Liverpool’s James Milner has lifted the lid on his time working under the management of Jurgen Klopp, and believes that he is still learning under the German every day.
The veteran midfielder has entered the final year of his contract with the European champions, but is enjoying his football whilst under the guidance of Klopp.
“I think I’ve been fortunate enough to be playing a long time and played with some great players and under some great managers, but every single day you go out on that field you can learn something,” Milner told the club’s official website.
“Maybe my role’s a bit more about helping the younger guys now as well. But I can learn from my teammates, I can learn from the manager.
“You’ve always got to try to improve as much as you can, so I’ll go into every training session, every day, with that mind-set that you never know anything.
The league leaders boast a number of options in midfield, with Klopp favouring the trio of Fabinho, Jordan Henderson and Gini Wijnaldum, however Milner remains in the manger’s plans, making seven appearances so far this season as well as scoring the winning penalty against Leicester.
“The biggest thing with the manager is that what you see is what you get. He doesn’t have one front for the cameras and then he is completely different with the players.”
“He’s honest with the players and he lives every minute of it. He’s on the side and he’s bouncing around, he wants to be out there. That energy’s big for us when we’re down.”
“He seems to judge it right, when to put an arm round the shoulder after a game. If we haven’t played well or something, he knows what to say at half-time, or if you need a rocket he’ll give you that as well. He seems to judge those situations very well.”
Milner has featured in 523 Barclays Premier League games, currently sitting at 6th place in the top-divisions all time appearance list, and will be hoping to climb further up that list under the influence of Klopp.
[Picture by Антон Зайцев – Creative Commons]
