Klopp claims Tottenham 23-year-old has ‘needed a bit longer’ to prove his worth

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Speaking to his Liverpool press conference, Jurgen Klopp has heaped praise on a number of Tottenham players ahead of today’s showdown at Anfield.

The Liverpool boss shared how Steven Bergwijn plays an ‘important’ role for Spurs and how someone like Tanguy Ndombele ‘needed a bit longer’ to properly prove his worth in North London.

It has been some journey for Tottenham’s record-signing, who at one point was being called out by Jose Mourinho for his lack of effort, but he’s now turned his fortunes around.

That was touched upon by Klopp ahead of Tottenham’s visit tonight, as he stated how Ndombele is now ‘100% there’.

“If you keep them [Kane & Son] quiet then there are still a lot of really, really, really good players,” said Klopp. “That’s now a real proper team. They are with threats from a lot of areas.

“Bergwijn plays an important role, especially in counter-attacking moments. Ndombele probably needed a bit longer to really settle at Tottenham but he’s now 100% there. He shares a little bit of a job with Lo Celso and Sissoko. Hojbjerg. That’s a proper unit together in midfield.

“And the last line obviously works pretty well together. On top of that, you have got Lloris, who is a top-class goalkeeper.”

Ndombele will be expected to feature for Spurs against Liverpool tonight and he will be hoping to stamp his authority on a pretty strong opposition midfield.

This game has just become even more crucial because Chelsea suffered yet another defeat last night, whilst Manchester City’s woes continued as they dropped two points at home to West Brom.

Three points for either Spurs and Liverpool here then a small little cushion will start to develop between themselves and the rest during a difficult period of the campaign.