BRENDAN RODGERS HAS revealed he met Jurgen Klopp at his house shortly after the German replaced him as Liverpool manager.
Rodgers was sacked in October after overseeing a disappointing start to the season, with the Reds appointing the former Borussia Dortmund coach four days later.
However, despite reaching the Capital One Cup final, Klopp has so far failed to reverse Liverpool’s fortunes, with the club stuck in eighth place in the Premier League following Tuesday’s 2-0 defeat at Leicester City.
Rodgers remains a big supporter of the 48-year-old, though, and says he gave him advice to help him adjust to life in England.
He said: “I remember spending time with Jurgen when he first got the job and I left, we sat and we spoke.
I had an incredible time at Liverpool, it’s a wonderful club, but this was a guy who was coming in from another league, you know, sit and have at chat at my house.
“[He's a] Good guy. Whatever help he would’ve needed going into the job as the manager I was there for that.”
Christian Benteke — who was signed by Rodgers in the summer — has struggled in his debut season at Anfield, with Klopp often preferring to field attacking midfielder Roberto Firmino up front.
But the former Swansea boss says the topic of patience with new players was one he discussed with Klopp during their meeting.
We were speaking about the patience element and we were talking about [Robert] Lewandowski.
“In this Premier League, he wouldn’t have been given the chance as he was given in Germany. In his first season he scored eight goals, can you imagine as striker coming in to the Premier League and scoring eight goals?
“You give them time. [Pierre-Emerick] Aubameyang, as a player after three years, is improving, so Christian over time will show that he’s a top-class player.”
