Liverpool's Jurgen Klopp-era has come to an end after 9 years. After inheriting a team floundering the league and disconnected from its fans, he leaves them having reclaimed the Premier League title, won the Champions Leauge, and picked up almost everything else there is to win along the way.
But how did an otherwise unassuming man from Stuttgart completely change the trajectory of one of England's biggest clubs, and why will his legacy in the league be felt for so many years to come? Adam Clery travels back to 2015, and charts the man's course through footballing history.
But how did an otherwise unassuming man from Stuttgart completely change the trajectory of one of England's biggest clubs, and why will his legacy in the league be felt for so many years to come? Adam Clery travels back to 2015, and charts the man's course through footballing history.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00 Good morning everybody, Adam Clear here from 442, slightly concerned that there may be
00:08 too much blue at his top for the background to work effectively, but at least my therapist
00:12 will be thrilled as she's been telling me I need to be more transparent for years now.
00:17 That's not a joke.
00:19 Anyway, speaking of trauma, Jurgen Klopp has now officially left Liverpool, but before
00:23 we fully commit to the Arnie Slott era, which still sounds absolutely terrible to me, I
00:28 thought now would be a really good time to go back through the emotional, sporting and
00:33 tactical journey that Klopp took Liverpool FC on during his time at the helm.
00:38 Because when you look at where it started and you think about where it went, it is probably
00:42 one of the most fascinating stories in the entire history of English football.
00:47 So Jurgen Klopp, mind chum, this is your life.
00:53 Okay, so mighty Bush mode, let us now take a journey through time and space.
01:00 The year is 2015, Liverpool had not long ago very nearly won the league, but they came
01:04 into this season absolutely stinking of Brendan Rodgers.
01:09 And just before we go any further, Liverpool fans, just take a minute to look at this side,
01:15 breathe this in.
01:17 Somehow Klopp evolved this XI into one of the best teams in the history of the Premier
01:23 League.
01:24 You want to back three with the Emery Chan and if for some reason Moreno was still here,
01:28 Lucas and Milner were possibly the least threatening central midfield pair you've ever seen in
01:32 your life.
01:33 And also Danny Ings for some reason, they were unable to beat Everton that day.
01:37 Surprise, surprise and Rodgers got to the boot.
01:39 And in his place, four days later, Liverpool unveiled the appointments of Jurgen Klopp.
01:44 With that incredible success, Dortmund both massively dropped off in his final season
01:48 as it felt that project was sort of naturally coming to an end.
01:51 So his stock maybe wasn't as high as it once was, but just his personality and the way
01:57 he connected with the fan base and what he had done at that club felt that he was a perfect
02:01 fit for an aspiring Premier League team.
02:04 And it does seem obvious now given his talent with the club, but when the appointment was
02:07 initially made, people didn't really put those connections between Dortmund and Liverpool
02:12 as footballing institutions together right away.
02:15 Like Dortmund are a massive club in Germany, but in recent years have been unable to compete
02:19 with the financial powerhouses in their league.
02:22 But Klopp came in, recognised that their greatest strength was the connection between the team,
02:27 the fan base and the city, used that along with some good tactical innovation and some
02:31 smart shopping in the transfer window to bridge the gap and bring success.
02:35 And that was exactly what he was going to have to do at Liverpool because this team
02:39 could not at the time spend what the other teams were spending.
02:42 And more importantly, there was this fractured relationship between them and those in the
02:47 stands.
02:48 And he certainly didn't fix it all immediately.
02:50 The first steps he took were absolutely massive.
02:54 And this was the Liverpool 11 for Jurgen Klopp's first match in charge.
02:59 He took Emery Chan out of central defence and put him in the midfield, restoring them
03:03 to a back full, but also giving them his sort of work rate, versatility and just presence
03:07 in the middle of the pitch.
03:09 He brought Philip Coutinho into the number 10 role so he could drop back and sort of
03:12 get more involved with the play, giving Liverpool more control on the ball, but also allowing
03:16 him to drop out wide to the flanks to help create overloads and just generally be a bit
03:19 more creative.
03:20 And while Adam Lallana and James Milner might feel miles away from what he eventually wanted
03:24 his players on the flanks to do in this side, their involvement was actually the first clue
03:30 about how this side were going to play.
03:32 Between these two and Emery Chan, this Liverpool side now had in the centre of the pitch three
03:37 incredibly hardworking, intelligent players whose job was to try and regain possession
03:43 as soon as Liverpool lost it in their opponent's third.
