Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp says it is too early to declare his “mentality monsters” back, but he has been impressed by how they have dealt with adversity this season.
The 3-1 Europa League victory over LASK in Austria was the team’s fourth comeback victory in six matches this season.
Despite the early defeats, they have yet to surrender a goal after the 37th minute, and great second-half displays have helped them overcome Bournemouth, Newcastle, Wolves, and now Linz.
That has been accomplished despite the introduction of an entirely new midfield, but he is not yet ready to repurpose the label he bestowed on the team that won the Champions League and Premier League in consecutive seasons.
“I see why you’re asking me this. “Not long ago, I was asked about us being 1-0 down, 1-0 down, 1-0 down,” he explained.
“I understand that this may come up again at some point, but it feels completely different this time.”
“When I stated that phrase (mentality monsters) at the time, it was not on purpose. “I was just watching a game and thinking, ‘Oh my God, how did they come back?'”
“Now it’s just a matter of changing a few things and turning games around.” Staying in a game is a duty, and we have done so thus far, which is why we have turned things around.
“Mentality? That is something we intend to develop. What we have now is a state of mind. We created this spirit because the lads enjoy playing with each other.
“It’s a small group. It’s early, that’s apparent, and we made 11 changes (against LASK), and when you saw the boys’ passion at the start, it wasn’t like we were on vacation.
“There was a very competitive atmosphere in the dressing room.” That was very appealing to me. Again, the boys that came on made the most of their time.
“Something is growing, but I have no idea where it will lead.”
The fact that Klopp was able to replace the entire lineup from Saturday’s win at Wolves and still win easily demonstrates not only the depth but also the talent at his disposal.
However, it was far from a feeble European club, with first-choice centre-backs Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate at the back and offensive talent worth nearly £100 million in Darwin Nunez and Luis Diaz up front.
The main difference was being able to bring in summer additions, including two of his new reconstructed midfield, Dominik Szobozslai and World Cup-winner Alexis Mac Allister, as well as Mohamed Salah off the bench for the final half hour to see out the game and avoid any late drama.
This ensures that those important players will be fresh for the visit of West Ham on Sunday, as they try to make it five wins in a row in the Premier League.
“I made eleven changes.” “I’m not sure what you thought, but maybe some thought it was too much,” Klopp added.
“Everyone deserved to play based on their performance in preseason and training.” I wanted a team that didn’t think about Sunday for a second and just went into it to have fun.
“Will I repeat this in every (European) game?” Most likely not. But we can combine it differently.
“Without Thiago (Alcantara), Trent (Alexander-Arnold), and Conor Bradley, we can still change 11 times.”
“If we have luck – and by luck, I mean that everyone stays healthy – and we have 23 players like this at this level, we can react in all of our games and we’ll always have a really good team on the field.” That appeals to me much.”