Jürgen Klopp

[frank the tank]

It's the qualities they have, moreso than form, which is important. They have the qualities to play our system. Pace, power, explosive ability with the ball, and good off the ball.

and intelligence and workrate.......which relates to the "good off the ball" bit.

Jesus Alberto Moreno must REALLY be so f##kin stupid!!!

[Phoenix07]

[ame]https://twitter.com/SoccerAM/status/1080938214255398912[/ame]

[Norbs]

We was about to take the lid off and throw water but managed to contain himself

[Liverpool]

think we've got quite a big rebuild to do with most of the fringe players probably being off in the next 18 months. Probably need a back up keeper, RB, CB, LB. CM, AM, ST and a winger or two and that's not taking into account any first team players leaving. Not sure how good anyone from the academy is and if they can fill any spots.

Klopp hasn't been one to buy squad players so far instead improving the first team but given the level of quality of its hard to see many signings dislodging them.

[Exiled_red]

think we've got quite a big rebuild to do with most of the fringe players probably being off in the next 18 months. Probably need a back up keeper, RB, CB, LB. CM, AM, ST and a winger or two and that's not taking into account any first team players leaving. Not sure how good anyone from the academy is and if they can fill any spots.

Klopp hasn't been one to buy squad players so far instead improving the first team but given the level of quality of its hard to see many signings dislodging them.

I can see Mignolet, Clyne, Moreno, Sturridge, Origi and maybe Lallana leaving in this or the next window. Given the amount of time they have played, I think that 3 players could replace the 6 of them: A back up GK, a fullback and a striker. For numbers and playing the odd game hopefully some of the youngsters can step up.

I think we will go big on a striker so that will be someone who would be regarded as first choice or rotatable with the other attackers, fullback I guess depends on whether Klopp sees TAA as being a long term fullback or if he will move into midfield. We just need an experienced back up GK.

I don't think that that is much of a rebuild, lets jut hope none of our first team players want to leave

First team squad (21)
Alisson, New backup GK
TAA, Robertson, VVD, Gomez, Lovren, Matip, new full back
Fabinho, Wijnaldum, Milner, Henderson, Keita, Ox, Shaqiri
Firmino, Salah, Mane, Wilson, New striker
I think that's a decent squad, and there are youngsters such as Phillips, Camacho, Jones, Brewster, Woodburn who could play in cup games etc

[Irishnev]

Jürgen Klopp happy to use his own brain at Liverpool after split with Zeljko Buvac
Why the manager’s split with right-hand man may well have been a positive for Liverpool

Paul Joyce, Northern Football Correspondent
January 19 2019, 12:01am,
The Times
Buvac and Klopp had been a partnership for 17 years until their split nine months ago

The trouble with forging a reputation alongside an assistant called the “The Brain” is that the moniker implies a certain level of dependence on that person; that nothing can be achieved without the other.

Jürgen Klopp would never try to rewrite history as to the importance on his coaching career of Zeljko Buvac, his former lieutenant who left nine months ago.

Their partnership was forged when they struck an accord as team-mates at Mainz in the 1990s, agreeing that whoever went into management first would take the other. That arrangement served them well as Buvac became Klopp’s assistant when he began in the dugout in 2001. The pair moved on to Borussia Dortmund in 2008 and won back-to-back titles in 2011 and 2012, before arriving at Anfield together in 2015.

The Bosnian-Serb, 57, along with the late Wolfgang Frank who was Klopp’s visionary coach at Mainz, has been the biggest footballing influence on the Liverpool manager. And yet the sudden departure of Buvac last year has not had the derailing affect many expected.

Klopp may have been the one who came up with his former ally’s sobriquet but, as the Premier League table shows, he is proving quite the mastermind.


The reasons behind Buvac’s split four days before the Champions League semi-final, second-leg tie at home to Roma are underwhelmingly mundane. There was no fallout that blew apart a successful 17-year partnership.

At half-time of a goalless draw with Stoke City at Anfield last April, Buvac’s absence as the rest of the coaching staff gathered in an area of the dressing room to debrief was noticeable. He had become distant over a number of months, although Klopp and Buvac rarely, if ever, socialised together, and the downturn became a death by a thousand cuts.