03:46 Like we think of counter pressing now as a very common thing, pretty much every team
03:49 has a system designed to do it in some capacity, but this was, for the Premier League at least,
03:54 a relatively new development.
03:56 Now there aren't too many good stats really available from this far back in Premier League
04:00 history, but what you can see is that by the end of this season, this Liverpool side were
04:05 on top of the league for the number of defensive duels won.
04:09 And what's particularly interesting about that is all the teams around them on that
04:12 metric are the scrappers at the bottom of the league who had very little of the ball
04:16 and were constantly trying to win it back all over the pitch.
04:20 Liverpool really focused it in the opponent's half and still did it more than anyone else.
04:24 And while they did only finish eighth in the league that season, it was obvious that this
04:28 was immediately effective.
04:30 Like Liverpool ranked 14th in the Premier League for the number of goals scored during
04:35 Rodgers' brief time at the start of the season, and then ranked second overall for all the
04:40 games that Klopp was in charge.
04:41 Like straight away, there was something happening here.
04:45 Over time as well, Klopp managed to integrate Firmino into this role after Rodgers had been
04:49 using him inexplicably as like a right wing back.
04:51 So all of a sudden, you didn't just have these three, but you had him working back
04:55 the way as well.
04:56 But while you can sort of see here the building blocks of like the tactical evolution Liverpool
05:00 were going on, one thing that Klopp pretty much just flicked a switch and fixed was the
05:05 mentality of the club as a whole.
05:07 There is a fantastic episode out right now on Walk On, which is the Athletics dedicated
05:12 Liverpool podcast, where they go on this huge retrospective of his time at the club.
05:17 And one thing they raised on here, which I was not aware of at all, was the defeat to
05:21 Crystal Palace.
05:22 This was Klopp's first defeat as Liverpool manager at a time when there was still clearly
05:26 this fracturous relationship between the club and the fans.
05:30 And after Palace got a late winner, the stadium just emptied.
05:34 When asked about it in his press conference, Klopp was absolutely baffled that with his
05:37 team chasing a one goal deficit at home, people would choose to get up and leave.
05:43 He couldn't understand the mentality behind that.
05:45 I think the exact words he used were, "But we decide when the match is over, not the
05:49 opposition."
05:50 I know a lot of people around think now, "Oh my God, James Leaks slips through our finger
05:55 again, only if we let it slip."
05:58 And when you look at Liverpool over the last couple of years, it seems absolutely insane
06:02 that a single person in Anfield would see their side losing and think, "We might not
06:07 win something here."
06:08 Like big comebacks, late wins, huge goals in the depths of games became the absolute
06:14 trademark of this side.
06:16 And it did not take long for Klopp to show them why they should never, ever leave early.
06:22 Almost certainly the most important win Klopp got in that first season was the second leg
06:26 of the Europa League tie against Dortmund at Anfield.
06:29 They'd acquitted themselves relatively well in the away leg, but fell behind to two early
06:33 goals and after nicking one back, conceded the third and with half an hour to go, the
06:38 tie looked dead.
06:40 But between then and the final whistle, Jürgen Klopp managed to show everybody exactly what
06:45 his Liverpool side was going to be about.
06:48 On the pitch, they dug deep.
06:49 They found the mentality required not to go under in this game.
06:52 James Milder flying into a tackle here against Marco Reus to stop a counter-attack.
06:57 And on the touchline, you saw Klopp at his theatrical best.
07:00 He was whipping the stadium into a frenzy.
07:03 Every tackle, every pass, every near miss, he was getting them involved in the game and
07:08 that spurred the team on to do even more.
07:11 But more important than any of that though, he identified a crucial tactical tweak he
07:15 could make in-game and he used that to go on and win it.
07:20 Liverpool were getting way more space on the right-hand side than they were on the left
07:23 and Dortmund's right-back was not getting any cover or support when balls came into
07:27 the box.
07:28 And so Daniel Sturridge, who was now up front, kept dropping off to that right-hand side
07:32 to create overloads with James Milder and Dejan Lovren, at set-pieces and in open play,
07:37 was sneaking his way all the way to that right-back area to win headers.
07:42 Dortmund had a let-off and a warning when he volleyed over from this exact scenario
07:46 late in the game, but they did not learn from it.
07:48 They did not address it.
