Lol
Sent from my Apple HomePod using Tapatalk
Sent from my Apple HomePod using Tapatalk
Klopp
- Thread starter LeTallecWiz
- Start date
- Latest activity Latest activity:
- Status
Haha!
Those that say do not know. Those that know do not say.
What's even worse is when someone introduces you to someone and says "you two will really get on"
I'm not sure running is required. If someone actually describes themselves as "a silent, confident person" they're obviously just a cunt, so it might be amusing to stick around and laugh at them for a while.
They could kill you though. I’d rather keep distance from the loud, quietly confident types.
Still remember the dreadful CL campaign in 14/15.
https://www.independent.co.uk/sport...inals-punching-above-its-weight-a8298801.html
[article]Madrid, Munich, Rome. Jürgen Klopp has taken Liverpool without losing to a stage of the Champions League where the locations of all the other teams probably involved make it sound more like a chain of fashion houses rather than a football competition.
To understand the significance of the achievement, you have to go backwards. That progression should be sealed at this particular venue in Manchester provided a convenient arch for Liverpool, a club that had played a major role in a golden era of English dominance in the Champions League before tumbling out of contention in 2009 because of poor results against opponents from the perfumed cities of Lyon and Florence.
At the start of the next season, Liverpool – now of the Europa League where the challengers came instead from Macedonia – arrived for a league fixture in east Manchester with Javier Mascherano supposedly refusing to travel because he wanted to move to Barcelona and play for Pep Guardiola. The side he wanted to leave was careering towards heaven knows what under feckless owners and a prune-faced manager in Roy Hodgson, who was already feeling the pressure after just two months in the job.
When Hodgson played Milan Jovanović and David N’Gog up front, Liverpool lost 3-0. City outclassed and overpowered them. The fall in standards at Anfield had been dreadful. It felt like an initiative had been lost, that a winning culture was disappearing; that an identity was slipping away. While one club was galloping into the sunset, the other was plunging from a turbulent sky.
But for one year under Brendan Rodgers, when the football was as good as anything witnessed since 1988 and Liverpool nearly won the title, the gap of nine seasons has mainly been painful. Really, it is a miracle Klopp has returned Liverpool to where it last ventured a decade ago so quickly: to reach the semi-finals of the Champions League and sit comfortably in the top four of the Premier League is spectacular when you consider he is yet to complete his second full season in charge.
This is a manager that knows how to knock out the most expensive squad in history, beating them in both legs using a 19-year-old academy product at right-back, an £8.5m left back from Hull, but not using his two established holding midfielders because they were suspended and injured.
It becomes another occasion to remind us that Liverpool fits Klopp and Klopp fits Liverpool. As Kevin Sampson, the respected novelist from Merseyside tweeted at the final whistle: ‘European Heritage 5 New Money 1.’ This a club punching above its weight again.
Something to consider: Madrid, capital of Spain; two senior clubs – population: 3.1m. Munich, capital of Bavaria, two senior football clubs – population: 1.4m. Rome, capital of Italy; two senior football clubs – population 2.8m. Liverpool, Capital of Culture, 2008; two senior football clubs – population: not quite 485,000.
Which comparable sized city in Europe has achieved the same success as Liverpool? There isn’t one. In the last 16 of the Champions League, Liverpool was the 15th smallest city to feature. It might not be as scientific as some would like it to be but the names of the fifth most populated places in each of the major European football countries have not changed much over the last 40 years. Between Frankfurt (Germany), Nice, (France), Palermo (Italy) and Zaragoza (Spain), two of those cities are ports like Liverpool, another is of relative strategic importance like Liverpool, and each has a football culture ingrained into the mindset of the people that live there to the point you know it is a match day by the way old men munch on their bocadillos, bratwursts or salamis. The grand total of European trophies between them all: one.
Klopp’s life story is the story of the underdog and Liverpool somehow manages to present itself as the ultimate underdog despite its history of success. Yet this is only the fourth time in 33 years that Liverpool have reached the semis. Before, Liverpool’s reputation had improbably risen because of managerial appointments, the values those managers preached and perhaps above all, the way they traded players.
Critics will say Liverpool are not an underdog because they can afford to pay £75m for a defender but that only happened because they knew they were also selling their most talented midfielder to Barcelona for nearly double that amount. Ultimately, Philippe Coutinho might win a Champions League medal sooner than he thought. If he does, he’ll be receiving it in the post.
