never happened before’.
“Discipline is very important to me, but the players are used to that – they grew up in the football environment and you can’t do team sport without discipline.
“It’s better not to sign really ‘difficult’ players.
“And if somebody develops into a ‘difficult’ player, you better bring him out of the building because they might help you in the short term but will always hurt you in the long term.
FREE BETS AND SIGN UP DEALS – BEST NEW CUSTOMER OFFERS
“So we never really have disciplinary issues.”
Klopp added: “There have been players who didn’t fit with my principles, and that’s when we parted ways.
“I’ve never signed a player like this, but from time to time there have been.
“But in 22 years as a manager it’s not even a handful, so I think that’s a pretty good number.”
Klopp has rarely fallen out with players at Liverpool.
However, defender Mamadou Sakho fell out-of-favour with the German during his early years at Anfield.
After serving a ban for doping in 2016, a charge which he was later cleared of, Sakho’s career at Liverpool started to decline and he was sent home pre-season trip to the USA after nearly missing the flight.
Sakho also found himself in trouble for skipping a rehabilitation session and arriving late to team meals.
The Frenchman was banished to the U23s and was never given another opportunity.
He was later sold to Crystal Palace in 2017 after a loan spell.
The ex-Borussia Dortmund and Mainz boss also detailed what he expects of new arrivals – and club record signing Darwin Nunez’s headbutt on Palace’s Joachim Andersen undoubtedly doesn’t fit within those expectations.
Klopp said: “The most important thing is that the players share my principles.
“We sign in to a very close relationship when a player signs a contract at our club.
“And that means we spend a lot of time together and have to get along with each other.
“There’s one talk before we sign a player where I put all my personality on the table – not the face everybody knows from the television but the real face; maybe it’s the same, maybe it differs in some aspects.
“I expect the same from a player because when you know as much as possible about each other you work much better together.
“That’s why these talks are maybe the most important – because in that moment we find an agreement on how we treat each other.”
