Jurgen Klopp praised the decisions new Aston Villa boss Steven Gerrard has made in his coaching career; watch Liverpool vs Arsenal on Saturday Night Football, live on Sky Sports Premier League and Sky Sports Main Event from 5pm on Saturday; kick-off at 5.30pm
Friday 19 November 2021 21:04, UK
Jurgen Klopp believes Steven Gerrard has had the "perfect" coaching career so far, one that can help him become a potential Liverpool manager one day.
Former Liverpool captain Gerrard was confirmed as the new manager at Aston Villa this week having enjoyed a successful spell at Rangers.
Having retired from playing in 2016, Gerrard did some coaching in Liverpool's academy before taking over at Rangers, and while Klopp agreed with his former captain that it was "unfair" to label Villa a stepping stone on his way to succeeding the German at Anfield, the current Liverpool boss praised the way the 41-year-old has taken his time to master his craft.
"In England you have some club legends and think 'could he be the coach?" Klopp told Sky Sports. "When Frank Lampard took over at Chelsea everyone thought 'that makes sense', but then where can he go from there?
"Stevie is doing everything right so far, getting some experience here with the academy, taking his coaching experiences to Rangers, being very, very, very successful there, then he had made the next step. So far it has been the perfect career.
"While I'm here, it's difficult but of course [he can be Liverpool's future manager]. But it is important that from now on that the Steven Gerrard Aston Villa chapter starts and that's exactly what will happen."
Liverpool's loss at West Ham prior to the international break was the side's first defeat of the season and followed a draw at home to Brighton.
Although Liverpool are still within touching distance of leaders Chelsea, Klopp knows there is no room for error as Mikel Arteta's in-form Arsenal travel to Anfield this Saturday, live on Sky Sports.
"To stay in and around the top of the league, you need results and we haven't had enough good results in the last few weeks," Klopp said. "We lost at West Ham, but even a draw wouldn't have made the situation massively different.
"So we know we have to perform and fight because Arsenal is a really good side, but we are at Anfield and we have to make it count."
The Liverpool boss is having to contend with a large number of injuries and confirmed he would have to make late decisions on the fitness of captain Jordan Henderson and defender Andy Robertson after they returned from international duty with minor issues.
When asked whether the international break was a help or hindrance to his side's overall recovery, Klopp left no doubt with his response.
"I hate international breaks," Klopp said. "It helped from an injury point of view but generally players would have had two days off but those with international teams would have trained pretty much the entire time
"The coaches have their own targets and very often think they have to do physical work with the players as well. I don't like it, it's not helpful and I would have loved to have played the week after [the West Ham game]."
An "angry Liverpool" will show up at Anfield determined to make up for their first defeat of the season when they play Arsenal on Saturday evening, says Sky Sports pundit Graeme Souness.
Jurgen Klopp's side were beaten 3-2 at West Ham before the international break, a result which ended a 25-game undefeated streak stretching back into last season.
Mikel Arteta's in-form Arsenal will head to Merseyside optimistic of also securing a victory over Liverpool, given their own 10-game unbeaten run, but Souness - speaking on the Essential Football Podcast - reckons the Liverpool players' desperation to make amends this weekend will prove to be too much for the Gunners to handle.