There is more to Liverpool FC than just football, of course. There is Liverpool the city and its economic standing; its place as an outsider in British society: the underdog – the Jack Russell – barking away at the centre of authority. It explains why the supporters of Liverpool relate to defiance and why it is so important for any Liverpool manager to establish this quality in his team as quickly as he can.
You cannot debate the possibilities at Liverpool without discussing the supporters because they play such a crucial role. “The fans, they all believe – this is our competition.” That was Pep Guardiola speaking about Liverpool. Last night, the Liverpool end at the Etihad was a mass of excitement, optimism, nervousness, worry and dread all at the same time. Watching the first half was torturous. It must have been like seeing a loved one frazzle on the electric chair as City delivered a megawatt performance.
Somehow, Liverpool would recover. Somehow, they would end up winning. For Klopp, it really needed to happen to avoid fatalism spreading. Liverpool conceded three in the second half at Crystal Palace, just when it seemed as though they might be back in a title race in 2014. Liverpool conceded three in the second half of a Europa League final against Sevill, a having led heading into the half-time break - a break where There She Goes was transmitted on the public address system and felt like a sign. Liverpool conceded three the in second half against Sevilla again this season to draw 3-3, though in the grand scheme of things that didn’t end up mattering quite so much.
If Sevilla were to turn it around in Munich and meet Liverpool in Friday’s draw, who knows what might happen. Seville is another fashion house, albeit one Liverpool are more familiar with. It would present the opportunity of revenge. It would surely also mean a May date in Kiev becomes that bit more realistic. But then, when Liverpool have this sort of momentum, they won’t even mind if it’s Madrid, Munich or Rome instead.[/article]
[article]Madrid, Munich, Rome. Jürgen Klopp has taken Liverpool without losing to a stage of the Champions League where the locations of all the other teams probably involved make it sound more like a chain of fashion houses rather than a football competition.
To understand the significance of the achievement, you have to go backwards. That progression should be sealed at this particular venue in Manchester provided a convenient arch for Liverpool, a club that had played a major role in a golden era of English dominance in the Champions League before tumbling out of contention in 2009 because of poor results against opponents from the perfumed cities of Lyon and Florence.
At the start of the next season, Liverpool – now of the Europa League where the challengers came instead from Macedonia – arrived for a league fixture in east Manchester with Javier Mascherano supposedly refusing to travel because he wanted to move to Barcelona and play for Pep Guardiola. The side he wanted to leave was careering towards heaven knows what under feckless owners and a prune-faced manager in Roy Hodgson, who was already feeling the pressure after just two months in the job.
When Hodgson played Milan Jovanović and David N’Gog up front, Liverpool lost 3-0. City outclassed and overpowered them. The fall in standards at Anfield had been dreadful. It felt like an initiative had been lost, that a winning culture was disappearing; that an identity was slipping away. While one club was galloping into the sunset, the other was plunging from a turbulent sky.
But for one year under Brendan Rodgers, when the football was as good as anything witnessed since 1988 and Liverpool nearly won the title, the gap of nine seasons has mainly been painful. Really, it is a miracle Klopp has returned Liverpool to where it last ventured a decade ago so quickly: to reach the semi-finals of the Champions League and sit comfortably in the top four of the Premier League is spectacular when you consider he is yet to complete his second full season in charge.
This is a manager that knows how to knock out the most expensive squad in history, beating them in both legs using a 19-year-old academy product at right-back, an £8.5m left back from Hull, but not using his two established holding midfielders because they were suspended and injured.
It becomes another occasion to remind us that Liverpool fits Klopp and Klopp fits Liverpool. As Kevin Sampson, the respected novelist from Merseyside tweeted at the final whistle: ‘European Heritage 5 New Money 1.’ This a club punching above its weight again.
Something to consider: Madrid, capital of Spain; two senior clubs – population: 3.1m. Munich, capital of Bavaria, two senior football clubs – population: 1.4m. Rome, capital of Italy; two senior football clubs – population 2.8m. Liverpool, Capital of Culture, 2008; two senior football clubs – population: not quite 485,000.
Which comparable sized city in Europe has achieved the same success as Liverpool? There isn’t one. In the last 16 of the Champions League, Liverpool was the 15th smallest city to feature. It might not be as scientific as some would like it to be but the names of the fifth most populated places in each of the major European football countries have not changed much over the last 40 years. Between Frankfurt (Germany), Nice, (France), Palermo (Italy) and Zaragoza (Spain), two of those cities are ports like Liverpool, another is of relative strategic importance like Liverpool, and each has a football culture ingrained into the mindset of the people that live there to the point you know it is a match day by the way old men munch on their bocadillos, bratwursts or salamis. The grand total of European trophies between them all: one.
