Ahead of Liverpool’s first trip to the Brentford Community Stadium, Jurgen Klopp has been singing Bees boss Thomas Frank’s praises and even drew a comparison to his time as Mainz manager.
Frank also made a comparison of his own, saying his ‘late bloomer’ Christian Norgaard is like Fabinho and good enough to fit right into the Reds’ team.
The Reds have made a strong start to the season, and have a great chance to boost their title hopes this weekend with title rivals Chelsea and Manchester City taking each other on.
With 13 points from their first five games, Liverpool sit joint top with Manchester United and Chelsea, and could be ending the weekend ahead of everyone else should they better the Blues’ result.
However, they face a challenging task ahead with a trip to newly promoted Brentford, who beat Arsenal in their stunning season opener.
And, speaking to the media, Klopp has been giving Thomas Frank some warm words.
“I watched the press conference of Thomas Frank and it was the most entertaining things I’ve watched for the last few years,” said the German coach.
“It was half an hour talking about all of the different players, it was really, really good, maybe we have to start with that.
“The football they play is incredible, the organisation they have is incredible so Thomas is obviously doing a brilliant job, Brentford is doing a brilliant job.
“How they recruit, how different they are, how much they show even with lesser money it’s really possible to create something really special.
“It reminds me a lot on the time at Mainz when I was there because we had no money, we had to be creative in the transfer market.
“There’s a massive difference between the money Brentford has and Mainz had that time, but it shows it’s still possible.”
The feeling is certainly mutual between the two managers as Frank discussed his personal history with Liverpool.
“I followed Liverpool in the 80s and I think maybe most likely because of the Danish player Jan Molby because he played there so you follow a Danish player.
“So I watched them and they were of course good and I remember quite a lot, Ian Rush of course was a fantastic player back then.
“Those were the two main players I remember from back when and Jan he could control that middle of the pitch.”
Two modern day versions of Molby are Brazilian defensive midfielder Fabinho and Denmark’s Christian Norgaard.
Frank said that his ‘late bloomer’ is comparable to Fabinho and is pleased that he’s playing for the Bees.
“I think Christian is a late bloomer And I’m very, very pleased that he’s playing for Brentford.
“I think if you took him out and put him into Liverpool, and changed the two players, Fabinho and him, I don’t think you’d see much difference.”
Undoubtedly it will be interesting to see how the two midfielders fare in the match and it is a game you can listen to live as part of the GameDay exclusive on talkSPORT.
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