Former NEC Nijmegen team manager Muslu Nalbantoglu has spoken of working with Liverpool assistant coach Pep Lijnders.

Lijnders had a spell in charge of NEC when Nalbantoglu was still with the club.

And he explained that there is a similarity between Lijnders and his namesake Pep Guardiola, in that their coaching methods only work with top-level stars.

He is quoted by the Liverpool Echo: "What he had in his mind with the NEC players was not realistic. Of course, if you work with Mohamed Salah and the names of Liverpool, it is easy to do it with those players.

"His energy and his trainings were very good. Everybody loved him and still loves him at the club and we have difficult fans - when you lose three times, it is very difficult to stay here at NEC.

"He loves football and you see the passion in the trainings. He can never sit down and he was always standing. There were trainings that we have never seen before. If the players were a better level, maybe he would still be here.

"What he had in his mind was for a higher level than NEC. With better players, you can do what he wants. When Jurgen Klopp leaves Liverpool, Pep can take over with those players for sure."