I don't normally copy and paste articles but I read this from the Athletic and it's one of the best reads I've come across. It is a bit lengthy but it gives us a good insight into Klopp ...
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Jurgen Klopp cherishes the training ground. It is the basis, he thinks, for everything that happens at whichever club he manages; the place where players come to understand what he expects physically, tactically and emotionally. “If a player does not train well, he doesn’t last long in a Klopp team,” a Melwood source tells The Athletic. “In fact, he’s got no chance…”
Behind the hugs and the megawatt smile, Klopp places huge demands on his players. The rewards are great but so are the sacrifices. If they are granted the luxury of a day off in the week then there is often a double session waiting for them soon after.
“We train the way we play,” is Klopp’s mantra. Assistant boss Pep Lijnders plans each session and goes over it with Klopp in the manager’s office each morning. When out on the grass, Klopp is not shy to intervene when something catches his eye or he senses that standards are not sky-high.
“I’ve worked under a lot of managers and coaches in my career and his training sessions are more intense than under anyone else I’ve known,” says vice-captain James Milner. “There’s never a single session where a player can switch off and just go through the session as if they’re on autopilot. He’s a great manager. The best I’ve played under? Yes, I’d say so.”
Adam Lallana, who spent five years under Klopp before leaving for Brighton at the end of last season, confirms: “It’s very intense. When you hear people say they dedicate their lives to the football club, that literally is the case. There’s a lot of sacrifice to playing for that football club but it’s worth every moment.”
In his book Ask A Footballer, Milner talks about the countless hours of drills that go into perfecting Liverpool’s pressing game. “Training is really hard and it’s complicated,” he says. “When we press as a team and we do it so effectively, we’re not running around like a load of headless chickens. It’s the result of a very specific game plan that we’ve been working on for years.”
Klopp is a big believer in scheduling training sessions around the upcoming kick-off time. Previously, players had been used to training in the morning regardless and then having the afternoon to themselves.
“Where before you could switch off more knowing that you had everything done by lunchtime, it’s more relentless under Jurgen,” one of his former players tells The Athletic.
“You might not be training until 5pm but you’re sat at home in the morning thinking about what’s ahead. You probably get in for lunchtime to do some work in the gym, have some lunch and maybe video analysis before training. We definitely spent a lot more time at Melwood than before.”
Team meetings always take place before the sessions. The day before a game it is usually crystal clear what the starting XI will be as Klopp plays 11 v 11. The shadow line-up is set up tactically in the same way as Klopp and his staff expect their upcoming opponents to play.
“It’s broken down into how the opponents attack, how they defend, how they react in transition and so on,” adds Milner. “The manager will go into details about those weaknesses and how we’re going to exploit them. And then their strengths and how we’re going to guard against them. If they’ve got a weakness at left-back or if they’re vulnerable to a certain kind of cross, then we work on that.”
Players will also be emailed specific clips to watch before each game to reinforce the points Klopp was making.
“Jurgen never overburdens you with information,” says Trent Alexander-Arnold. “It’s not so much that he tells you exactly what to do on the ball and says you need to pass to here and here. It’s more about giving you the ideas and helping you see the opportunities to play it in behind when Mo (Salah) runs in behind. Or when Bobby (Firmino) comes to feet, finding that pass instead, maybe.
“He’s done so much for me personally. His advice has always been top-notch for me. When you need a bollocking, he’ll give you one. He’s not scared of doing it. But most of the time it’s arm around the shoulder, wanting to help you improve.”
Georginio Wijnaldum agrees. “The mind is free, and that is the most important thing,” he says. “The manager does not overload the players with information. Every game is different because opponents have different qualities and different threats, but the consistent element to our approach is we do not man-mark. It would be difficult to counter-press if we man-marked. This means we mark spaces.
“There’s a sharp focus on set plays the day before a game both in terms of attacking and defending. There’s also light relief with the traditional older players versus younger players match, with the results totted up over the course of the season.”
If Liverpool are playing in the evening, then Klopp holds a light session on the morning of the match to run through the game plan. When Liverpool are playing away, that often means booking a lower-league ground to use.
