Klopp's Liverpool Style Guide to Winning Games

[Tribute]

...on a slight side note, do we still have that nondescript goalkeeping coach who turns decent keepers into dross?

Might be something for Norbert to look at before bringing another on in...

[SB]

...on a slight side note, do we still have that nondescript goalkeeping coach who turns decent keepers into dross?

Might be something for Norbert to look at before bringing another on in...

Achterburg isn't it? He's still there

[DannyMan2006]

...on a slight side note, do we still have that nondescript goalkeeping coach who turns decent keepers into dross?

Might be something for Norbert to look at before bringing another on in...

Tbh it could just be that the keepers we sign aren't that good. Reina never improved after leaving and getting a different coach. Mignolet is no worse than he was at Sunderland. He was a great shot stopper there too with the odd error.

My biggest problem with Mignolet is his distribution. Since coming back into the side he's gone back to basics and playing it safe. That was fine, but there comes a time you need to push on.

It's like when a midfielder is having a mare. You just make sure your next passes are short and to a team mates feet, then you get back on the horse and start trying the risky passes again.

Mignolet has pulled back and then stayed where he was. In my view he's never gonna get any better and it's a position we need to improve upon.

[redmike65]

BOOM!

The first game when you could say "they're playing like Brazil Klopp's Dortmund"

One of the things that we all wanted to see was rapid transition from defending to attacking, well against City they improved on that by simple not bothering to transition. The moment City lost the ball Liverpool went straight into attack mode, no sideways passing, no looking to see where the best placed pass would be and to who.

It was as if Klopp had said "don't worry about the possibility of misplacing the ball and losing it simply pass and let the rest of the team find it" which they did and of course the more they play like that the more confidence players will have to both make the pass and receive the ball as making runs will now be rewarded whereas under Rodgers we often saw a crippling hesitation so no one ran and no one passed other than sideways/backwards round and round.

[DannyMan2006]

We have shown under Klopp that when playing top sides away from home we are capable of going there and winning. That is a major boost to have. 7 points from Spurs, Chelsea & City away is massive. That sort of steel & counter attacking brilliance is normally the last ingredient to add to get a team over the line.

But I think our next 6 fixtures in the league are what will really tell us something about Klopps current Liverpool side. All our winnable and I think to keep that feel good factor we need to be walking away with a minimum of 14 points from 18.

As good as that attacking trident of Couts, Firmino & Lallana was I think in the next 6 we will have to start seeing good performances & goals from Big Ben & Danny. Yesterday was down to their ability to play in the pockets of space left by City but against lesser sides that space won't be there.

[redmike65]

When Henderson, Benteke and Sturridge are all in the mix for a starting place it'll be interesting to see where Klopp places the emphasis - on attacking midfield pass and move trickery or moving the ball straight to a couple of strikers bypassing the No 10s to a degree. Something that was notable yesterday was the near (maybe complete) absence of crossing from the full backs, as there was no striker.

[baitman]

the interplay with the brazil lads and the rest of the midfield was a joy to behold. we will need that guile and trickery to be improved on when we try and pass through teams who are parking the bus and only plan to hit us on the counter when we overcommit to getting 9 men in the opposition half.

[Parm]

City literally had no idea what to do and the amount of times we caught them in possession or they gave the ball away was unreal. But what pleased me the most was the fact that when the second half kicked off I was expecting an onslaught from City and to be hanging on by the fingernails but we held them back as if it was a team of 11yr olds on the first time on the big pitch. No panic and once we'd swatted their attack away we just pressed and pressed again.

[peekay]

Before he joined my impression of him was a charismatic manager who knows how to play one way - all out attacking football. A more effective version of Brendan.

I am pleasantly surprised at how tactically astute he is. He appears to be a more charismatic version of Rafa than Brendan. During the interview with NBCSports, he alluded to tailoring the tactics to the opposition.

The effect he has had on our defense is impressive. And the best part is victories like this, he approaches with a "Been there, done that" attitude. In the interview with NBCSports he made the point of the team being surprised that they scored 3 goals and need to focus on removing that doubt. He has these sort of victories on his CV and now he is showing them again. Must be huge for the mood in the dressing room.

[SK]

These sort of games suit his style, suit the pressing his teams do. As with Dortmund it'll be the home games against teams unwilling to do anything on the ball that will determine if we're top 4 or top 6.

we really, really need danny to be on his game and fit for the next month or so, he's the key to unlocking those sort of defense minded teams.

how he'll fit firmino, sturridge, phil and lallana in a team we'll see. maybe lallana will be droped and we'll go two up top?

