Jürgen Klopp

[Mr Pink]

I am sure there are plenty on here who don't know him,i wouldn't have known who he was up until a couple weeks back after watching the last dance

Sent from my SM-N960F using Tapatalk

Ahhh ya I totally get that- just funny cos he’s so famous here in the US, but sounded like some guy who’s claim to fame is that he once played with Michael Jordon..

[danperkins]

Haha I like how ya introduce him as Michael Jordan’s teammate, like he isn’t otherwise famous [emoji23][emoji23]

I saw an interview a while ago, where he was talking about the Barcelona game- that he was watching it on a team flight after a game.. started watching it by himself, but by the end the whole team had gotten in on it, them all going buck daft on the flight when the the 4th went in..

Kerr seemed like a top pro and nice guy from the documentary. Used to watch alot of basketball back in the 90's but you never get the insight like they showed in the Last Dance. Love hearing how people were drawn in by our performance vs Barca.

[Buzzo]

Jürgen Klopp: on clothes, the keys to coaching and Liverpool team talks

Liverpool’s manager took part in a mentoring session set up by Kick It Out and shared what he thinks it takes to succeed

Jacob Steinberg

“Your football has to be mirrored by your soul,” Jürgen Klopp says as he explains why his appearance on the touchline has no effect on his team’s performance. Liverpool’s manager is midway through a fascinating answer about his dress code and has an important message for the aspiring coaches listening to him on Zoom. “You have to bring your own character in.”

This is an unusual setting for Klopp. It is Liverpool’s first day back in phase one training but the manager of the Premier League’s dominant force has given up part of his afternoon to take part in a mentoring session for Kick It Out, football’s anti-discrimination charity. Troy Townsend, Kick It Out’s head of development, has got top coaches involved in the organisation’s Raise Your Game programme – England’s Gareth Southgate is another star attraction – and has landed Klopp.

Gerald Lami, who works at Juventus’s academy in Oman, and Taff Rahman, a Football Association coach educator, are the pair lucky enough to be picking Klopp’s brain, and the Guardian has been invited to sit in on the call. Lami, buzzing as he holds up a copy of Klopp’s autobiography, takes a risk with a question about the German’s fashion sense. “Coming as a refugee to England, appearance is something I’ve always been kind of cautious about,” the 29-year-old says. “I’ve been critical of myself and made sure I’m well dressed. But when I look at you, I don’t see a traditional coach in terms of a suit. How did you go against that traditional look?”

The manager of the European champions listens intently before letting out a booming laugh. “Interesting,” Klopp says. “What I can read between the lines is that I look like a tramp on the sidelines?”

Klopp has taken a shine to Lami, who tells the former Borussia Dortmund manager about moving to England from Albania when he was a boy, his challenging upbringing in east London and falling into a downward spiral after struggling to make it as a footballer. Lami fell in with the wrong crowd and it was only after he was stabbed that he went down a path that has led to coaching in the Middle East. Klopp is impressed and he does not mind being asked about his lack of sartorial elegance.

“I was a player and the next day I was the manager,” Klopp says, remembering how he got his break at Mainz at the age of 35. “In my locker room was the tracksuit of the guy who had the job two days before. It didn’t even fit me. I was just focused on the game. I never thought about how I look. I know it’s not too cool because we are working in public but then when I came to Borussia Dortmund I thought: ‘Maybe I have to change.’ I went for a while wearing jeans and a shirt. But I just didn’t feel comfortable.

“But that doesn’t mean it’s bad for you. I think the best-dressed manager is Pep Guardiola. Everything he wears looks exactly right for him. He doesn’t wear a suit, just casual stuff. It’s interesting what you told me about being a kid who came to England as a refugee. Maybe what is deep in yourself is a little bit of lack of confidence. You think you have to convince people with the way you look.”

As Klopp enters full motivational mode it becomes obvious to see how he connects with his players. He wants Lami to trust himself but also points out the ultimate test will be how his team look on the pitch.

“Be yourself as a coach,” Klopp says. “If you want to look great, then wonderful. I’m just not made for this. It’s important you do what is right for you because whatever role model you have, you can never do the same things. I like when you see the soul or character of the coach in the team. Guardiola again: you see a team and think: ‘Wow, that’s either Guardiola or somebody who worked with him.’ But you can never be exactly the same. Dressing is one part of our character. Wear what you want, but don’t make it the most important thing. In the end the game is what counts. But don’t worry: you can be world champion in a suit or a tracksuit. You just have to be comfortable.”

Lami wants to know the secret of Klopp’s self-belief. “I was full of confidence as a kid,” he says. “Whatever I did my mother said: ‘Brilliant.’ My father said: ‘Sensational.’ I got filled with love. I don’t doubt people. I am completely open. I have nothing to hide. I give everything but I don’t expect I get something for it.”

Klopp’s acceptance that defeat is part of life has been a key part of his success at Liverpool, who are within touching distance of winning their first title in 30 years. “I give everything. I expect my players to give everything. Then we see what we get. That creates the mentality of the team.”

Rahman, part of the former Birmingham and Derby defender Michael Johnson’s staff when Guyana reached the Gold Cup for the first time last year, asks about communication. For Klopp, the key is thinking about the message. “I know myself well,” he says. “I trust myself to say the right thing in the right moment.”

