Jürgen Klopp

[Fernandinho]

First priority is another midfielder and an attacker who can play across the 3 behind the striker, in my point of view. Lemar could potentially be a good place to start?

[leo]

[ame]https://twitter.com/LFC/status/986235578193657859[/ame]

[kev776]

Compare that with Man Citys celebration video.

[Norbs]

Toby Alderweireld, if his buyout is only £25 million.

There's some sort of **** clause but basically it isn't £25m this season

[Buzzo]

Nice article in the Guardian on Klopp from Liam Rosenior.

Liverpool’s success without Coutinho is testament to Klopp’s genius

Liam Rosenior

Jürgen Klopp has shown that you can improve a side while selling your best player – it is a victory for team functionality, philosophy and identity

I have heard Jürgen Klopp cite inspirations as varied as heavy metal music and Rocky Balboa so I wouldn’t be surprised if the Liverpool manager was also familiar with Aristotle. After all, Klopp showed in January that his football philosophy is very much in line with the great Greek thinker who believed that “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts”.

Klopp shocked many in the football world when almost four months ago he sanctioned the sale of his most technically gifted player, Philippe Coutinho, who had been outstanding in the first half of the season and did not replace him like for like, causing supporters and pundits to question everything from his judgment to his sanity. Instead he recruited a centre-back in Virgil van Dijk and trusted his instinct that the team would improve as a consequence.

If you reflect on some of the commentary and analysis of Liverpool at the end of the January transfer window you would assume that their performances would tail off without the genius and creativity of Coutinho and that they could not possibly withstand the loss of a world-class player.

Instead fast forward to mid‑April and I cannot remember a time when Liverpool have been in such a strong position and fans so hopeful in the short and long term to fight for the top trophies at home and in Europe.

The narrative which Klopp has superbly orchestrated is a story about the victory of team functionality, philosophy and identity where the importance of team chemistry, understanding of individual roles within a system and collectivism is evident. This is vital in a sport where increasingly more importance is placed on the individual superstar and the size of transfer fees and wages that come with that kind of player.

What Liverpool have achieved this season, especially since Coutinho moved to Barcelona and they acquired Van Dijk, should be lauded and studied by fans, pundits and aspiring coaches such as me in understanding that success can be built even while losing top individual attacking players if you have a fundamental style of play that enables a team to outweigh the sum of its parts and produce not just winning football but get supporters of all allegiances off their seats every time they play.

What Liverpool have achieved this season should be lauded and studied by fans, pundits and aspiring coaches. Klopp has shown that you can improve a side while selling your best player if you cater to the needs of your most productive players in the way that you play and it is no coincidence that the signing of Alex Oxlade‑Chamberlain has tactically enabled the likes of Sadio Mané, Roberto Firmino and the outstanding Mo Salah to be even more of a threat.

Oxlade-Chamberlain, while a gifted footballer, does not have the technical ability of Coutinho but what he does bring is an athletic dynamism and power that Coutinho doesn’t possess and an extreme intensity which creates a platform for Liverpool’s lightning transitions where the likes of Mané and Salah cause havoc. It was evident in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final against Manchester City where in that first half their pressing, counterpressing and attacking transitions were incredible and I question whether, if Coutinho had been playing instead of Oxlade-Chamberlain, Liverpool would have been quite as dynamic, intense and productive.

Also, in addressing their need for a top centre-half Liverpool now possess an added defensive steel, giving their outstanding front three the opportunity and foundation to score and create goals. I also look at the fundamental way Klopp sets out his teams and the way that individuals within his system have improved because they know what is expected of them.

Andrew Robertson, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Mané, Salah, Firmino and even a veteran in James Milner are raising their game week after week and have played an integral part in implementing the principles of Klopp’s coaching while justifying the faith he places not on reputation or transfer fee but the performances of those he trusts.

It all comes down to team functionality and forward planning, and this can be achieved only with a top manager who understands and is faithful to his style of play regardless of the inevitable criticism he faces when times get tough. Pep Guardiola and Klopp have been criticised in this country for sticking to their football principles when results have not been up to scratch but this comes with the territory and is understandable, while the bigger picture shows that recruitment and improving the players on an individual level increases their monetary value and gives the football club a vision and plan for the longer term.

Selling Coutinho for almost £150m is a great example of this. He has been replaced in the team by a relatively young player in Oxlade-Chamberlain, who possesses a completely different football profile but fits perfectly into the team’s philosophy at a fraction of the price and has improved the team’s functionality and chemistry overall.

This is managerial genius and it not only keeps the fans happy but also the directors and shareholders who are always checking the club spreadsheets!

This Liverpool journey has only just begun and I am excited to see where it ends both this season and in years to come – but it is also a story of how we need to see the whole picture, as fans, coaches and in the media, that matches are rarely won by one superstar but by the collaboration and collectivism of 11 players committed to the functionality of the team.

[brightred]

Nice article in the Guardian on Klopp from Liam Rosenior.

Great read.

Thanks.

[Buzzo]

Great read.

Thanks.

As much as anything, I am genuinely surprised that a current PL player can write to that standard.

[Shaggy]

As much as anything, I am genuinely surprised that a current PL player can write to that standard.

Talking about ****in' Aristotle!

Fair play and good luck to him.