Klopp has changed his approach over time. He is the boss and always makes the final call but he welcomes feedback from the senior players’ committee, led by captain Jordan Henderson and vice-captain Milner on things such as travel plans.
Days off have become more frequent in recent seasons when the schedule allows and he has also permitted recovery days to take place away from the training ground at times, with physios sent to players’ homes.
One gesture meant a great deal to the squad after Liverpool won the Club World Cup in Qatar last year. Usually, they would have stayed in a hotel on Christmas Day before facing Leicester City at the King Power Stadium on Boxing Day.
But with the players having already spent a week away, Klopp decided they could sleep in their own homes and assemble on Boxing Day morning to fly down to Leicester. He also brought forward training on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day so they could spend more quality time with their families. It underlined his trust in them and he was rewarded with arguably Liverpool’s finest display of the season as they thrashed Brendan Rodgers’ side 4-0.
What hasn’t changed during Klopp’s reign is how brutal pre-season is. “Even the manager’s demeanour changes. He puts on his game face,” writes Andy Robertson in his book Now You’re Gonna Believe Us, referring to the summer training camps in Evian, France.
Klopp describes those camps as “my time”, without the distractions that come with the commercial commitments of the overseas tours. It is about creating a base for the challenges ahead. Even when there is a friendly in the evening, he will put players through an energy-sapping session earlier the same day.
Robertson says: “I think sometimes the manager tests us in at least one game pre-season where he basically says: ‘If you can play through this, you can play through anything.’
“You play with an empty tank, you play with the tired legs, you play with a tired mind and then during the season over the Christmas period where we have maybe six games in 14 days or whatever, that’s not a massive problem because it’s not as bad as what we did during the summer.”
Klopp’s attention to detail is such that he is always looking for an edge over his opponents. The players did not know what to expect when the manager informed them that they had a session in the Hotel Royal pool with German surfer Sebastian Steudtner in Evian in the summer of 2019.
Steudtner explained that he was there to help with breathing techniques and mental durability and how putting yourself into extreme situations triggers new coping mechanisms. Taking on board his methods, the players all improved how long they could stay underwater — some managed nearly three minutes.
“Never mind marginal gains, this was significant pain,” wrote Robertson. “He made us suffer. He made us crave oxygen like we’d never craved it before. But by taking us to the brink he also underlined how much we had to give and how far we could go. The gaffer wanted us to be able to find a happy place under stress. We all got it and bought into it.”
The players felt that experiences such as those helped them dig deep during the 2019-20 title-winning season when late goals and gutsy fightbacks sealed cherished victories.
Whether it is the appointment of nutritionist Mona Nemmer, throw-in coach Thomas Gronnemark or sports psychologist Lee Richardson, Klopp is an innovator, a coach who is unafraid of surrounding himself with staff who know more than him. “This shows you his humility,” Wijnaldum says. “At Liverpool, it never feels like we are lacking something.”
Klopp once asked his Borussia Dortmund players to put their name to “a promise” containing seven rules. They agreed to “unconditional dedication”, “passionate devotion”, “a determination (to win), independent of the scoreline” and a readiness “to support everybody”, “accept help”, “put (their) quality wholly at the service of the team” and “take on individual responsibility”.
There was to be no distinction between work and play, pain and pleasure: self-sacrificial toiling could be a sensual experience. Klopp, feverishly saluting won tackles and clearances on the sidelines, was the physical manifestation of his teachings.
“He said things like, ‘I’m looking forward to this game with every fibre in my body’ and it was so believable that one second later, you felt the same,” recalls the Dortmund midfielder Sven Bender. “We learned to be completely in the moment, to think only from game to game.”
The idea that big targets had to be clearly expressed to be achieved was dismissed as counter-productive. “Whoever says that has no idea,” the coach explained. Klopp set his men immediate, achievable goals. They had to win the next game. “A slalom skier would never throw his hands up in the air in celebration after clearing the first gate, would he?” he asked.
Table tennis tournaments, karaoke, go-karting and paintballing have all been used to foster the kind of unity and spirit that Klopp regards as pivotal to achieving glory. He demands unwavering commitment but in return, he guarantees honesty, loyalty and openness. He never passes the buck. “The way I understand it, I’m responsible for the defeats, the boys are responsible for the wins,” Klopp says.
