Football according to Klopp: his tactical evolution and training activities

There is no doubt that Jürgen Klopp (born 1967, in Stuttgart) is one of the most capable coaches in modern football and, for many, probably the best team-builder there is today. The way in which he imposed his stamp on Borussia Dortmund and later rejuvenated Liverpool has left an obvious mark on how modern football is perceived, a view that inspires a great number of young coaches.

Starting from the three pillars that support the success of these clubs -the coach’s personality, his creation of a cultural identity around the team, and his pure tactical doctrine-, it’s possible to outline the specific guidelines of the Klopp Method, characterized by the speed, energy, and high intensity of the players who put it into practice.

This book is a detailed, deep, and specific analysis of the way in which the German coach forms his teams, through the four moments in which he divides the game: the defensive and offensive phases and transitions. In this didactic breakdown, supported by an abundance of images, this spotlight will illuminate the center of Klopp’s football universe: Gegenpressing, the staging of offensive transitions from turnovers, first applied in Dortmund and then perfected in Liverpool as an incredibly effective tactic. No longer impulsive, but optimized; a particularly effective idea that helped Klopp’s football consolidate its recent supremacy over Pep Guardiola’s teams.

As a synthesis of the purely tactical aspect of Klopp’s work, this is undoubtedly an attractive book for football lovers and an essential and rigorous read for coaches and scholars.