07:49 Liverpool made one more chance down that right-hand side.
07:52 Milder crosses it to the back post and there, bullying the defender, is Dejan Lovren.
07:57 And it was said at the time it was one of Liverpool's greatest ever European nights,
08:02 but it was probably the moment where it all clicked for Klopp.
08:06 Clicked for Klopp?
08:07 I like that.
08:08 And from there, with the players buying into what he wanted to do, the fans now back on
08:12 side, Jurgen Klopp went to the board and convinced them it was time to build something.
08:18 Klopp dumped the 4-2-3-1 and moved to the 4-3-3 that would come to define his time at
08:24 Liverpool.
08:25 Joel Madip, Jorginho Wijnaldum and Sadio Mane arrived in the transfer window.
08:29 A debut was given to a one-young Trent Alexander-Arnold and Jordan Henderson began to re-establish
08:35 himself in the starting eleven.
08:36 And while it's still a few very notable players away from being that dominant Liverpool side
08:41 we think of, the building blocks were there almost instantly.
08:45 And as a result, this was the first time we properly started to see that Klopp-Liverpool
08:50 system.
08:51 The fullbacks were very, very attacking and Emre Can would drop deep to screen the back
08:55 four.
08:56 Firmino was now showing himself to be one of the best ball-playing false nines in world
08:59 football.
09:00 He would drop away from the front line creating space for Coutinho and Mane to get in and
09:04 attack.
09:05 And then with the fullbacks pressed high, providing the majority of the width, Henderson
09:09 and Wijnaldum became these two just high-energy, determined and dogged number eights.
09:15 Like traditionally in a 4-3-3 you expect the two number eights to be the players attacking
09:20 the half space and supporting the centre forward.
09:21 But Klopp eschewed that idea.
09:24 Their job was to regain possession.
09:26 Their job was to cover the spaces in behind the fullbacks and win it back when Liverpool
09:30 lost it in the opposition half.
09:31 And while they did only finish fourth this year, the numbers they started to post were
09:35 getting a little scary.
09:37 They were third in the league for combined tackles and interceptions.
09:41 Again, surrounded exclusively in those graphs by the teams at the bottom of the league.
09:46 And while they were the third highest goal scorers in the league, they actually were
09:49 top for the number of actual attempts on goal.
09:52 So they were creating more chances than anybody else.
09:55 So you put those two things together, they are fighting and winning the ball back like
09:59 a team scrapping for its life, but also creating in the final third like potential league winners.
10:05 I think what's really interesting about this season is while they were some way off the
10:09 pace at the top of the league, I think there were nearly 20 points behind Chelsea who ended
10:12 up winning it.
10:13 They actually went unbeaten all season against the entire traditional top six.
10:19 And I think what that told you, even this early on in Klopp's reign, was this was a
10:22 team and a manager and a system that was going to disrupt the very top of the league just
10:27 while it was still dropping points to Burnley here and there or Sunderland or Gengby or
10:31 Bournemouth.
10:32 It just wasn't quite the finished article.
10:34 In fact, with Mane and Coutinho finishing as the top scorers that year with only 13
10:39 goals each, it really did feel like all it was lacking was somebody who could just put
10:44 the ball in the net a little bit more reliably.
10:47 And so that very next summer, enter Juan Mo Salah, to howls of derision, to choruses of
10:53 laughter from Chelsea fans telling you what a flop he was when he was there and how that
10:57 was an absolute total waste of money.
10:59 He took up that right sided attacking position again in the same system with Firmino dropping
11:04 out to leave him a space and cover coming over from the fullback.
11:08 And he scored 32 goals.
11:11 They added Andy Robertson from Hull City that summer and then somehow in the January window
11:15 basically managed to trade Phil Coutinho plus about 25 million for Virgil van Dijk.
11:21 Combine that all with the fact that Alexander-Arnold was now far more established in this side
11:25 and come the start of 2018, here it was pretty much that idealised Liverpool attack in all
11:32 of its glory.
11:33 Now they did finish this season empty handed, which does sound bad, but also doesn't really
11:37 tell you the full story of it at all.
11:39 They were really comfortable in the Champions League spots pretty much all season and then
11:43 fell away two fourth because they were on their way to the Champions League final with
11:48 what at the time was a very thin squad.
