Klopp on tactical formations and the pressure of managing Liverpool

Jurgen Klopp has spoken today about his tactical approach to managing Liverpool, revealing that the 4-2-3-1 formation used in recent matches is nothing new to him.

Klopp’s philosophy has always centred on granting his players the freedom to express themselves on the field, rather than having them stick to a set formation throughout the game.

And the manager has today elaborated on the systems he uses and the pressures that accompany his role as head coach of one of the biggest clubs in world football.

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BELGRADE, SERBIA – NOVEMBER 6: Jurgen Klopp consoles Roberto Firmino after the Champions League match between Liverpool FC and Red Star Belgrade on November 6, 2018 in Belgrade, Serbia. (Getty Images)

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“We played [the 4-2-3-1] from time to time, we didn’t only play it at the beginning when I came in,” said Klopp, according to LiverpoolFC.com.

“We played it last year, I think we played it in the last game. We played different systems. But I don’t think too much about things like that, I’m always in the situation. I use my experience with only what I can remember – I don’t go through my papers and think, ‘What did we do in that situation?’

“I’m pretty sure we played a diamond because I played it always when I had the opportunity to do it, bringing in two strikers and stuff like that.

“Our system, when we play with all three up front, is something like a diamond; it can be a 4-5-1, it can be a 4-3-3. Of course, 4-2-3-1 – 4-4-1-1 I’d prefer in most situations to name it – is a good system.

“But it’s never about the system, it’s all about the players. My job is to bring the players into the best position where they can help the team most with the things they can do. If I can do it with the system, I do it, but it’s not that we go through the week and be very creative with things like that because, in the end, the players need to play [on instinct].

“If I need an hour or two to explain what I want from them, maybe I have got them [in the mind] but I don’t get them deeper. That’s the problem.

“Don’t make football more complicated than it is; the game has enough demands for the players that we don’t need a manager who asks more questions.”

Klopp went on to explain why he isn’t weighed-down by pressure at Liverpool, viewing his job as a “blessing” more than anything else.

“I don’t feel pressure. That’s how it is,” said Klopp.

“I made a decision long ago for myself: I give everything I have. I don’t hold anything back. In this moment, I can’t do better. I am really like I am.

“I know a lot about football. Do I know everything? I don’t think anybody [does] but I know a lot about it. I expect a lot from myself but there is no pressure. We want to win each game and if we don’t win it then we want to win the next one.

“Any other decisions – how people look at me and what people think about me – I have nothing to do with that because I have no influence on it. As long as we win football games, everybody thinks – even if they don’t like me – ‘He’s a good manager’.

“And when we lose football games, the people who don’t like me and the people who like me say, ‘Maybe he’s not the right manager anymore’. That’s how it is. If you know that before, how can it put pressure on your shoulders? I really don’t understand that.

“In a period when you don’t win football games, it’s not easy to be in the same mood with the press as you are in other situations. But not because I don’t like the press; I have no real opinion. When we lose football games you ask questions I don’t have an answer for. ‘Why did you lose the game?’ – I could say because we conceded goals.

“All these things are clear before we start, so where’s the pressure? I don’t feel it. That’s the 100 per cent truth.

“I feel the intensity and the importance of the game, with different situations – Middlesbrough two years ago, Brighton last year, when we want to go to the Champions League with all we have, before finals of course – but it’s not pressure. I feel the intensity and the importance of the tournament and the situation.

“That’s why, pretty much most of the time, I’m in at least an OK mood. When I come in here and have no private problems, I’m in a really good mood because when I come in it’s the moment when we start changing things for the better. We have that chance every day.

“I love doing what I do, I feel really blessed that I have the opportunity to do it.”

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Source: anfieldhq.com