This week marks exactly one year since Jurgen Klopp took over at Liverpool.
The former Borussia Dortmund manager has charmed everyone since arriving on Merseyside (apart from, perhaps, Everton and Manchester United fans) with his infectious laugh and his gegenpressing.
He’s a star in front of the cameras but his record at Dortmund shows he is more than just a caricature – he led them to two successive Bundesliga titles and even the Champions League final.
Can he repeat the feat at Liverpool? He has certainly started well, so we asked our chief football writer and long-time Liverpool correspondent Tony Barrett to pinpoint exactly what the German coach has changed at Anfield in his first 12 months in charge.
1. Everyone is now responsible for everything
On his first visit to Melwood as Liverpool manager 12 months ago, Klopp called everyone who works at Liverpool’s training base together. His idea was to underline his own vision to all of the staff and players that he would be working alongside and during the speech he came out with a single line that left a lasting impression on those present.
“Everyone is responsible for everything,” he said, planting a seed which has grown ever since.
One element of that message was that the culture he was hoping to create would not be one in which excuses would be made for failure but another, and the one that matters most on the pitch, was that total commitment, versatility and a willingness to take responsibility had to become standard practice.
As Liverpool’s improving form suggests, the message has been taken on board.
2. Liverpool are what they eat
Outside of Melwood, Mona Nemmer will not be known to many in English football but her impact at Liverpool has already been significant.
Recruited from Bayern Munich at the end of last season to fill the role of club nutritionist, Nemmer’s role is to enforce the kind of healthy eating habits that Arsene Wenger has always claimed are crucial to the success of any sports team.
“Food is like kerosene,” the Arsenal manager once said. “If you put the wrong one in your car, it’s not as quick as it should be.”
As a firm subscriber to that theory, Klopp asked Nemmer to ensure that the Liverpool players take on the best possible fuel at all times.
To that end, Nemmer remained on Merseyside while the rest of the first team squad and staff went to the USA on tour in pre-season as she endeavoured to turn Melwood into a place where healthy eating would not just be best practice, it would be the only practice.
As a result the canteen at the training ground has been redesigned with fruit and yoghurt stations installed. Nemmer has also gone one step further, informing the players that she is willing to visit their homes to go through their food cupboards if they have any concerns about their eating habits away from Melwood.
Her efforts may be largely unseen but the proof is in the pudding, so to speak.
3. Liverpool are winning the fitness
During a pre-season training session at Liverpool’s base in Palo Alto, California, an abrupt shout brought the routine to a halt. “If we win the fitness, we win everything,” Pep Ljinders, a member of Klopp’s coaching staff, told the players.
With a background in technical skills coaching, Ljinders was an unlikely carrier of such a message but that helped ensure that it hit home even more.
Klopp’s belief in physical exertion was well known before his arrival at Liverpool and in his opening week at the club he repeatedly told his new players that the more they ran the less likely it would be that they would lose.
But he knew demands would not be as effective as establishing a culture, which is why he empowered his coaching staff to make it second nature for players to run rather because they recognised the benefits of it rather than just restricting it to an order.
That way of doing things is now in place and although Klopp says he wants his team to “defend so smart that we won’t always have to run like devils,” barely a game passes by without Liverpool having run further than their opponents.
4. Everyone is now on the same page when it comes to transfers
It is still early days but the indications of the season so far are that Liverpool’s reputation in the transfer market will have to be revised.
Key to an improvement which has seen them improve the first team, address most but not all of their problem positions and turn a profit has been Klopp’s experience of a collegiate approach to transfers and his willingness to work within a group.
The growing effectiveness of Michael Edwards, the club’s head of technical performance, should also not be overlooked, but Klopp’s arrival has been crucial in terms of allowing the previously derided committee system to function much better than it had in the past.
Liverpool have bought expensively – Sadio Mane cost £30 million – and cheaply – Joel Matip was a free transfer – but regardless of however much they have or haven’t spent on players individually and collectively, their new recruits all appear to fit into Klopp’s vision of how he wants his team to play.
