Jurgen Klopp has finally explained his 'intimidating' pre-match ritual in private chat with Ben Foster
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Jurgen Klopp has finally explained his 'intimidating' pre-match ritual, which involves watching the opposition team train.
The Liverpool manager often stands on the halfway line before games and keeps an eye on his side's opponents.
It's become a meme online, but there's clear value to Klopp making his presence felt.
Everton defender James Tarkowski recently revealed he's impacted by the 56-year-old's gaze ahead of games at Anfield.
He said on an episode of Ben Foster's 'Fozcast': "Always, because I always warm up right near the halfway line.
"I like to be that end of the warm ups so I'm always quite high and can see (Klopp) gleaming at me from the side.
"I'm thinking 'I better make sure this pass is right', or he's going to walk into the dressing room and say 'that Tarkowski's having one in the warm-up, go and play on him'.
"I'm making sure every pass is crisp and I'm not giving it away. And If I give one away I'm thinking 'he's going to go in and tell those lads that I'm having one in the warm up there'."
Foster faced off against Klopp's Liverpool side several times during his professional career. He recently spoke to Klopp and asked if he knew what players thought about his antics.
The former Wrexham man quoted Klopp, stating: "No, I didn't know that. I don't do it for that.
"I do it so I can (identify) a technical or a tactical something I can pick up on.
"Because sometimes you will get some teams that will set up their actual shape and position in the warm-up.
"And if I see a left-back or a right-back will come inside or might stay... I might just clock it a little bit and I might mention it to the players before I go.
"I definitely don't do it to try and intimidate players."
Liverpool are currently top of the Premier League following a 4-2 victory over Newcastle.
They return to action against Arsenal in the FA Cup third round on Sunday afternoon.
Henry
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