Klopp’s life story is the story of the underdog and Liverpool somehow manages to present itself as the ultimate underdog despite its history of success. Yet this is only the fourth time in 33 years that Liverpool have reached the semis. Before, Liverpool’s reputation had improbably risen because of managerial appointments, the values those managers preached and perhaps above all, the way they traded players.
Critics will say Liverpool are not an underdog because they can afford to pay £75m for a defender but that only happened because they knew they were also selling their most talented midfielder to Barcelona for nearly double that amount. Ultimately, Philippe Coutinho might win a Champions League medal sooner than he thought. If he does, he’ll be receiving it in the post.
There is more to Liverpool FC than just football, of course. There is Liverpool the city and its economic standing; its place as an outsider in British society: the underdog – the Jack Russell – barking away at the centre of authority. It explains why the supporters of Liverpool relate to defiance and why it is so important for any Liverpool manager to establish this quality in his team as quickly as he can.
You cannot debate the possibilities at Liverpool without discussing the supporters because they play such a crucial role. “The fans, they all believe – this is our competition.” That was Pep Guardiola speaking about Liverpool. Last night, the Liverpool end at the Etihad was a mass of excitement, optimism, nervousness, worry and dread all at the same time. Watching the first half was torturous. It must have been like seeing a loved one frazzle on the electric chair as City delivered a megawatt performance.
Somehow, Liverpool would recover. Somehow, they would end up winning. For Klopp, it really needed to happen to avoid fatalism spreading. Liverpool conceded three in the second half at Crystal Palace, just when it seemed as though they might be back in a title race in 2014. Liverpool conceded three in the second half of a Europa League final against Sevill, a having led heading into the half-time break - a break where There She Goes was transmitted on the public address system and felt like a sign. Liverpool conceded three the in second half against Sevilla again this season to draw 3-3, though in the grand scheme of things that didn’t end up mattering quite so much.
If Sevilla were to turn it around in Munich and meet Liverpool in Friday’s draw, who knows what might happen. Seville is another fashion house, albeit one Liverpool are more familiar with. It would present the opportunity of revenge. It would surely also mean a May date in Kiev becomes that bit more realistic. But then, when Liverpool have this sort of momentum, they won’t even mind if it’s Madrid, Munich or Rome instead.[/article]
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/footbal...urn-europes-elite-time-arent-punching-weight/
[article]There are times when assessments of Liverpool’s most recent European success sound a tad patronising.
Take, for example, the standard appraisal of their 2005 Champions League win. “They won it with Djimi Traore and Igor Biscan,” is often stated with incredulity, as if a poor side somehow fluked its way to an Istanbul penalty shoot-out.
That team had flaws, but also had Steven Gerrard, Xabi Alonso, Sami Hyypia, Dietmar Hamann and Jamie Carragher, so was hardly bereft of world-class players. All would fit comfortably into a Jurgen Klopp side.
It was similar when Liverpool reached the Europa League final in 2016, as if Borussia Dortmund and Villarreal were only beaten because The Kop sang, Klopp and his players misguidedly represented as the support act running around a bit in the Anfield atmosphere.
When Liverpool’s limitations were exposed against Sevilla on neutral territory, the sceptics’ felt suspicions were confirmed. Without their own fans to guide them along Anfield Road, Liverpool wilted in Basel. The sight of Klopp calling on supporters to make more noise as the Spaniards turned his midfield into traffic cones seemed rather apt.
Even the 2001 Uefa Cup winners received caveated praise, backs-against-the-wall performances in Rome and Barcelona enabling Gerard Houllier’s team to re-establish the club’s reputation. Clearly those campaigns owed much to the desire and emotion of players and fans – most notably in the home legs - against teams of superior quality. Against the odds, Liverpool summoned the energy to defy expectations, defeating clubs far more advanced in their development. The Liverpool team that beat Manchester City 5-1 over two legs is an entirely different beast.
The desire and emotion of 2001 and 2005 has been replicated, but rather than fundamental to success it is complementary to the real reason they are Champions League semi-finalists - their immense quality.
Klopp (and the club’s recruiting staff) has built a bloody good team – certainly the best at Anfield since the last title win of 1990. No side in the competition has been more ruthless in front of goal, nor more sturdy in defence.
It is also apparent that in Mohamed Salah Liverpool have recruited the world-class player that can transform good teams into potential European champions. Salah’s reconstruction of Kenny Dalglish’s 1978 European Cup winner v Bruges should be enough to guarantee Player of the Year. When it is stated Salah is just below Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi this season, it is a compliment reflecting his astounding quality rather than a diminishment of his contribution.