Even Loris Karius, who is yet to fully convince despite having ousted Simon Mignolet as first choice goalkeeper, has had an impact on the team simply by being willing and able to play from a higher starting position, although Klopp will know that the Germany under-21 international needs to improve.
5. Players who had felt like they did not belong now feel central to events
When Klopp first arrived, the likes of Dejan Lovren, Emre Can, Roberto Firmino and Divock Origi were unsure of exactly what their roles were.
Lovren had been in and out of the side under Brendan Rodgers and was in danger of losing his way altogether. Can had been used as a centre back in a three man defence and as a right back but had been unable to establish himself in his favoured position: central midfield.
Firmino, whose talent had been identified by Edwards, felt on the periphery of things, none more so than when he was deployed as a winger in Liverpool’s 3-1 defeat to Manchester United in September 2015. Origi, meanwhile, had not started a game under Rodgers.
All four, to a greater or lesser extent depending on team selection, now have definite roles within the Liverpool squad. Before both suffered fitness problems which have restricted their recent involvement, Can and Origi had established themselves as first choice in midfield and attack respectively, Lovren is Klopp’s first choice partner for Matip and Firmino has become arguably Liverpool’s most influential player.
6. A change has done them good
Footballers are notorious for believing the position they play in is sacrosanct and woe betide anyone who tries to convince them that they should operate in a different role.
When Klopp first took over, Jordan Henderson was an attacking midfielder, Adam Lallana was a number ten who could also play wide in an attacking three, while one of the main reasons James Milner had moved to Liverpool was to play in central midfield.
A year on, Henderson is anchoring Liverpool’s midfield, Lallana has also been moved deeper and is becoming a more conventional midfielder and Milner is playing left back. All three are thriving.
One of the realities of football management is that players invariably have an unshakable belief about where they should play.
Not only has Klopp challenged that in the cases of Milner, Henderson and Lallana, he has brought out qualities in each that they may not have realised that they had and in doing so all of them are not only comfortable in their new roles, they are increasingly buying into their manager’s ideas.
As things stand, Daniel Sturridge is the exception, having stuck to his guns about playing centre forward rather than out wide. But with Klopp’s philosophy being that all players are attackers when they have the ball and defenders when they don’t, positions and roles will continue to be interchangeable.
7. Timing is everything
It went largely unnoticed but shortly after Klopp’s arrival, Daily Mail diarist Charlie Sale carried a short but typically well sourced piece which indicated that some Liverpool players were unhappy at changes to their training regime.
The gripe that the unnamed players had was that they had been used to training of a morning on a regular basis but Klopp was now moving the start time depending on the timing of Liverpool’s next game. As with their positions, players are often very protective of their established routine and as a result changes to it are rarely straightforward.
That the issue managed to find its way into the national media will not have impressed Klopp but he remained unmoved.
Not only was Melwood “a place of work,” as he told his squad in the first week of his reign, it would be a place of work at the times that he decided, regardless of what had happened in the past.
Reluctantly it may have been initially, but the Liverpool players are now fully on board with the new way of doing things as improving results and morale continue to suggest that their manager might well be onto something with his preferred methods.
8. Anfield has been roused from its slumbers
Prior to Klopp’s arrival, the loudest chant that would often be heard at Anfield was opposition supporters singing “Where’s your famous atmosphere.”
The lack of vocal backing from home fans was an issue that Klopp identified immediately and set about improving it; firstly by showing his disappointment when he felt the crowd had let the team down and secondly by endeavouring to give them a team that was worth shouting about.
It was in the aftermath of a 2-1 home defeat to Crystal Palace last November, that Klopp set about his task.
Scott Dann’s 82nd minute goal had triggered an exodus in the seats immediately behind his dugout and Klopp turned his back on the action watching scores of supporters leave and looking aghast as they did so.
“I felt pretty alone at this moment,” the Liverpool manager admitted afterwards but it is fair to say that he no longer feels like this.
With Klopp acting as touchline cheerleader, his team playing passionate, adventurous football and the stadium’s capacity having been increased by 8,000 following the renovation of the Main Stand, Anfield now feels buoyant again.