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Jurgen Klopp cherishes the training ground. It is the basis, he thinks, for everything that happens at whichever club he manages; the place where players come to understand what he expects physically, tactically and emotionally. “If a player does not train well, he doesn’t last long in a Klopp team,” a Melwood source tells The Athletic. “In fact, he’s got no chance…”
Behind the hugs and the megawatt smile, Klopp places huge demands on his players. The rewards are great but so are the sacrifices. If they are granted the luxury of a day off in the week then there is often a double session waiting for them soon after.
“We train the way we play,” is Klopp’s mantra. Assistant boss Pep Lijnders plans each session and goes over it with Klopp in the manager’s office each morning. When out on the grass, Klopp is not shy to intervene when something catches his eye or he senses that standards are not sky-high.
“I’ve worked under a lot of managers and coaches in my career and his training sessions are more intense than under anyone else I’ve known,” says vice-captain James Milner. “There’s never a single session where a player can switch off and just go through the session as if they’re on autopilot. He’s a great manager. The best I’ve played under? Yes, I’d say so.”
Adam Lallana, who spent five years under Klopp before leaving for Brighton at the end of last season, confirms: “It’s very intense. When you hear people say they dedicate their lives to the football club, that literally is the case. There’s a lot of sacrifice to playing for that football club but it’s worth every moment.”
In his book Ask A Footballer, Milner talks about the countless hours of drills that go into perfecting Liverpool’s pressing game. “Training is really hard and it’s complicated,” he says. “When we press as a team and we do it so effectively, we’re not running around like a load of headless chickens. It’s the result of a very specific game plan that we’ve been working on for years.”
Klopp is a big believer in scheduling training sessions around the upcoming kick-off time. Previously, players had been used to training in the morning regardless and then having the afternoon to themselves.
“Where before you could switch off more knowing that you had everything done by lunchtime, it’s more relentless under Jurgen,” one of his former players tells The Athletic.
“You might not be training until 5pm but you’re sat at home in the morning thinking about what’s ahead. You probably get in for lunchtime to do some work in the gym, have some lunch and maybe video analysis before training. We definitely spent a lot more time at Melwood than before.”
Team meetings always take place before the sessions. The day before a game it is usually crystal clear what the starting XI will be as Klopp plays 11 v 11. The shadow line-up is set up tactically in the same way as Klopp and his staff expect their upcoming opponents to play.
“It’s broken down into how the opponents attack, how they defend, how they react in transition and so on,” adds Milner. “The manager will go into details about those weaknesses and how we’re going to exploit them. And then their strengths and how we’re going to guard against them. If they’ve got a weakness at left-back or if they’re vulnerable to a certain kind of cross, then we work on that.”
Players will also be emailed specific clips to watch before each game to reinforce the points Klopp was making.
“Jurgen never overburdens you with information,” says Trent Alexander-Arnold. “It’s not so much that he tells you exactly what to do on the ball and says you need to pass to here and here. It’s more about giving you the ideas and helping you see the opportunities to play it in behind when Mo (Salah) runs in behind. Or when Bobby (Firmino) comes to feet, finding that pass instead, maybe.
“He’s done so much for me personally. His advice has always been top-notch for me. When you need a bollocking, he’ll give you one. He’s not scared of doing it. But most of the time it’s arm around the shoulder, wanting to help you improve.”
Georginio Wijnaldum agrees. “The mind is free, and that is the most important thing,” he says. “The manager does not overload the players with information. Every game is different because opponents have different qualities and different threats, but the consistent element to our approach is we do not man-mark. It would be difficult to counter-press if we man-marked. This means we mark spaces.
“There’s a sharp focus on set plays the day before a game both in terms of attacking and defending. There’s also light relief with the traditional older players versus younger players match, with the results totted up over the course of the season.”
If Liverpool are playing in the evening, then Klopp holds a light session on the morning of the match to run through the game plan. When Liverpool are playing away, that often means booking a lower-league ground to use.
Klopp has changed his approach over time. He is the boss and always makes the final call but he welcomes feedback from the senior players’ committee, led by captain Jordan Henderson and vice-captain Milner on things such as travel plans.