Whatever Pep Guardiola’s gripes about refereeing decisions, for Liverpool to concede just once over the course of 180 minutes against a side many (prematurely) felt the greatest in English football history two weeks ago is testimony to the organisation, courage and ability of a back four unrecognisable to that which started the campaign.
There is no retrospective wisdom in stating they overcame City by psychologically scarring the opponent before a game was played, the hype (justified) around Anfield on a European night ensuring Guardiola compromised when leaving out Raheem Sterling. Sterling would have started in any other venue, but City knew he would provoke hostility.
But if Guardiola reacted to the Liverpool fans a week ago, he responded to the Liverpool players’ excellence with his do-or-die selection on Tuesday night. There was as much recklessness and fear in his deployment of an extra centre-half as unleashing of more creativity upfield.
It is often stated Liverpool are at their most formidable when the collective energy of a fanbase that craves European success 'as if they own the competition' (as Guardiola noted) is fused with a side capable of meeting such expectations. That was demonstrated over the past seven days.
Since the end of the Uefa ban in the early 1990s, Liverpool have continued to remind Europe of their heritage. They have done so with some of their greatest modern players, imitating and creating some of their greatest nights despite enduring domestic frustration in pursuit of an elusive Premier League title.
Often those triumphs have been perplexing in their radiance, imperfect teams elevated and inspired by a cultural need for continental success which, in this country, is still shared only by Manchester United.
When Liverpool line-up in the last four in a few weeks time, it should not be considered surprising or illogical given how they have performed so far in the competition.
On the pitch, Liverpool are no longer punching above their weight in Europe. This is the natural consequence of an elite side with an elite manager at an elite club confirming its historic place among the European elite.[/article]
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/...-liverpool-back-among-europes-elite-nfv8tckfj
[article]A club working to the same goals
Liverpool were not in the pits of despair when Jürgen Klopp was appointed as Brendan Rodgers’ successor in October 2015. Idling would be a better description. Different people at the club were on different pages, which led to Rodgers pushing for the signing of Christian Benteke that summer in return for “accepting” the arrival of Roberto Firmino, whose merits were pushed by the scouting hierarchy of Michael Edwards, Dave Fallows and Barry Hunter.
The sense of separation was not conducive to success and, ultimately, resulted in a disconnect between the players and supporters. Klopp has galvanised Liverpool to ensure that everyone now pushes in the same direction and has mobilised fans behind a team of whom they can be proud of.
Klopp works closely with the Fenway Sports Group president, Mike Gordon, and the sporting director, Edwards. He is not indulged and their conversations and debates reach a decision that is no longer just good for one person but for the entire club. The sanctioning of Philippe Coutinho’s sale in January is a prime example of this. There was an obvious risk attached to selling him to Barcelona mid-season, even for £142 million, but the pros and cons were weighed up and the bold decision taken that keeping a player against his will could do more short-term damage. A penny for Coutinho’s thoughts today after his former club have progressed with a swagger while he spent last night cup-tied for Barcelona’s shock expulsion by Roma.
The relationship at Liverpool has to be two-way however. Klopp has embraced what Liverpool are about, too, recognising the club’s rich European heritage, which was a point Pep Guardiola picked up on. “The Liverpool fans, they all believe ‘this is our competition,’ ” he said. As a consequence of joined-up thinking Liverpool are able to feel better about themselves again; a fact evident in the supporters who whipped up such a raw, raucous atmosphere at Anfield in the first leg that City’s flag-waving drill before kick-off yesterday resembled Last Night Of The Proms.
“When you concede one goal and score five against Manchester City I think we should respect Liverpool more,” said Dejan Lovren. “People talked from the beginning about Manchester City being favourites, and they were favourites, but I think after this there should be more respect for Liverpool.”
Moving Salah and refining the relentless pressing
One of the misconceptions about Klopp comes from his demeanour on the touchline, where he is a ball of energy, all facial expressions and arms waving. It deflects from the reality that he is a tactically astute coach, supported by his brains trust of Zeljko Buvac and Peter Krawietz. The decision to switch Mohamed Salah centrally, push Sadio Mané to the right and drag Firmino to the left was important in stifling City and belatedly establishing a foothold in the first half.
Liverpool’s approach has become more refined the longer Klopp has been in situ at Anfield. The relentless pressing that was evident in his first months at the club has given way to a philosophy that looks at when and where to press, the onus is more on what Liverpool do with the ball. He has worked on turning Liverpool into a slick, potent, attacking unit with hours on the training ground drumming into the likes of Salah, Roberto Firmino and Mané where to attack space.
