‘I was at Aston Villa when Gerard Houllier got ill, and it affected us’

Darren Bent has opened up on how the pressures on a manager can affect his team, following Jurgen Klopp’s insistence that he has no plans to walk away from Liverpool.

Klopp was this week forced to deny suggestions he could leave Anfield over his struggles off the field.

Odds were slashed on the manager’s departure following the Premier League champions’ incredible capitulation at Leicester, where they led 1-0 with 12 minutes remaining only to lose the game 3-1.

The Reds’ poor form this season, plus news of his mother’s recent death and Klopp’s inability to travel to Germany for the funeral due to COVID-19, led to claims he could step away from his role.

Klopp rubbished the rumours on Monday, ending the remarkable speculation over his future just eight months after ending Liverpool’s 30-year wait for the league title.

“Rumours of me quitting or taking a break? Neither [is true]. I don’t need a break,” said the boss.

“The last thing I want to do is talk about private things in a press conference. When I came here to work, I am 53, I have been in football for 30 years, I can switch off, I don’t carry things around.

“Of course we are influenced by things that happen but nobody has to worry about me. The beard gets more and more grey, I don’t sleep a lot but I am full of energy.”

Darren Bent joined the talkSPORT Breakfast on Tuesday to discuss the pressure on managers, and admitted it’s the main reason he went into a media career after hanging up his boots instead of coaching.

But, while Klopp has insisted he has no plans to walk away, the former striker has revealed how the pressures and ill health of late manager Gerard Houllier impacted his players at Aston Villa.

“I go back to my time at Aston Villa; when I first signed we had the great Gerard Houllier in charge,” Bent explained.

“He got ill towards the end and it affected us. He was such a clever manager.

“He finished comfortably that season, but when I first went to Aston VIlla they were in a bit of a relegation battle, they were fifth from bottom and you could tell it was affecting him.

“Some players were buying into his ideas but some weren’t and ultimately he got ill and he never came back. It was such a shame.

“It’s hard for a manager, it’s got to be difficult. they can only control so much.

“You pick teams and you put players in positions to help you succeed, and if you’re not doing that ultimately you’re the one who is always going to pay the price for it.

“It’s such a hard skill,  it’s probably one of the reasons I’ve never gone into it. I don’t want that sort of responsibility.”

But Ally McCoist threw his support behind the Liverpool manager, saying the German is a unique character to be able to handle the pressure on and off the field in what has been a tough campaign.

“Teams and managers and the fans have hopes and aspirations for where they want their team to finish, and if they fall short of that a level of criticism will come their way – that comes with the territory,” said the Rangers legend.

“Every coach and manager knows when they go into the game that two things will happen, they will get criticised and 99 times out of 100 at some point they will get the sack.

“You just have to handle the situations. You often wonder how these guys escape from the day-to-day pressures of managing the club, but Jurgen Klopp seems to me like he handles it very well, unless he’s telling fibs, which I don’t think he is.

“He probably is a different kind of character to your average manager, he seems to handle the pressure very, very well.

“But there is absolutely no doubt about it, when they do start affecting you as a coach and manager you’re probably one of the last ones to see it, it’s the people around you who recognise it first.”