Klopp: We don't have to run 150km every game
Jürgen Klopp insists out-running opponents is part of the tactical ideals he wants to instil at Liverpool – but it's just one of several game plans he's hoping to introduce.
The Reds covered more ground than in any other of their Barclays Premier League games so far this season in the German’s first match in charge against Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday.
Liverpool tallied 116km in total at White Hart Lane and, in doing so, became the first side to clock up more distance than Spurs so far this term.
However, when asked by journalists at his pre-Rubin Kazan press conference whether he felt his team could sustain such levels when playing three games a week, Klopp was keen to explain why such a tactic is just one approach he’s looking to impose at Anfield, with the boss eager to make the Reds adaptable to what’s required on a game-by-game basis.
He said: “The biggest misunderstanding is that always people ask me if it’s possible to play this kind of football.
“When I started at Mainz, they would ask me each week, then at Dortmund they would ask me every three days.
“The thing is, you don’t have to play like this for 90 minutes. Your only possibility to learn is to start like this, but if you have the ball, you don’t have to run like crazy. If you get a better feeling for this kind of defending, it’s only the start.
“Of course, [in terms of] counter-pressing, if you watched Arsenal against Bayern yesterday, Bayern had 70 per cent ball possession and lost the game 2-0. That’s football.
“That was one of the first Arsenal games I’ve seen where they’ve played defensively – their defending was very disciplined with a good plan against Bayern, and they won the game.
“We need to have a plan and that’s what we are trying to do, but we don’t have to run 150km a game to be successful - we have to be prepared for each style we want to do.
“There is always talk about, ‘Can they do this every three days?’ Yes, of course we need healthy players, but we don’t kill the players – we train with them and they have the confidence and physical skills to do this because they are young, healthy and professionals.
“We ran 116km against Tottenham. There were 5km that were not useful and we did them – but we did them because we wanted to. It was not the most clever thing, but now we can try to turn the screws and do it in the right way, in the right moment, with better timing and [being] cooler with the ball. It will get better and better and better.
“If you play against a much better team and are not ready to run more than they are, then you are crazy. Tottenham have been together for a long time – they are stable with results and performances – so we had to give them problems, and that’s what we tried to do.
“Now we will try to create problems for Rubin Kazan.”
Meanwhile, Klopp is certain the messages he is delivering at Melwood are not being lost in translation.
Though a fluent English speaker, the 48-year-old feels his delivery of the language has room for improvement.
Nevertheless, Klopp is confident he is making himself clear to the entire squad.
He said: “I’m pretty sure the players understand what I say. It is football.
“Maybe for the players from foreign countries it is easier for them to understand me than those with a special English accent! But I have told all of the English players if they don’t understand me, they should give me a sign – and they’ve given me no sign up until now.
“It’s not too complicated what I have to say. I don’t think about my language at this moment – I want to improve and learn more, but what we are doing now, everything is okay.
“The most difficult situations [for me] are in press conferences, and I don’t care about press conferences! So if you [journalists] don’t understand me, then no problem – my players will understand me and that’s good!”