‘Klopp Won’t Let Anyone Watch Sessions’: Liverpool Manager Touted as Expert in Keeping Trade Secrets
As six-time European champions Liverpool FC are set to face off against Danish visitors Midtjylland for the first time when they meet in Group D of the Champions League campaign on Tuesday, Jurgen Klopp's team are aiming to follow up last week's win at Ajax Amsterdam on 21 October.
Ahead of the matchup, analysts are cited as saying that Liverpool FC’s German manager is uniquely guarded on professional trade secrets such as the specifics of the UK Premier League club’s supreme pressing technique, writes The Independent.
“Klopp won’t let anyone watch the sessions,” a source close to the club was cited as saying.
Some analysts believe this may be the secret to his success at the top end of the game.
German football coach and retired player Alexander Zorniger was cited as saying:
“The way top teams handle their defensive organisation to win the ball back has been decisive in every major title for the past few years… Even France looked for organisation in transition. I deeply believe that a team that is 100% perfect playing with the ball will lose to a team that is 100% perfect organised against the ball.”
This approach is purportedly what Jurgen Klopp works tirelessly on, with the result manifested on the pitch.
This explains why he won’t let anyone see the work behind it on the training pitch, claims the outlet.
The highly co-ordinated and drilled to perfection attack tactic, also called ‘Gegenpressing’, which is tantamount to an attempt to put pressure on the opposition team when they have the ball, is an “attacking defense” style covering the entire field that is often attributed to Jurgen Klopp.
Pep Guardiola, former Spanish professional football player, who is the current manager of Premier League club Manchester City, is another notable example, having utilized the tactic while managing FC Barcelona.
An improvement in pressing is widely seen by sources as the major reason German club Bayern Munich won the Champions League, with shortcomings in the tactic viewed as one of the likely reasons Manchester City again failed in the competition.
Meanwhile, as Jurgen Klopp's team are hoping to follow up last week's win at Ajax with another victory on Tuesday, their trio of Thiago Alcantara, Naby Keita and Joel Matip reportedly won’t be ready to face Danish champions FC Midtjylland.
Keita has missed three games after testing positive for coronavirus, while Thiago and Matip sustained injuries at Everton.
Meanwhile, Midtjylland, who made their Champions League debut in last week's 4-0 home defeat to Atalanta are being credited as a “proper challenger in this group," by Klopp.
"No-one is part of the Champions League because they are nice cities, they are in the Champions League because they earned the right the year before… There are no small teams in the Champions League, there are only teams who show how big they are on the pitch, not in the press conferences before games,” the German manager added.
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