The 4-3-3 system gets the best out of the players, especially Firmino, a player transformed under Klopp and crucial to everything Liverpool attempt. The defence, while still prone to the occasional meltdown, has improved markedly, as shown when denying City a single shot on target a week ago. The manner in which Liverpool emerged from City’s “whirlwind” start, as Klopp put it, at the Etihad further highlights the progress. There was a resolve and resilience (and a little luck) to ride out that difficult first half but, tellingly, the responsibility for the improvement was shared.
Klopp wants his players to work out solutions themselves and not always be told what the answer is. Half-time yesterday brought the perfect response and the re-emergence of leaders. “To be honest I was shouting a bit at half-time,” said Lovren, who was excellent throughout. “I told the lads to wake up because it was not good enough and I said we were sitting too deep. Of course Klopp said, ‘Yes you are sitting too deep because you are not pushing up’. He wanted me and Virg [van Dijk] to be more compact and push the team up but it was quite difficult to push up when City had the ball.
“It was all positive, there was nothing negative, but I needed to remind the guys that we had 50 minutes to be in the semi-finals of the Champions League and we needed to give more. The first 10-15 minutes wasn’t good enough. When you see the second half, again they had a couple of chances but nothing too serious.”
Buying — and selling — well
Of the Liverpool team who started both legs against City only Firmino, Lovren and James Milner were not Klopp signings, although the German would accept that he is the one with the good fortune to inherit the precocious Trent Alexander-Arnold. Firmino, in particular, and Lovren have grown under Klopp’s tutelage, while Milner has proved a clever free transfer from City in 2015. Increasingly, Liverpool’s transfer business looks smart with Van Dijk, Salah, Mané and Andrew Robertson all recruited for about the same combined fee Barcelona paid for Coutinho.
Liverpool have also sold well which is so crucial in the modern game. In excess of £50 million for Benteke and Mamadou Sakho from Crystal Palace illustrates the point perfectly. Passage into the last four of the Champions League — and, importantly, the manner in which it was achieved — will help recruitment again because the best players will want to join a club where they can become heroes and play for a manager who embodies such belief. What should not be overlooked are the ages of this group: Van Dijk, Firmino and Mane are all 26. Robertson and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain 24 and Salah 25. The incoming Naby Keïta is 23. There is a nucleus that could remain together.
Pushing players to go further
When Liverpool were celebrating in front of their supporters at the final whistle, Klopp told Georginio Wijnaldum, one of the many players who stepped up in the second half (literally and figuratively in his case), that the night was not to be the “highlight” of the year. That is Klopp in a nutshell: pushing, chasing, demanding more, but in a way which makes the pursuit of success enjoyable.
Lovren is already setting his sights on next season with Liverpool emerging as City’s natural challengers from a domestic point of view, too. “The competition is wide open and anything is possible now,” he said. “It depends on who you get in the semi-finals. From a personal point of view I don’t want Real Madrid in the semi-finals. They have a lot of experience in the Champions League, a lot of records and over the past three seasons it is always them. But whoever we get will find it difficult to come to Anfield and score some goals.”
Lovren was asked about the Premier League next season. “We didn’t catch up well from the beginning. I’m definitely confident that next season we can push everyone, even ourselves to do better from the beginning to the end,” he said.[/article]
https://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/columnists/tommy-martin/--469364.html
[article]Let me tell you about the time I met Jurgen Klopp. I don’t mean this in a lame, I-saw-David-Bowie-buying-fish-fingers-in-Tesco sort of way. I just think it’s instructive.
It was at the Liverpool media day before the 2016 Europa League final.
I was one of a number of TV reporters herded into a room at Liverpool’s Melwood training ground and divided into little pens set up like a soundbite-gathering battery farm.
The Liverpool manager was to drop in and spend five minutes in each cubicle holding forth on the big game, divvying up a little of his wit and wisdom for each of the pan-European quote piggies to gobble up.
After an interminable wait spent pacing nervously, going over our questions, Klopp burst into the room, announcing his arrival with that familiar throaty guffaw. Soon he was loping from camera to camera, delivering his usual mix of weird vocal sound effects, gravelly earnestness and Germano-English Cool-Ja! speak.
Finally, he arrived at my station, a tall, scruffy presence accompanied by a rather pungent cigarette stench.
There was none of the cologne-dashed, designer-suited distance of your typical Euro-super-coach, rather a firm handshake and a yawping laugh.
