Liverpool coach reveals how Klopp approach has affected transfer choices

Liverpool assistant manager Peter Krawietz has given some rare insight into the club’s recruitment process into Jurgen Klopp.

Klopp has transformed Liverpool over the past few years, with victories in the Champions League and Club World Cup in 2019 leading many to hail them as the best team on the planet – even if the man himself has denied the tag.

While spending big on ready made talent such as Virgil Van Dijk and Alisson Becker, Klopp has also overseen the growth of players like Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold, fitting them into a key part of his system.

Now, rarely heard assistant Krawietz has opened up on how the club have identified talent and made them work most effectively as a unit.

“If a coach gears his team to a certain style, he will certainly have to pay attention to a certain requirement profile,” he told Kicker (via Goal).

“If, for example, he decides on a high level of attacking pressure, this requires a certain degree of organisation. This is defined by the compactness of your team.

“This means, firstly, that these defenders have to be tactically skillful and courageous and, secondly, that they have to have a certain amount of speed because they naturally give up space.

“So that would be a prerequisite for defenders, and others are the attitude and tenacity of the whole team.”

 

Krawietz also denied that physicality is the most important part of Liverpool’s game, but their tactical efficiency and determination.

“Basically, in the end, it should not be a question of condition.

“It should be: how organised am I? With how much willingness do I really want to carry out this approach over 90 minutes? This is also a question of your own assertiveness.

“Now it all comes down to this: how impressed is a team at the moment when this method doesn’t work? Large space for the opponent, he might get a big scoring chance.

“Are you now ready to press as a team, do you stay convinced and draw energy from the moments when your plan is working out?

“There is a high demand on concentration and stamina of the inner attitude, less on the stamina of physical strength.”