'Klopp is Liverpool's 12th man' - Ibe still a fan of his former manager despite £15m sale

Jurgen Klopp is Liverpool’s “12th player on the pitch”, says Jordon Ibe, with the German’s touchline antics a positive for the Reds.

The Anfield outfit have struggled for consistency this season, but the vast majority of those on the red half of Merseyside retain full faith in their highly-rated manager.

Klopp is expected to get things right in time, and with more investment, with his track record suggesting that he will deliver success.

Ibe believes he remains the perfect manager for Liverpool, with the 22-year-old winger a big fan of his methods despite being sold to Bournemouth in the summer of 2016.

He told BBC Sport ahead of a reunion with the Reds at the Vitality Stadium on Sunday: “He’s a really good manager, one to one.

“He gives players confidence, he makes you feel very important. Whether you’re a player coming on from the bench or whether you’re a starter, everyone feels the same. So I give him credit for that.

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“Jurgen is a bit more aggressive [than Eddie Howe], not in a bad way. He gets more excited! You can see how he is on the sideline as if he’s the 12th player on the pitch.

“He helped me a lot on the defensive side of things. I wasn’t the best at tracking back. It’s like that with a lot of wingers. It’s a lot more work off the ball, but I feel as if I’ve done better from the defensive aspect of things.”

Ibe spent four years with Liverpool between 2012 and 2016.

He made over 50 appearances for the club but was allowed to move on when Bournemouth tabled a club record bid for his services.

The England U21 international is yet to deliver on a regular basis for the Cherries but will hope to put the lessons he learned from Klopp to good use over the remainder of the 2017-18 campaign.

The Reds boss, meanwhile, will be looking for the energy he continues to provide on the sidelines to inspire his side, with Liverpool having slipped out of the Premier League’s top four on the back of home stalemates with Everton and West Brom.