Klopp had done much to make their relationship equal. Liverpool’s players noted Buvac operated at a level above a normal assistant manager, and perhaps Klopp’s willingness to take on new ideas from other staff, together with his heightened profile owing to the cult of the manager in English football, caused the equilibrium to alter. However, that is guesswork because the subject is sacrosanct with Klopp having rendered it off limits out of respect.

Despite so many uncertainties, what is beyond doubt is had Klopp believed his working bond with Buvac remained central to a title challenge or lifting the Champions League, he would have fought more to keep him. In the end, the decision to go was mutual.

Until recently Buvac has officially been on leave, but it is understood his contract has now been settled. His impact, though, lives on. Klopp has learnt from Buvac, whose knowledge of multiple leagues and different systems was considered second to none.

When Mainz adopted a 4-3-3 formation, it was different to the Dutch way of playing with a central striker and two out-and-out wingers. Buvac wanted the players to keep moving around, interchanging, and that blueprint was initially replicated at Anfield.

Liverpool, who play Crystal Palace today, have embraced different methods this term with Mohamed Salah often the spearhead in a 4-2-3-1 system that allows an extra attack-minded player, usually Xherdan Shaqiri, on to the pitch. And without Buvac by his side, Klopp has become more authoritarian and decisive. His backroom staff still contains Peter Krawietz, “The Eyes”, who arrived with Klopp from Dortmund, and Pepijn Lijnders, who returned after a short spell with NEC in the Netherlands after Buvac’s exit.

When they were players Klopp and Buvac struck a deal that they would work with each other in management
When they were players Klopp and Buvac struck a deal that they would work with each other in management
However, Klopp does not need to sell his ideas so strongly to them. He respects their views, though there is not the same level of deference as there had been to a man six years his senior. Buvac’s influence on the training pitch was always measured by what he did, rather than what he said, but the practical daily impact has not bit hard.

Klopp is hands-on and has tweaked Liverpool’s playing style this term, displaying his pragmatic side and where the manager would always confer with Buvac before making a substitution, so that responsibility now sits easily. The statistics suggest he is not doing badly on his own. In 2016-17, Liverpool’s substitutes mustered nine goals in 47 games, the next season they contributed five in 56 matches. Already in 2018-19, it is nine in 30 games, including Shaqiri’s two that made the difference against Manchester United.

Last summer, Pep Guardiola, the Manchester City manager, lost Domènec Torrent, his right-hand man, who joined New York City, and José Mourinho saw trusted Rui Faria leave United. Some have coped with the upset better than others. Klopp would not have arrived as an elite coach without Buvac. Now that he is here, he is proving Liverpool have a new brain.

[dom9]

I keep meaning to mention the substitute goals.

Big improvement this season.

[dom9]

There's a Klopp interview coming up on the BBC news of all places shortly.

[Buzzo]

There's a Klopp interview coming up on the BBC news of all places shortly.

It’s on the www already.

Talking about how he can’t enjoy the title race. Bet he can enjoy it a bit more now!

[Norbs]

There's a Klopp interview coming up on the BBC news of all places shortly.

Saw one earlier on BBC online, he's as humble as always and saying he's not enjoying this at all

[Yozza]

Jurgen Klopp: Liverpool manager says he can 'never' enjoy Premier League title race

By Dan Roan & Katie Falkingham

Are you able to enjoy the title race, Jurgen?

"Never."

Tough luck for a man who is knee-deep in what could prove to be the tightest Premier League championship battle in several years.

Twenty-nine years have passed since Liverpool last won the league title, 29 years in which they have come close before but fallen at the final hurdle.

Under manager Jurgen Klopp, that run may be coming to an end, with the Reds sitting four points ahead of Manchester City at the top of the table with 15 matches left to play.

For Liverpool fans, it's exciting, yet nerve-wracking - and their German boss is under no illusions as to the importance of those matches.

"It's not the biggest stress in the world, but it's so intense and so important and all in a short time," Klopp told BBC sport editor Dan Roan.

"Football is not the most important thing in the world, but at these moments, of course, it feels like that because we have nothing else to do.

"It's not easy to enjoy but I love what I do."

In a wide-ranging interview at Liverpool's Melwood training complex, Klopp spoke about the intensity of the title race, why football can be a power for good in the battle against racism and his thoughts on Brexit.

