Jurgen Klopp is confident Steven Gerrard will bounce back after he was sacked by Aston Villa following a poor start to the season.
A 3-0 defeat away to Fulham was Gerrard’s final match in charge of the club, as he was dismissed by the board less than a year after leaving Rangers to take charge at Villa Park.
The decision was not a surprising one, with Villa winning just two of their opening 12 Premier League matches this season as they sit 17th in the table, staying out of the relegation zone only on goals scored.
Speaking in his press conference ahead of Liverpool’s trip to face Nottingham Forest this weekend, Klopp revealed he had been in contact with Gerrard and insisted the Reds legend would make a successful return to management.
“I am very sure Steven Gerrard will come back from that,” Klopp said.
“We had a little exchange this morning, nothing too deep. I can imagine that it is disappointing for him because of the ambitions he had and the things he wanted to achieve with Aston Villa.
“It’s obviously not cool, but I don’t think we have to worry now for Stevie. He knows the game and that these things can happen.
“We all get knocks, it is about how you respond. He will come back from that, no doubt. A lot of great managers out there had to leave their previous clubs for different reasons.
“Some of the best turned up elsewhere and tried to learn from it to earn a better situation. So he will be back 100% but now I hope, actually, that he takes a bit of time for him.”
Klopp has his own issues off the pitch, after he was charged by the FA with improper conduct following his red card against Manchester City for confronting assistant referee Gary Beswick during the match.
He has until the end of Friday to respond to the charge, with the Liverpool boss expecting to be in the dugout this weekend at the City Ground.
“In this moment I expect to be on the bench, but I don’t know 100%,” Klopp said.
“I don’t know too well the process but we have enough people who know how it goes and we did everything we had to do.”