The mind goes back to Liverpool’s finest escape acts under Klopp: the Europa League quarter-final win over Dortmund and fighting back from a 3-0 defeat in the first leg to reach the Champions League final at Barcelona’s expense last season. “Against Dortmund we were 3-1 down at half-time. Before the game you have no idea what you will say at half-time. I said: ‘Boys, this is the day we create a story we can tell our grandchildren.’

“Before Barcelona, it was not planned. I said: ‘It is really unlikely you go through, but because it’s you we have a chance.’ It’s 100% what I thought. You cannot create a proper message by searching for it. It has to come naturally. But the strongest message is one that fits the situation. That means it’s prepared a few days before the game.”

Preparation helped Liverpool go on their 44-game unbeaten run in the league. “How do we get to 10 games in a row?” Klopp says. “It’s exactly the same as 40 games in a row. You should think more positively about yourself. It’s not difficult to keep yourself in line. We win a game, I’m happy. The next day, I don’t think about that game.

“I lost six finals in a row. That doesn’t mean I will not try again. We did that 44 times. But we did the same before the Watford game, which we lost. We are human beings. None of us are perfect. I get up in the morning and have a smile on my face. Can the boys disappoint me? Not really. If something doesn’t work out, I think my message wasn’t clear enough, not that they are too dumb to get what I told them. But why should I be unhappy with myself? I just have to improve my message.”


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With the clock ticking Klopp is asked for two more tips. “If you are really ambitious you have to understand the game,” he says. “The interesting fact with football is pretty much everybody thinks he is an expert. It’s a nice game, a simple game. But it’s not easy. That’s why so many people think they understand it but stop so early. There are lot of things to learn. A lot of things to watch. You have to learn constantly.

“The moment you stop learning, the game develops. I started 20 years ago. Is it the same game? No. It’s so much more physical, so much quicker. The other thing is be yourself. You have no other chance. The moment you try to act like somebody else, you constantly think: ‘What would he do?’ Be yourself and learn more about the game. Then I would say there’s a big chance we play against each other. Why not?”

Klopp laughs again before saying goodbye. It is time to train.

[Irishnev]

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[Kenneth]

I'm not sure that's literally possible

[Buzzo]

Perfect summary from Jurgen as ever.

Jürgen Klopp says Liverpool title will come in most difficult season ever
‘Give us an asterisk because it’s the most difficult season ever’
Liverpool have fully fit squad to face Everton at Goodison Park

Andy Hunter

Jürgen Klopp has said this season’s Premier League champions should have an asterisk attached to their name because the title will go down in history as the most difficult to win.

The Liverpool manager admits he Googled the word “asterisk” when people – aka non-Liverpool fans – questioned the credibility of a title won after a three-month lockdown and behind closed doors. Liverpool are six points from securing their first league championship since 1990 and restart at Everton on Sunday.

Klopp agrees the 2019-20 champions will be remembered differently. But, rather than a question of legitimacy, he believes winning the league during the coronavirus pandemic, with all the problems caused for society and football, will be a unique achievement.

“Usually I do not pay too much attention to what everyone is saying around us,” Klopp said. “Now I have had a lot of time to read and I heard a lot and saw a lot. When that came up I had to google the word ‘asterisk’. I only knew the word from the comic [Asterix] before. This is the most difficult year and season to become champions. It is an interrupted season like has never happened before. Whoever will be champions at the end it will be historical because it is a year that we will never forget because hopefully it is the only year we ever have like this as human beings and a society because I hope we find solutions for this kind of thing in the future.

“It is historic now more than ever. Give us an asterisk. Yes, do it. Because it is the most difficult season ever and the only difference is there is quite a points gap between us and other teams, but if you saw City playing the other night, saw the team they played and saw the bench they had where they changed five times and there was still no Leroy Sané on the pitch, you think: ‘Wow, that is really impressive.’ That is our opponent.

“That is why when they were having discussions about [ending] the season I felt quite tense during the lockdown. Now it is over and we are here. We worked so hard for this and we do not want to get over the line ‘somehow’. We want to play football. Nobody has to tell us we are nearly there. I am not interested in nearly, or in close. I am interested in playing the best football we can play.”

Klopp feared the season would be declared null and void. “I didn’t think when we went to lockdown: ‘Oh my God, that is our season, we are so close,’ because it was not important in that moment. I became worried in the moment when people started talking about null and void this season because I was like ‘wow’. And I really felt it physically.

“That would have been really, really hard. We don’t expect to get it as a present, we didn’t want to have a points-per-game basis, so we were really happy when it was decided we could play again.

Klopp has a fully fit squad – with the exception of Xherdan Shaqiri – when he can become the first Liverpool manager to avoid defeat in their first 11 derbies.

He added: “What people outside make of it, I couldn’t care less. But if it will happen and we do become champions then we can tell people it was really difficult and rightly so, and really special. We cannot do a lot of things that we usually can do but in this specific case at least we can say this is really special. That’s why we enjoy the little asterisk there.”

[The_weatherman]

Spot on from Klopp, he always finds the right words, bring on the asterisk Mr. Neville.

[Buzzo]

[peekay]

I know this is over two years old but the first time I saw this. In case anyone else also missed this like me.

[ame="https://youtu.be/0WrC-Rvd69w"]YouTube[/ame]

[McDermotX]

I love you man

[Needles]

We need a new gate to name after him! [emoji1787]

[dom9]

We need a new gate to name after him! [emoji1787]

Or that big stand behind the goal.

[frank the tank]

Danke Jurgen

[Buzzo]

Danke Jurgen

[Jas]

What a man, watched his interview on Sky and he actually broke down at the end, got serious man love for him.