“Where are you guys from?!”
“Ireland.”
“Ah, Ireland!”
At which point Klopp, for some reason, started saying the word ‘sure’ in an exaggerated Irish accent, presumably as a comedic riff on the phrase ‘to be sure’.
“Shurrr! Shhhhurrrrr! Schhhhuurrrrrr!”
To his side, Liverpool’s press officer shook his head in mock admonishment.
“Jurgen, please don’t. Alright, that’s enough Jurgen…”
More guffaws and the interview went on, Klopp answering each question thoughtfully, interspersing his answers with self-deprecating asides and hearty laughter.
And then he was gone, with yet more guffaws, presumably for a cheeky fag.
The lingering impression — casual national stereotypes aside — was of someone who made everyone they met feel better about themselves for the experience.
The staff at Melwood smiled at the mention of his name. Everyone he passed got a goofy gag and a smile. Even the press officer seemed to be enjoying the fun of shepherding Klopp around, apologising for his f-bombs and curtailing his surreal asides.
And I thought: If he makes the people he brushes past going about his daily business feel good, what must he do for his players?
Celebrating their 5-1 aggregate victory over Manchester City on Tuesday night, the Liverpool away support and the players in front of them cut an unusually intimate picture. The small away group of fans, the satisfied ease of the players, and then Klopp, hugging and clapping and just broadly, proudly smiling: It felt like a family.
Maybe team spirit is, as Steve Archibald famously said, an illusion glimpsed in the aftermath of victory, but if so Klopp has the trick off to a tee.
At a time when top-level professional soccer has never seemed more technical and system-based, and when clubs with their vast investments in playing personnel increasingly behave like Dow Jones hedge funds, Klopp’s success has been based on humanity.
When he joined Liverpool in 2015 Klopp seemed like a perfect fit for a club whose passion and romanticism provided its richest seam of potential. The buccaneering, high-intensity football and the mosh-pit choreography of his touchline antics suggested he was the right man to set Anfield aflame again.
But what most connected club and new manager was a shared sense of the importance of human feeling, of the possibilities of community, of what can be done when people come together.
The essence of Liverpool is in that hinterland of triumph and tragedy that explodes at Anfield on those nights, like last week against Manchester City, when team and support are in unison and it all seems to matter just that bit more.
Klopp instinctively got this and spent much of his early time at the club openly geeing up the crowd at the stadium, as if telling them that it was okay to show their feelings again.
“Jurgen creates a family,” his assistant Pepijn Lijnders told the Dutch newspaper De Volksrant in 2017. “We always say: 30% tactics, 70% teambuilding.”
This is what I saw at Melwood that day, and what we all saw last week at Anfield and again at full-time on Tuesday night, illusory or not.
Behind what we blithely describe as Klopp’s ‘passion’ is the fact that everything — football, family, feelings — are intertwined in one messy human ball. Klopp became a father — unexpectedly — at the age of 21 and the experience informs his coaching philosophy.
“I was not prepared for it [fatherhood],” he said in an interview with Soccer.com last year. “I felt a lot of times I have no idea what I am doing here, but I tried my best. It gave me the opportunity to learn to handle much younger people than myself. Young players, they have the same problems as I had. It’s like a father role… when I sign a player I feel it’s 50% my responsibility to get the best out of him.”
How often have we seen that father role played out at Liverpool? For example, in the refusal to publicly castigate his various underperforming goalkeepers and centre-halves.
“They are human beings. It was misjudgement,” he said after they gave up a 3-0 lead at Sevilla last November with a staggering display of defensive slapstick. Two of those hapless humans, Loris Karius and Dejan Lovren, will now play in a Champions League semi-final.
Lovren, in particular, has benefited from the manager-as-father-figure approach.
“My self-confidence disappears in some moments,” he said in reference to the disastrous performance against Tottenham in October that saw him substituted after 31 minutes. “And he believes in me, you know? And I believe in him.
“He said: ‘If you just think about yourself like I think about you, you will be one of the best players in the world.’”
A father’s love indeed.
Most of all there is the reticence to champion the individual over the collective. Mo Salah, with his 39 goals, has clearly been Liverpool’s outstanding player, yet the manager never places him outside the context of the team.
“I think Mo has made strides forward within this team through the way in which the team play and the way the other lads interact with him on the pitch: The way they look to him as such an important player and the way everyone unselfishly tries to play him in,” Klopp said recently.
“The defensive work is done for him, that way he regularly gets into goalscoring positions.”