Klopp on the importance of the title

Klopp succeeded Brendan Rodgers as Liverpool boss in October 2015, and has since led the club to the Champions League and Europa League finals, only for his side to lose on each occasion.

He is yet to win a trophy with the Anfield club but he is looking to change that as Liverpool chase a 19th English top-flight title - and their first since the 1989-90 season.

This is arguably their best chance since then. The Reds have won 19 of their 23 league matches to date with their only defeat coming at Manchester City on 3 January. They are also through to the last 16 of the Champions League where they will face Bayern Munich.

Klopp has an impressive trophy haul as a manager, having won two Bundesliga titles with former club Borussia Dortmund, but in his few years on Merseyside, he has come to realise how important success is to the Liverpool fans.

"I don't meet a lot of people, that's the truth. I am here or at home or at Anfield," he said. "I would be excited if I was a supporter of Liverpool, but of course we have to deliver results to keep them all excited.

"It's really not about me. It's really about the supporters, first and foremost. Because they dream so long, I cannot say that I have dreamed 29 years for another title for Liverpool, to be honest.

"But a lot of people dream of that and that's what we try to deliver."

Klopp on why it is not a two-horse race

Champions Manchester City are Liverpool's main opponents for Premier League glory but, in Klopp's view, Tottenham are still in contention, sitting nine points behind the Reds in the table.

City failed to reduce the gap between themselves and Liverpool on Tuesday with defeat at Newcastle United, giving the Reds the opportunity to open up a seven-point lead when they host Leicester City on Wednesday. Spurs are at home to Watford on the same day.

"It's not only Manchester City. Again, everybody writes off Tottenham and I know a lot of people said about them after the last week with two cup competitions, but I really don't get it," Klopp said.

"City are a similar age group than we are, on the peak of everything, so it will definitely be difficult, but we don't know where we will end at the end of the season. We don't think about it really. We only want to win as many football games as possible."

On Monday, City boss Pep Guardiola said his side would need to "win a lot of games" if they were to usurp Liverpool, but Klopp is expecting the title race to go right to the wire.

"It looks like it will be more exciting than last year, so that is good for football in general and for the Premier League," he said.

"I would guess it will go right to the end of the season, I don't see any possible gaps.

"We have to be flawless as well, everybody has to be."

Klopp on racism

Football has been blighted by allegations of racist abuse in recent months, with former Liverpool midfielder Raheem Sterling speaking out on social media after suffering alleged abuse during Manchester City's 2-0 defeat at Chelsea in December.

This weekend, some Millwall supporters could be heard using a racist term that is derogatory to the Pakistani community during Saturday's 3-2 FA Cup win over Everton at The Den. The FA and the Metropolitan Police are investigating.

While Klopp believes racism in football is not as big a problem as it was in the past, he says the sport should fight back.

"We all agree that whoever says anything racist, they are silly and they should not have the platform," he said.

"I don't see that there is a massive racism problem, but it's still there.

"It's not sorted, and as long as people are being abused by others, we have to work on it.

"In football, in a team, we don't see religion, we don't see different colours. We only see the human being."

Klopp on Brexit

Klopp has previously spoken out about the UK leaving the European Union, arguing in April 2018 that there should be another vote because "nobody has any idea how it will work".

With Brexit scheduled for 29 March, he said it will have a "massive impact on the young people and the cities".

Klopp added: "With Brexit, it looks as though no-one is an expert. Everybody is talking about it but nobody has a solution.

"History taught us that if you are alone, you are weaker than the unit.

"I'm 51 years old so I have never experienced a war. We are really blessed in our generation, but the past showed us that as long as strong partners are together, Europe is a much safer place.

"We live in wonderful circumstances; yes, we have problems, but we sort them.

"I don't like that it is starting to split again.

"I still hope that someone will use common sense at the end."

[Buzzo]

Loved his answer to the pen question.

“Normally I am told we don’t deserve them, tonight everyone says we did and we didn’t get one, so hopefully everyone is happy”.

[Vermilion]

[ame]https://twitter.com/SkySportsNews/status/1095744774974382080[/ame]

[ronanm]

Not unexpected

[danperkins]

Wonder will it be a ban?