11:51 And obviously we don't need to go into details about what happened that night in Kiev, but
11:55 were it not for those shenanigans surrounding the goalkeeper, Liverpool looked every single
12:00 inch equal of Real Madrid and they'd even put City out in the quarters to get there.
12:05 And that summer the final pieces of the puzzle arrived.
12:08 Emre Can was replaced by Fabinho, Lloris Karius was replaced by Alisson and all of a sudden
12:13 Liverpool just had every tool they needed in their box to go and be one of the best
12:18 teams in the world.
12:19 And what's crazy is while we're talking about the addition of a defensive midfielder and
12:23 a goalkeeper, these two signings allowed Liverpool to become the ultimate attacking force because
12:28 the system before of pushing the full back really far on, of having the two number eights
12:33 all float around and try and win the ball back, puts a lot of work and responsibility
12:38 on the defensive midfielder and also the goalkeeper because of the high line it creates.
12:43 And the reality is Fabinho and Alisson were massive upgrades in that position.
12:47 So Liverpool could be more reckless.
12:49 They could be more forward thinking and not concede more goals as a consequence.
12:53 Like when Liverpool were in full flow attacking, both the full backs would be committed to
12:58 it.
12:59 Robertson would constantly be looking for overlaps on that side.
13:00 Alexander-Arnold would be doing the same, but also sort of floating quite narrowly there
13:05 to get crosses into the box.
13:06 And that just left such a huge gaping chasm at the back, which Alisson just so happily
13:12 swept up into.
13:13 And the thing is, while when you talk about this attack, it would be so easy to expunge.
13:17 Is that a word?
13:18 I don't know if it is about how good the front three were and how Salah got into all these
13:23 pockets of space.
13:24 Now the link up play was excellent.
13:25 The one truly innovative thing that Klopp was doing here was in Robertson and Alexander-Arnold.
13:32 And purely in terms of the numbers, right, this Liverpool side differed to all the other
13:35 top teams in the league in sort of two regards.
13:38 Like first of all, they put in way, way more crosses than any of the other sides at that
13:43 end of the table.
13:44 And second of all, their top assisters were both defenders.
13:49 This first season, Alexander-Arnold and Robertson were the third and fifth highest assisters
13:54 in the league, surrounded by players like Eden Hazard, Christian Eriksen and Leroy Sane.
13:59 The next season, they were second and third behind only Kevin De Bruyne and ahead of like
14:04 Silva and Son.
14:05 And attacking or overlapping fullbacks was not exactly a new thing.
14:08 It had been going on in the Premier League forever, but no team had ever really done
14:11 it on both sides all the time.
14:14 Even Man City that season, who were obviously the most attacking team in the league, had
14:18 Walker and Mendy, but those two combined got half as many assists as Andy Robertson.
14:24 And it was at this point at Klopp's time at Liverpool where teams just did not have a
14:28 clue what you were supposed to do against them.
14:30 Like if they tried to force the ball out wide, well that's where the two most creative players
14:35 were.
14:36 If you try to funnel them through the middle to win it back, then that's when the counter
14:38 press would kick in and as soon as you opened up, they'd play the ball into their front
14:42 three.
14:43 If you just try to be hyper defensive and lock in all the space imaginable, well Salah,
14:47 Firmino and Mane were so technically good at the ball, so capable of interchanges, so
14:51 capable of quick close control, they could still just sort of play through you.
14:56 And then even if you decided to man Mark, it wasn't uncommon to see these triangles
15:00 out wide completely rotate.
15:02 Like Jordan Henderson would quite often get out wide to sort of stretch the play a little
15:06 bit to allow Alexander-Arnold to come inside a bit more and Salah to drop away from the
15:10 forward line to receive space.
15:12 There was no real clear anti-strategy for what they were doing.
15:16 Anti-strategy, that's the word.
15:17 And so this undeniably is Liverpool underclock at their absolute peak, right?
15:22 Like when you think back on this team in years to come, that's the XI you can imagine, isn't
15:27 it?
15:28 Well, one of my favourite sort of anomalies in football, right, is that this XI for Liverpool
15:34 actually only ever started one game together.
15:38 Now genuinely, honestly, I'm not making that up.
15:41 The Champions League final against Tottenham, Duncan Alexander pointed this out on Twitter
15:44 and my brain fell clean out of my ear when I read it.
15:48 That was the only time Liverpool ever had this XI from the start of the match.
15:53 That's because while Issa undoubtedly the stars of the Klopp era, he had built so much
15:57 depth in that side as well.