Days off have become more frequent in recent seasons when the schedule allows and he has also permitted recovery days to take place away from the training ground at times, with physios sent to players’ homes.
One gesture meant a great deal to the squad after Liverpool won the Club World Cup in Qatar last year. Usually, they would have stayed in a hotel on Christmas Day before facing Leicester City at the King Power Stadium on Boxing Day.
But with the players having already spent a week away, Klopp decided they could sleep in their own homes and assemble on Boxing Day morning to fly down to Leicester. He also brought forward training on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day so they could spend more quality time with their families. It underlined his trust in them and he was rewarded with arguably Liverpool’s finest display of the season as they thrashed Brendan Rodgers’ side 4-0.
What hasn’t changed during Klopp’s reign is how brutal pre-season is. “Even the manager’s demeanour changes. He puts on his game face,” writes Andy Robertson in his book Now You’re Gonna Believe Us, referring to the summer training camps in Evian, France.
Klopp describes those camps as “my time”, without the distractions that come with the commercial commitments of the overseas tours. It is about creating a base for the challenges ahead. Even when there is a friendly in the evening, he will put players through an energy-sapping session earlier the same day.
Robertson says: “I think sometimes the manager tests us in at least one game pre-season where he basically says: ‘If you can play through this, you can play through anything.’
“You play with an empty tank, you play with the tired legs, you play with a tired mind and then during the season over the Christmas period where we have maybe six games in 14 days or whatever, that’s not a massive problem because it’s not as bad as what we did during the summer.”
Klopp’s attention to detail is such that he is always looking for an edge over his opponents. The players did not know what to expect when the manager informed them that they had a session in the Hotel Royal pool with German surfer Sebastian Steudtner in Evian in the summer of 2019.
Steudtner explained that he was there to help with breathing techniques and mental durability and how putting yourself into extreme situations triggers new coping mechanisms. Taking on board his methods, the players all improved how long they could stay underwater — some managed nearly three minutes.
“Never mind marginal gains, this was significant pain,” wrote Robertson. “He made us suffer. He made us crave oxygen like we’d never craved it before. But by taking us to the brink he also underlined how much we had to give and how far we could go. The gaffer wanted us to be able to find a happy place under stress. We all got it and bought into it.”
The players felt that experiences such as those helped them dig deep during the 2019-20 title-winning season when late goals and gutsy fightbacks sealed cherished victories.
Whether it is the appointment of nutritionist Mona Nemmer, throw-in coach Thomas Gronnemark or sports psychologist Lee Richardson, Klopp is an innovator, a coach who is unafraid of surrounding himself with staff who know more than him. “This shows you his humility,” Wijnaldum says. “At Liverpool, it never feels like we are lacking something.”
Klopp once asked his Borussia Dortmund players to put their name to “a promise” containing seven rules. They agreed to “unconditional dedication”, “passionate devotion”, “a determination (to win), independent of the scoreline” and a readiness “to support everybody”, “accept help”, “put (their) quality wholly at the service of the team” and “take on individual responsibility”.
There was to be no distinction between work and play, pain and pleasure: self-sacrificial toiling could be a sensual experience. Klopp, feverishly saluting won tackles and clearances on the sidelines, was the physical manifestation of his teachings.
“He said things like, ‘I’m looking forward to this game with every fibre in my body’ and it was so believable that one second later, you felt the same,” recalls the Dortmund midfielder Sven Bender. “We learned to be completely in the moment, to think only from game to game.”
The idea that big targets had to be clearly expressed to be achieved was dismissed as counter-productive. “Whoever says that has no idea,” the coach explained. Klopp set his men immediate, achievable goals. They had to win the next game. “A slalom skier would never throw his hands up in the air in celebration after clearing the first gate, would he?” he asked.
Table tennis tournaments, karaoke, go-karting and paintballing have all been used to foster the kind of unity and spirit that Klopp regards as pivotal to achieving glory. He demands unwavering commitment but in return, he guarantees honesty, loyalty and openness. He never passes the buck. “The way I understand it, I’m responsible for the defeats, the boys are responsible for the wins,” Klopp says.
) and a very good insight into Klopp. Never keen on reading things related to tactics and methods though, we don't want to be giving ideas away!