Key words: Team, interact, unselfish, work.
That philosophy, built around the potential of the collective, even informs Klopp’s views on Brexit. “If such a fantastic country and a strong partner like Great Britain wants to try to go the way alone I don’t see the benefit. I can’t see it,” he told the Daily Telegraph.
“If it’s sometimes not good then let’s improve it. Let’s sort it together.”
There is much to Liverpool’s achievements under Klopp that is about more than fuzzy, feelgood, human interest stuff. The adaptation of the all-action Gegenpressing style to a more balanced tactical approach. The financial heft to make a critical signing such as Virgil van Dijk, at a stroke sorting out a major problem area. The rotation of players that left his team looking fresh when City appeared jaded.
But what resonates most is that big goofy grin and the emotional intelligence behind the whole project.
“Having memorable games,” he told Gary Lineker in a 2016 BBC interview when asked about his footballing philosophy. “People leaving the stadium who want to see the next game, you can’t wait to see the next game. That’s what football should be. And if you can do this very often, then you will be successful, 100%.”
Klopp makes people feel good, and right now Liverpool feel very good indeed.[/article]
[article]Let me tell you about the time I met Jurgen Klopp. I don’t mean this in a lame, I-saw-David-Bowie-buying-fish-fingers-in-Tesco sort of way. I just think it’s instructive.
It was at the Liverpool media day before the 2016 Europa League final.
I was one of a number of TV reporters herded into a room at Liverpool’s Melwood training ground and divided into little pens set up like a soundbite-gathering battery farm.
The Liverpool manager was to drop in and spend five minutes in each cubicle holding forth on the big game, divvying up a little of his wit and wisdom for each of the pan-European quote piggies to gobble up.
After an interminable wait spent pacing nervously, going over our questions, Klopp burst into the room, announcing his arrival with that familiar throaty guffaw. Soon he was loping from camera to camera, delivering his usual mix of weird vocal sound effects, gravelly earnestness and Germano-English Cool-Ja! speak.
Finally, he arrived at my station, a tall, scruffy presence accompanied by a rather pungent cigarette stench.
There was none of the cologne-dashed, designer-suited distance of your typical Euro-super-coach, rather a firm handshake and a yawping laugh.
“Where are you guys from?!”
“Ireland.”
“Ah, Ireland!”
At which point Klopp, for some reason, started saying the word ‘sure’ in an exaggerated Irish accent, presumably as a comedic riff on the phrase ‘to be sure’.
“Shurrr! Shhhhurrrrr! Schhhhuurrrrrr!”
To his side, Liverpool’s press officer shook his head in mock admonishment.
“Jurgen, please don’t. Alright, that’s enough Jurgen…”
More guffaws and the interview went on, Klopp answering each question thoughtfully, interspersing his answers with self-deprecating asides and hearty laughter.
And then he was gone, with yet more guffaws, presumably for a cheeky fag.
The lingering impression — casual national stereotypes aside — was of someone who made everyone they met feel better about themselves for the experience.
The staff at Melwood smiled at the mention of his name. Everyone he passed got a goofy gag and a smile. Even the press officer seemed to be enjoying the fun of shepherding Klopp around, apologising for his f-bombs and curtailing his surreal asides.
And I thought: If he makes the people he brushes past going about his daily business feel good, what must he do for his players?
Celebrating their 5-1 aggregate victory over Manchester City on Tuesday night, the Liverpool away support and the players in front of them cut an unusually intimate picture. The small away group of fans, the satisfied ease of the players, and then Klopp, hugging and clapping and just broadly, proudly smiling: It felt like a family.
Maybe team spirit is, as Steve Archibald famously said, an illusion glimpsed in the aftermath of victory, but if so Klopp has the trick off to a tee.
At a time when top-level professional soccer has never seemed more technical and system-based, and when clubs with their vast investments in playing personnel increasingly behave like Dow Jones hedge funds, Klopp’s success has been based on humanity.
When he joined Liverpool in 2015 Klopp seemed like a perfect fit for a club whose passion and romanticism provided its richest seam of potential. The buccaneering, high-intensity football and the mosh-pit choreography of his touchline antics suggested he was the right man to set Anfield aflame again.
But what most connected club and new manager was a shared sense of the importance of human feeling, of the possibilities of community, of what can be done when people come together.
The essence of Liverpool is in that hinterland of triumph and tragedy that explodes at Anfield on those nights, like last week against Manchester City, when team and support are in unison and it all seems to matter just that bit more.
Klopp instinctively got this and spent much of his early time at the club openly geeing up the crowd at the stadium, as if telling them that it was okay to show their feelings again.