15:59 Like Joe Gomez was there, James Millar was there, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Shedron Shaqiri,
16:04 Naby Keita.
16:05 Like even in the season where they went on to win the Champions League, Lovren, Sturridge
16:09 and Lallana were still there and made like 15 appearances across the season.
16:14 Like Klopp didn't just build this side by buying an expensive goalkeeper and buying
16:18 an expensive defender.
16:20 He got buy-in and he improved the players that were already on the books.
16:24 He made the whole club in his image.
16:26 But the thing is, it wasn't the Champions League win that really felt like the culmination
16:30 of this side, was it?
16:31 Like it was the Premier League win the following season.
16:34 And even I, a not Liverpool fan, do think it's a massive shame we didn't get to see
16:39 Klopp in a packed out Anfield raising that trophy.
16:43 Covid took away what should have been the crowning achievement of this side.
16:48 And by the way, if you just want any proof how important the relationship with the fans,
16:53 the relationship with the crowd at Anfield was for pushing this team forward, just look
16:57 at the season they had before we went into lockdown and look at it after.
17:02 In the 28 games before Covid hit, Liverpool had dropped four points all season.
17:09 Like they were on to break every single record imaginable.
17:13 And then when football came back and there was no crowd, they got hammered 4-0 off City.
17:18 They dropped points at Burnley.
17:20 They only won six out of the last 10 matches and spluttered over the finish line still,
17:25 still with an improbable points total.
17:28 And maybe it's not really my place to say this, not being a Liverpool fan, but when
17:31 I think about this team, it's not the year they won the league that I'm going to remember.
17:36 It's the year before that when they didn't.
17:38 To somehow get 97 points and still not win the league is something that can only happen
17:41 in this reality where Pap Guardiola for some reason exists, right?
17:45 But I just want to take you to the one game they lost all season away at City themselves.
17:52 This now infamous goal line scramble was this close to going in that net.
17:58 And if it had done, if it had just been that much further over, Liverpool wouldn't just
18:02 have won the league that season.
18:04 They would have done so as Centurions with over 100 points and they would have done so
18:09 as Invincibles not having lost in the entire campaign.
18:13 If they had done that, and remember we're only talking about literally a fraction of
18:18 a centimetre from that happening, then I think you genuinely can start having the conversation
18:23 about greatest ever Premier League team, not just one of the greats.
18:27 And that for me is how I'll remember this Jurgen Klopp team, like this close to being
18:33 considered the greatest ever.
18:35 Like don't get me wrong, the success they had, all the same, they wouldn't have lead
18:38 them in the Champions League if they won everything.
18:40 That is still amazing.
18:42 But it just feels like as the years roll on, his place in that conversation just won't
18:47 ever be where it really should be because of that.
18:50 Now you might be sitting there quite correctly thinking that's not the whole story, Adam.
18:54 You've not talked about Trent Alexander-Arnold inverting into the midfield or the big fire
18:59 sale and rebuild they've done this season.
19:01 And you are right, but this point in the story is where we launched 442, the YouTube channel.
19:06 So if you want to learn about all that, there's dedicated videos that go into it on a match
19:10 by match basis.
19:11 What a salesman.
19:12 And of course, as we said at the start, this is the end of the Jurgen Klopp era and we
19:16 now move into the Arnie Slott era.
19:18 And if you want some coverage of that, they'll be just as good, if not better than this,
19:22 then please do consider subscribing to us here on 442 because they've been one of the
19:26 most interesting tactical teams in the world in the last couple of years.
19:30 And I don't think for all the things that will change, that will be one of them.
19:33 In the meantime, you can get me on any social media you like at Adam Cleary, CLERY, the
19:38 4.2 social in the corner of the video.
19:39 The latest issue of the mag is the Euros issue.
19:42 Is that the right word?
19:43 Oh, no.
19:44 It's the Euros issue.
19:45 It's available at all good retailers now.
19:46 And of course, the crap ones as well.
19:47 It comes with a free Euros guide and a wall chart if you are deep down a nine year old
19:53 like me.
19:54 Anyway, until next time, there is an old Dr. Seuss quote that I like to just add a little
19:58 bit on to the end.
19:59 There are awful times such as these, right?
20:02 And the quote is, don't be sad that it's over.
20:05 Just be happy that it happened.
20:06 And the bit I like to add on at the end is, f*** off Dr. Seuss.