[labourRed]

I don't know if anyone seen Oxlade-Chamberlain at the final whistle vs Bournemouth but he basically fell to the floor in exhaustion. To be fair he just made a lung-busting run out of defence in the 93rd minute. Rosenior is right though, he puts in a huge amount of effort, some dirty stuff too. I thought he'd be a great fit for us but even i've been a bit surprised by how good he is in the middle and yet, there's still room for improvement from him.

[Buzzo]

Talking about ****in' Aristotle!

Fair play and good luck to him.

Yeah, I had to double check who the writer was at that point.

[Shaggy]

[ame]https://twitter.com/amylawrence71/status/988385791020797952[/ame]

[Phoenix07]

A tactical view on Coutinho and Klopp's midfield. Yeah, it's got Google translation all over it, but informative nevertheless.

https://elpais.com/deportes/2018/04/...54_423331.html

The business and sporting success of Liverpool in the current campaign is rooted in the strategy drawn by Jürgen Klopp in May 2017. Required to present a plan to assault the major titles, Premier and Champions, the German coach met with the leaders to to inform them that, after a season of tests, it came to the conclusion that the tactical scheme that best suited the squad was 4-3-3 and that in that module Phil Coutinho could only stand out at one end. When the club raised the possibility of signing Mohammed Salah , the coach told the management that he thought it was fine but that the position should be played with Coutinho. Never with Mané or Firmino, whom he judged unquestionable.

In Liverpool offices were not surprised to see that the leaders embraced as if they had won a title when on 6 January closed the transfer of Coutinho to Barca for 160 million euros , a record after Neymar and Mbappé. Never the sale of the third most expensive soccer player in history meant less sacrifice and more benefit for a major club.

Influenced by the traditional German school, Klopp starts from a basic principle: before players , to be competitive at the highest level their players must be regular. Regularity, according to its philosophy, is linked to the biological element. It serves little that the players handle concepts and are skilled if they are not reliable in the execution of the pressing when they do not have the ball and constant in the unmarked when they have it. Klopp's experiments in the 2016-17 academic year focused on checking how the players adapted to the physical demands imposed on them by the division of tasks in the different spaces assigned by the 4-2-3-1 and 4-3- 3.

The tests put the emphasis on transitions: attack-defense and defense-attack. From the beginning, they revealed that Coutinho was a magnificent intermittent player. His cardiovascular system did not allow him to make efforts at the levels of Firmino, Mané, Can, Wijnaldun, Milner, Oxlade-Chamberlain or Lallana. The midfielders who most adjusted to 4-3-3 last year were, based on the results of the tests, Henderson as midfielder and Wijnaldun with Can as flyers.

Explosive and decisive in short spaces, Coutinho lacked the heart and lungs to perform consistently in the great spaces of the midfield. In the physical tests that simulated situations of the game, after two sprints60 meters Coutinho could not recover without remaining half a minute completely stopped. Too much, given the tactical demands. With the emphasis on permanent dynamism, Klopp discarded Coutinho to integrate the midfield at 4-3-3. Even when he placed it as an end, he found that it disengaged in the folds. During several days he tried a 4-2-3-1 to place him behind the point, with a smaller radius of action to avoid suffering. If he played as a second point he could stay off the hook without generating serious imbalances, while the rest of the team was ordered 20 meters back. But the 4-2-3-1, in Klopp's opinion, did not allow the team to occupy the spaces in the most efficient way possible.

From perplexity to laughter
Barça's first offer for Coutinho amounted to 60 million euros, about a year ago. Klopp's reaction was perplexing. He thought that Barcelona had the three attack squares covered with Messi, Suarez and Neymar. When they told him that Bartomeu would sign Dembelé to replace Neymar and offer more than 100 million for Coutinho to act as relay for Iniesta, his amazement broke into hilarity. According to an employee of the English club, Klopp was blunt: "Coutinho is a fabulous forward but he will never feel comfortable in 4-3-3 as an inside; and much less if he has to play in the post of Iniesta in the 4-4-2 that Valverde practices in the defensive phase, where the longer runs should be done by the wings. Iniesta is a long distance runner. Coutinho no. "

With Coutinho as an insider in 4-3-3, this season Liverpool sank against Sevilla (3-3) in the Champions League, and drew Anfield against Burnley (1-1). The two parties had the character of trials and both provided clear evidence. In December, Klopp had no doubts about Coutinho's incompatibility as a midfielder. The statistics did not guarantee to be a starter in the front. In the 2016/17 season Coutinho played 36 games, scored 14 goals and had nine assists; while in the 46 matches that this course adds, Salah has scored 41 goals and has given 13 assists.

Two weeks ago, Liverpool eliminated Manchester City from the Champions League and this Tuesday is measured against Roma in the first leg of the semifinals. Salah's adaptation to the far right made Phil Coutinho the most expensive substitute in history. Made the transfer to Barca, the team of the reds boasted of being the beneficiary of an economic ball whose sporting consequences seem equally spectacular.

[McDermotX]

[RedReet]

A tactical view on Coutinho and Klopp's midfield. Yeah, it's got Google translation all over it, but informative nevertheless.

I read a better translated version of it. Don't quite buy it TBH. Who wrote it and what is their link to Klopp or the club?

[Pablo]

Looks like a bit of heartburn/indegestion.