“Jurgen creates a family,” his assistant Pepijn Lijnders told the Dutch newspaper De Volksrant in 2017. “We always say: 30% tactics, 70% teambuilding.”
This is what I saw at Melwood that day, and what we all saw last week at Anfield and again at full-time on Tuesday night, illusory or not.
Behind what we blithely describe as Klopp’s ‘passion’ is the fact that everything — football, family, feelings — are intertwined in one messy human ball. Klopp became a father — unexpectedly — at the age of 21 and the experience informs his coaching philosophy.
“I was not prepared for it [fatherhood],” he said in an interview with Soccer.com last year. “I felt a lot of times I have no idea what I am doing here, but I tried my best. It gave me the opportunity to learn to handle much younger people than myself. Young players, they have the same problems as I had. It’s like a father role… when I sign a player I feel it’s 50% my responsibility to get the best out of him.”
How often have we seen that father role played out at Liverpool? For example, in the refusal to publicly castigate his various underperforming goalkeepers and centre-halves.
“They are human beings. It was misjudgement,” he said after they gave up a 3-0 lead at Sevilla last November with a staggering display of defensive slapstick. Two of those hapless humans, Loris Karius and Dejan Lovren, will now play in a Champions League semi-final.
Lovren, in particular, has benefited from the manager-as-father-figure approach.
“My self-confidence disappears in some moments,” he said in reference to the disastrous performance against Tottenham in October that saw him substituted after 31 minutes. “And he believes in me, you know? And I believe in him.
“He said: ‘If you just think about yourself like I think about you, you will be one of the best players in the world.’”
A father’s love indeed.
Most of all there is the reticence to champion the individual over the collective. Mo Salah, with his 39 goals, has clearly been Liverpool’s outstanding player, yet the manager never places him outside the context of the team.
“I think Mo has made strides forward within this team through the way in which the team play and the way the other lads interact with him on the pitch: The way they look to him as such an important player and the way everyone unselfishly tries to play him in,” Klopp said recently.
“The defensive work is done for him, that way he regularly gets into goalscoring positions.”
Key words: Team, interact, unselfish, work.
That philosophy, built around the potential of the collective, even informs Klopp’s views on Brexit. “If such a fantastic country and a strong partner like Great Britain wants to try to go the way alone I don’t see the benefit. I can’t see it,” he told the Daily Telegraph.
“If it’s sometimes not good then let’s improve it. Let’s sort it together.”
There is much to Liverpool’s achievements under Klopp that is about more than fuzzy, feelgood, human interest stuff. The adaptation of the all-action Gegenpressing style to a more balanced tactical approach. The financial heft to make a critical signing such as Virgil van Dijk, at a stroke sorting out a major problem area. The rotation of players that left his team looking fresh when City appeared jaded.
But what resonates most is that big goofy grin and the emotional intelligence behind the whole project.
“Having memorable games,” he told Gary Lineker in a 2016 BBC interview when asked about his footballing philosophy. “People leaving the stadium who want to see the next game, you can’t wait to see the next game. That’s what football should be. And if you can do this very often, then you will be successful, 100%.”
Klopp makes people feel good, and right now Liverpool feel very good indeed.[/article]
That's a fantastic take on Klopp.
Aye, a lovely read
@My_Blood_Bleeds_Red
Can you please refrain from using the PIA Tapatalk signature...
If it continues a temporary ban maybe issued
Thanks
Sent from my Banhammer using Tapatalk
Can you please refrain from using the PIA Tapatalk signature...
If it continues a temporary ban maybe issued
Thanks
Sent from my Banhammer using Tapatalk
I always find it amusing when 6CM actually attempts any form of moderation. It's so delightfully incongruous.
Read the rules, it's there
Though it actually falls under persistent offending criteria if you like as far as I'm concerned.. Blatant..
Isn't it default functionality of the app? Surely if the signature is offensive then those who configure the app for the site (you) should just remove it as default?
Nah, its default for the app, not the forum
Brilliant that.
We don't pay the subscription required to remove it.. So we ask the users to disable the functionality via the app on this forum
We will only come down hard on the repeat offenders
@My_Blood_Bleeds_Red falls into this category..
Tbf we have tried other routes, but nothing works properly, & tapatalk subscription would cost us a tenner a month, which comes out of the donations you pay us & goes a long way towards our server costs meaning we don't have to get our begging bowl out as often.
Last edited:
Come on now! Down with these sorts of bannings!
Unban him please Redninja.
- Status
