Rio Ferdinand on two sides of Sir Alex Ferguson which would leave Man Utd stars saying “wow”

Rio Ferdinand has remembered an occasion that left Manchester United players in shock.

It centred around a distinct mood change from Sir Alex Ferguson, one which the former defender saw in Jurgen Klopp.

Liverpool emerged 1-0 winners over Ajax in a crucial Champions League clash.

It has seen the Reds qualify from their group and go through to the next round with Klopp contending with injuries yet again.

Caoimhin Kelleher stood in for Alisson, who has been ruled out with a hamstring injury, and the Irishman produced a clean sheet.

The German manager was much happier in his press conference when over the weekend he was spiky.

But Ferdinand believes it is more of a distraction piece to keep the pressure off his players.

He believes so because it is a media tactic that Fergie used to employ during his time in charge of the Red Devils.

Ferdinand told BT Sport: “Sometimes he’d do a team talk after a game and would be brilliant, as calm as you like.

“‘Well done lads’ or whatever.

“Then you’d see him on the TV screen, in the changing room, and he’d be going absolutely bananas about an issue we wouldn’t have thought about. A linesman’s decision or something like that.

“‘What’s that about?” He was as calm as you like and you’d think ‘wow’.

“He took the spotlight off someone or something within that 90 minutes that could derail us and put it on something else.

“His choice and he’s controlling the narrative. That’s what I think Klopp’s doing.”

Liverpool had not won in two games prior to Tuesday’s night game after a late penalty against Brighton on Saturday saw them draw 1-1.

Previous to that, Atalanta rocked up to Anfield and disposed of the Reds with ease in a 2-0 win that saw the hosts fail to muster a single shot on target.

But with qualification in the bag it will give Klopp the chance to give a well-needed rest to some players when the next European fixture arrives.

Liverpool face Wolves on Sunday night before taking on FC Midtjylland in their final Champions League group match on Wednesday.