[redmike65]

Run Fatboy Run!

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/jan/06/liverpool-running-injuries-jurgen-klopp

The latest stats from Opta suggest that the team are running on average six kilometres more during a game under Klopp than under his predecessor Brendan Rodgers.

Liverpool are also doing many more sprints per game, on average 548 compared to 474 under Rodgers, the extra workload coming possibly as a consequence of Klopp’s adherence to gegenpressing, which involves forcing turnover of possession high up the pitch by relentless pressure from all 10 outfield players.

[The_weatherman]

But Rodger's side were in 12 th place or something like that overall, so there was some scope for improvement.

[dww]

It also seems to have come at the cost of all of their hamstrings.

[Paul12]

Achterburg isn't it? He's still there

I always thought he was overrated at Tranny...tho' they seemed to love him.

[marcus50bucks]

Could Jurgen Klopp's Borussia Dortmund ally solve Liverpool's injury crisis?
Oliver Bartlett was a key figure in keeping the Bundesliga side injury-free when they won back-to-back titles, and could be the answer to Merseysiders' struggles this season

George Cooper 4 hours ago0 comments

There is an argument put forward by regular followers of Borussia Dortmund that the club’s fortunes took a turn for the worse after the departure of one man, four years ago. It was not a player, nor a manager. It was their fitness coach, Oliver Bartlett.

Bartlett, a London-born Australian, joined Borussia Dortmund alongside Jurgen Klopp on 1 July 2008, having been head-hunted by director Michael Zorc while he was working for the German national team.

He was told to improve the Dortmund players’ athleticism and strength to the point where they could carry out Klopp’s relentless high-pressing game, gegenpressing.

Within the space of three years, Dortmund went on to win the Bundesliga title. They followed that with the League and Cup double in 2012. Significantly, they stayed largely injury-free, the players embracing Klopp’s methods and overpowering opponents with a thrilling, rampant brand of football.

Then, in 2012, Bartlett left to join Austrian club Red Bull Salzburg. Very much a disciple of Klopp, Bartlett was a key figure in implementing a similar pressing game, and Salzburg quickly went on to win the league.

Pep Guardiola, on the receiving end of a 3-0 defeat with Bayern Munich in a friendly in 2013, said: “I have never played in my career against a team that has such high intensity.”

Dortmund, meanwhile, began to struggle with injuries, the list steadily mounting until it came to a head last season as they flirted with relegation, they were in the drop zone during the winter break, before eventually finishing seventh prior to Klopp’s departure.

To say Bartlett’s exit was the reason for Dortmund’s decline is a step too far, but it certainly had a big impact.

Something had changed. Injuries had been mounting for years until, in total, only three Dortmund players came through the last campaign at full fitness, and Klopp’s squad suffered 26 separate muscle injuries. High-profile stars Nuri Sahin, Mats Hummels, Marco Reus, Jakub Blaszczykowski and Ilkay Gundogan were all sidelined as Dortmund flirted with disaster.

The argument, essentially, is that Klopp’s style of high-energy football places too much demand on his players’ bodies until they inevitably break down with a series of niggling muscle injuries, and that without a world-class fitness coach – someone like Bartlett – it is a recipe for disaster.

All of which brings us to Liverpool, and an injury list that threatens to derail Klopp after a promising start at Anfield. After two more injuries in the Capital One Cup win over Stoke on Tuesday, Klopp goes into Friday night’s FA Cup tie at Exeter with no fewer than 10 key players sidelined – six of them with hamstring injuries, including the centre-backs Martin Skrtel and Dejan Lovren, playmaker Philippe Coutinho and - yet again - Daniel Sturridge.

Klopp is facing accusations – most notably from Sunderland manager Sam Allardyce and Reds legend Graeme Souness – that he is burning his players out, wearing them down.

“I don’t think Jurgen has realised how ferocious our league is,” Allardyce said. “These lads are fatiguing now with so many games in such a short period of time and are picking up muscle strains.”

Souness had previously said: "A new manager comes in and all the chat was about high press further up the field. It's hard work to do that for 90 minutes. You can do it in bursts.

"You can do it for an hour, you can do it for 70 minutes, but to do it for 90 minutes is a big demand on your legs. I just think they've fallen foul of that. It's not a coincidence, five hamstrings. To have them all at one time, I think they have to look at what they're doing in training."

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/f...-a6800786.html