Jurgen Klopp won't stay in management as long as Arsene Wenger
Friday 20 April 2018 14:23, UK
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp insists he will not be patrolling the touchline into his later years like Arsene Wenger as he does not need football to be happy.
Klopp, who has a six-year contract which runs until 2022, has no intention of staying on anywhere close to Wenger's tenure.
The 50-year-old said earlier this week that he did not want to die on the touchline and when asked to expand on that he said: "Because of age.
I don't need football to be happy. At the moment I love it but I don't need it.
"I love what I do and I enjoy it but it's intense - but most jobs are intense. The big difference is we are constantly in the focus.
"Do I need the fact that I am famous? No. I don't need it a bit. It's not that I feel that special but it happens and I'd be really happy if it stops one day.
"If no-one remembers me, that's not a problem. That's a dream for me.
"We get really well paid so that's okay, we can have the life we never dreamed of but I don't want to have this life and I cannot walk anymore.
"I have back problems in the morning and neck problems when I wake up but life is not only for that.
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"I don't need football to be happy. At the moment I love it but I don't need it.
"There will be a moment - and I don't know when - when I say, 'thank you very much'. There is always the next guy who can do the job.
"I love what I do. It's not too intense to deal with it. At one point it's enough and then another one has to take over."
Klopp takes his side to West Brom on Saturday, live on Sky Sports Premier League from 11.30am, seeking the first of two wins which will guarantee Champions League football next season.
He is hopeful when the new campaign starts his side will be able to close the gap on this campaign's runaway champions Manchester City, having beaten them three times in four meetings in the last eight months.
"When we started the season there were different opinions about different clubs and who could be where and a lot of people would have said Man City would be champions, maybe Chelsea or United, but no-one thought about us and that is okay," he added.
"Around us there is development as well and there will be next year but it is always that you want to finish better than the year before, that is the minimum target you have.
"Hopefully we can finish the season again in a Champions League spot and then we have a little bit of space for improvement football-wise and result-wise and what you need for that is consistency.
"The gap between us and City was not in the games against City, it was in other games and a few points we missed were kind of unlucky and a few were our own responsibility and we have to work on that."
Klopp says he will field a strong line-up against the Baggies, including Golden Boot contender Mohamed Salah, as he does not possess the squad depth to rotate.
"We always respect the intensity of the season so far but we also respect West Brom and the Premier League," he said.
"We know we need points to be in the top four. It will be difficult because West Brom have got four points since changing their manager.
"Everyone was on about Manchester United losing and maybe West Brom were lucky in one or two situations, but they deserved it. Not only because United were not at their best, but because West Brom did really well.
"Now they have a home game and want to show that they believe in their last chance. We need to be at our best.
"We lost to them in the FA Cup, I don't need to remind anyone about that.
"After the game we think about Rome because there is no other way for us. We don't have 25 players at the moment and can line-up two different sides.
"We need all the players and thankfully Mo is fit at the moment."
