Jurgen Klopp press conference: Liverpool manager on Jose Mourinho to Spurs and ‘great guy’ Maurico Poc

Jurgen Klopp admits he was stunned when he saw the news confirming Jose Mourinho had been appointed Tottenham’s new manager.

Jose returned to the Premier League on Wednesday, 11 hours after Spurs had axed Mauricio Pochettino after five-and-a-half years.

He takes charge of his first game in the Lilywhites’ dugout on Saturday – and talkSPORT brings you full live commentary of Spurs’ visit West Ham as part of GameDay!

Mourinho’s decision to take the Tottenham job came as a huge surprise to many, not least Liverpool boss Klopp, who addressed the appointment during a press conference.

“Welcome back Jose,” Klopp began. “It’s nice to have him back. Poch is not there anymore so it shows how quick things change.

“He did a brilliant job at Tottenham. Outstanding coach, great guy. I enjoyed the games against him, we have a history together.

“When I first heard it, I couldn’t believe it in that moment. I really hope he can enjoy a few days, weeks or months off. Jose is motivated highly, so it will be interesting.”

Pochettino has already been linked with some huge jobs since his dismissal – including the Barcelona and Bayern Munich posts – and this comes as no surprise to the Liverpool chief.

“He is a great guy,” added the German. “My first Premier League game was against him so we have a history.

“Any job that is available he will be in contention.

“Everything will be fine for him, but it was a big one, when I first heard I couldn’t believe it. I hope Mauricio can enjoy a few weeks off.

Klopp also discussed other topics during his pre-Crystal Palace press conference, and you can read the best bits, below…

On Joe Gomez/Raheem Sterling situation

“Joe is good, better than good. Everything is fine. You can’t make it bigger than it is and discuss if for five weeks, the people involved were fine pretty quickly after it. Things like this happen in a football environment, that’s how it is.”

On Crystal Palace

“Palace have quality, they have a nice atmosphere. They make it difficult, it is a special place to go 100 per cent.

“They haven’t had a spectacular transfer window but working together longer can improve you as well. A good start. They make it tough for everyone.

“Palace enjoy defending compact; they know they are a proper threat on the counter-attack and that makes it really tough. First one is [Wilfried] Zaha, then [Jordan] Ayew, very difficult to defend.

“We have to find solutions. It will be interesting.”

On the title race

“The players are all good. Nothing else to say. We don’t think about the title race. Biggest challenge is facing questions about it. It’s just the season we are in. The challenges are the 26 games we have to play.”

On latest injury news

“In a moment, Virg [Van Dijk] is 100 per cent available. But it’s the time of year when players go out of the squad overnight with other things, like feeling sick.

“I cannot say 100 per cent on the others. I don’t know. Today very important session especially with players who were back late [from international duty].”

“Yesterday [Mohamed Salah] trained. He has been training the things we want him to do. It’s not that he has got worse, it’s just that it [the injury] is there still.

“We have to be sensible. I have to see the session today before I make a decision.”

On Xherdan Shaqiri speculation

“Why should I talk about something that’s outside? We spoke earlier [in the season] when he wasn’t playing as much as he wanted to. Speculation is speculation. Completely fine here. Of course he has a future here.

“We are in this season, and for this season Shaqiri is an important player. It’s about getting the intensity back.

“The most intense period is coming up now and hopefully more people will be ready for that, you will see him on the pitch 100 per cent.

Saturday is GameDay on talkSPORT as we bring you THREE live Premier League commentaries across our network