Like Kobe Bryant, Mané and Salah Will Shrug Off Misses, Says Jürgen Klopp

Mo Salah, Kobe Bryant and Sadio Mané. Composite: Getty Images
Mo Salah, Kobe Bryant and Sadio Mané. Composite: Getty Images
TT

Like Kobe Bryant, Mané and Salah Will Shrug Off Misses, Says Jürgen Klopp

Mo Salah, Kobe Bryant and Sadio Mané. Composite: Getty Images
Mo Salah, Kobe Bryant and Sadio Mané. Composite: Getty Images

Jürgen Klopp believes Sadio Mané and Mohamed Salah will follow the example of Kobe Bryant by showing the best can cope with failure and using their misses to spur them on.

Mané has gone nine games without scoring and spurned a golden chance when he blazed over the bar in Liverpool’s defeat at Leicester on Tuesday, while Salah missed a penalty in the Premier League for the first time since 2017.

But Klopp, who will not be on the touchline at Chelsea on Sunday after testing positive for Covid, argued that disappointment is something elite sportsmen encounter more often than lesser players because of their bravery in taking responsibility time and again and getting into the positions to miss. He cited how Bryant, who scored the fourth-most points in the NBA, holds the record for most missed shots, 14,481.

“Top, top, top-class players deal constantly with failure,” Klopp said. “That’s our life. That’s what you learn pretty early as a footballer. The better you are, the more often you will fail because you come constantly in these decisive moments.

“None of us has ever succeeded in all difficult situations. That’s how it is. Kobe Bryant is still the player with the most missed situations in NBA history and he is one of the greatest players ever.

“You have to try it. You have to come in these situations and then you can fail. If you fail there, no problem, go again and everything will be fine. That is pretty much the mindset Mo is in and Sadio as well.”

Salah and Mané will make their final appearances before going to the African Cup of Nations but with a very different backdrop. Whereas the Senegalese has equalled his longest drought for Liverpool, the Egyptian has been directly involved in an unrivalled 24 goals in the Premier League this season.

As Klopp accepted, Salah rarely needs to respond to major setbacks. “We don’t have a lot of experience with Mo of dealing with ‘crisis’ or whatever because he didn’t have to,” he said.

“The penalty just makes him more greedy to score a goal in the game, usually, and if we bring him more often in promising situations then I am pretty sure he would have finished one of them off.”

Mané has not scored any of Liverpool’s past 25 goals but does have a propensity to deliver goals in fits and spurts and Klopp is convinced his latest barren run will end. “Sadio has no problem with confidence, but the momentum finishing-wise is not there at the moment,” he said.

“Pretty much all strikers have to go through these kind of things. You have to take it from time to time and then it will be good again. It happened to Sadio before and he came out of it. He scored incredibly important goals for us and I’m really positive that he has chances to score [today].”

His belief that Mané is performing well was supported by the footage compiled by one of his backroom staff when he got a welcome surprise on Friday. “One of our analysts knocks on my door and asks if I have two minutes.” Klopp said. “He made a video to show Sadio how much he contributes to our game and how good he is at the moments, how good he is there and in situations.

“The intention was to show he should not be too worried that the finishing is not there at the moment. He’s still an incredibly important player for us. That is the view we have on him.”



Hamburg Fires Steffen Baumgart as Coach after Five Games without a Win

08 November 2024, Lower Saxony, Brunswick: Hamburg coach Steffen Baumgart gives an interview before the German Bundesliga 2 soccer match between Eintracht Braunschweig and Hamburger SV. (dpa)
08 November 2024, Lower Saxony, Brunswick: Hamburg coach Steffen Baumgart gives an interview before the German Bundesliga 2 soccer match between Eintracht Braunschweig and Hamburger SV. (dpa)
TT

Hamburg Fires Steffen Baumgart as Coach after Five Games without a Win

08 November 2024, Lower Saxony, Brunswick: Hamburg coach Steffen Baumgart gives an interview before the German Bundesliga 2 soccer match between Eintracht Braunschweig and Hamburger SV. (dpa)
08 November 2024, Lower Saxony, Brunswick: Hamburg coach Steffen Baumgart gives an interview before the German Bundesliga 2 soccer match between Eintracht Braunschweig and Hamburger SV. (dpa)

Former Bundesliga heavyweight Hamburger SV has fired Steffen Baumgart as coach after five games without a win across all competitions.

The second-division club said Sunday it was letting Baumgart go because of a “crisis of performances and results” after the team’s 2-2 draw at home with Schalke on Saturday.

That left Hamburg eighth in the 18-team division, four points behind early leader Paderborn after 13 rounds.

“Steffen gave everything with great passion, energy and commitment right up to the end for HSV. However, our analysis of the current situation and yesterday’s game has once again made it clear that we believe a new impetus is necessary,” Hamburg sporting director Stefan Kuntz said.

The club said Baumgart, who was a Hamburg fan as a child, took the news “calmly” on Sunday morning.

“It was an exciting and very intense time,” the former Cologne coach said. “I remain connected to the club and hope that HSV achieves its goals.”

Hamburg has been bidding to return to the Bundesliga since its demotion from the top flight in 2018. It had been the only ever-present team in the league since it was founded in 1963, earning the nickname “der Dino.”

But every season since relegation has ended in disappointment. Hamburg rival St. Pauli was promoted last season to add to Hamburg fans’ woes.

Baumgart, a former Hansa Rostock and Union Berlin forward, took over as Hamburg coach in February, when the team was third, but ultimately it was unable to improve and finished fourth – one place behind Fortuna Düsseldorf in the promotion playoff spot.

Hamburg said Baumgart’s assistants Rene Wagner and Kevin McKenna were also let go, and that assistant coach Merlin Polzin will prepare the team for its next game at Karlsruher SC.

There was no mention of a permanent successor.