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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
Sport
Ian Doyle

Jurgen Klopp explains coaching change as 'new' Liverpool starts to take shape for next season

Jurgen Klopp has revealed Liverpool have ripped up their usual training and coaching methods as they continue moving towards a "new LFC" under his tenure.

Having endured an underwhelming campaign that has left them with only an outside chance of Champions League qualification, the Reds are enjoying an impressive end to the season with last Saturday's 1-0 home win over Brentford their sixth successive Premier League triumph.

The run - their best such sequence in more than a year - has coincided with a change in formation that has seen Trent Alexander-Arnold regularly push from right-back into central midfield, with the England man providing six assists in his last seven games to triple his tally for the term.

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Defeat to Bournemouth and the Champions League exit against Real Madrid in March marked a line in the sand for Liverpool, who used the subsequent international break to begin formulating new tactical methods.

Klopp has previously suggested "the future has started already" at Anfield, and the Reds boss has explained how his coaching staff have chosen not to wait until next season to start implementing a new-look approach.

"We have started a new process for us," he said. "It feels for us a breath of fresh air. The coaching is different, the sessions are different, everything is like we have opened up our own chest. Let's go for that, we have nothing to lose anymore in this year. So why don't we start the new LFC now already - and that's what we did.

"I see a lot of good moments, to be honest, but of course we have to adapt, we have to learn, we have to improve 100% and we will.

"At the moment we've been having three games a week so there's not a lot of improvement possible apart from telling the boys 'that was good' or 'that was not so good'."

After five games in 15 days, Liverpool don't play again until the trip to struggling Leicester City on Monday, with a home game against Aston Villa and a final-day clash at rock-bottom Southampton to finish the season.

The Reds took advantage of the lengthy period until the next game by taking a short break in Barcelona at the start of this week, and Klopp is confident the squad are fully on-board with the recent changes.

"We have a long week to train, so that will help," he said to LFC TV. "The boys have bought completely into it. Everybody has wanted a solution for the situation we are in and even if it was a bit late (in this season) we could deliver that. Together with the boys we have started something new, and I'm really happy about that. It's pretty special.

"For most parts of the season, it hasn't been really easy to enjoy. At the moment we have made it a bit more easy to be with us again and I'm really happy about that. For too long we were not ourselves. But we know in our best spells we had super difficult games which we brought somehow over the line, so we should not forget that."

Having suffered the consequences of a condensed and shortened pre-season preparation last summer, Klopp is keen to ensure Liverpool are given the best chance of hitting the ground running at the start of next season.

The Reds will reconvene at the AXA Training Centre on July 8 for a week training before heading to Germany for an extended training camp. They will then head further afield for what is likely to be a week-long tour, with Singapore expected to be the destination.

Another example of Liverpool aiming to be strong for the start of pre-season was the decision for Thiago Alcantara to recently undergo surgery to resolve a long-term hip complaint, rather than attempt to play through the remainder of this campaign.

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