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"Bayern go about football in the same way that the Chinese go about industry," said Jurgen Klopp, after his Borussia Dortmund side lost to Bayern Munich in the German Cup in 2012/13. "They look at what the others are doing and then they copy it with other people and more money. And then they overtake you."
His high-pressure gegenpress style of play which propelled Dortmund from relegation candidates to serial title winners was effectively plagiarised by Bayern Munich during their treble win 12/13, and this irked Klopp. "I always said in that moment where I believe I am not the perfect coach anymore for this extraordinary club I will say so," he said in the announcement of his plan to resign at the end of the 2014/15.
At Liverpool, Klopp has the opportunity to build a team and another legacy - and this time inherits a group of players in far less perilous a situation than the Borussia Dortmund team he led to successive Bundesliga titles.
How Klopp turned Dortmund around
The Dortmund side Klopp took charge of in 2008 had spent the previous season flirting with relegation and dismissing a series of managers. Klopp came in, looked around and wasted no time removing veteran players and replacing them with young stars capable of growing into a real force.
Klopp's enthusiasm had an immediate effect and he was so popular that according to FourFourTwo, one of those older players he moved on said "One reason I'm sorry to leave the club is that I would have loved to work with this coach."
The gegenpress, a German-Anglo word which means literally "counter-press" is an all-action, high tempo, exhausting take on Barcelona's high pressure game where the ball is won as high up the pitch as possible immediately after losing possession.
Klopp once told FourFourTwo: “Gegenpressing is the best playmaker there is. The best moment to win the ball is immediately after your team just lost it. The opponent is still looking for orientation where to pass the ball.”
The idea makes sense - catch your opponent in transition and their defensive shape will not be as it should. Teams spend hours and hours and hours on training grounds drilling defensive shapes - even Newcastle can defend when they've been afforded time to set up properly - but if they can be caught out of sorts, like Sergio Aguero discovered during their 6-1 demolition at Manchester City last Saturday, space opens up everywhere.
Brendan Rodgers phased out this high press when he lost Luis Suarez, who is probably the best striker in the world for relentlessly closing down opponents, and abandoned it altogether when Raheem Sterling left for Manchester City, where his direct style of play suits the "defend from the front" mentality Manuel Pellegrini employs.
The system only works if every single player presses at the same time, and creates a kind of swarm effect which overpowers defenders and midfielders and forces them to make errors.
A good example is in Dortmund's 4-2 win over Bayern Munich in the 2013 DFL-Supercup.
Klopp liked to play his attacking midfielders close together, particularly Goetze and Reus, so that when one closed down and won the ball, the other was able to take advantage of the loose ball, link up play, and counter-attack. In the example above the Bayern midfielder is closed down by two players, with his passing lanes all blocked off by others.
The attacking players win the ball and burst into life. Reus crosses in from the right and Lewandowski is in space and unfortunate not to get the ball past Manuel Neuer.
The Barcelona high press used by Pep Guardiola was designed to retain possession, so when the ball was stolen back high up the pitch, it would be recycled and passed around the entire team for 25 hours
Klopp's version is basically all-out attack - the ball always goes forwards and is not passed from side to side. This means that Dortmund could attack in that crucial transitive phase between attack and defence that creates opportunities, and is why Dortmund could go two or three goals up in a short period of time, putting the game to bed. Just like that Liverpool 5 Arsenal 1, although admittedly two of those goals came from shocking defending at set pieces.
When defending from something like a goal kick, players are either tight to the opposite midfielder or defender who is most likely to receive the ball, and zonally mark the passing lane (the area which a player can pass into). This forces the player on the ball to make a pass they really don't want to, which often ends in a change of possession.
So how can he do that at Liverpool? Will he try and do the same things? Would they work in the Premier League?
Liverpool's pressing precedents
In the 2013/14 season, Liverpool absolutely demolished Arsenal in a scintilating first half. They pressed high up the pitch, caught the visiting side off guard everytime they got the ball and raced to a 4-0 scoreline within 20 minutes.
It was a tactic employed throughout Liverpool's journey to second place, as Brendan Rodgers' team consistently dominated and exploited mistakes in their opponent's half. It was exciting, direct and exactly what Borussia Dortmund used to do.
For Liverpool's third in that rout, they forced Nacho Monreal down a path he didn't want to explore and won the ball.
Immediately after that, every single attacking player who was instructed to do so sprinted up the pitch to take advantage of Arsenal being out of defensive shape.
Henderson drives forward, plays in Suarez on the right, who finds Sterling. Arsenal's defenders are all over the place and Liverpool have taken full advantage.
No enemy but time
The biggest problem Klopp will face implementing this tactic is time. In Germany he had pre-seasons to work on fitness and tactics and, crucially, a winter break. Klopp would take his players on a winter sun camp to Spain. Last year, it completely turned Dortmund's season around.
Bundesliga table 2014/15 before the winter break
Bundesliga table 2014/15 AFTER the winter break
Klopp's years of success and exciting football before his final disappointing season in Germany cannot be ignored. He is one of Europe's great managers but at Dortmund he was given time when he needed it, and had the time to fix problems. As bad as Dortmund's league position was in December 2014, goals they conceded and chances they missed were down to individual errors. During the winter break, Klopp managed to fix all of this.
There are no breaks in the Premier League, Liverpool have to play midweek Europa League games and we're heading towards the notoriously busy festive period. This season might have to be written off while Klopp works out what needs to be done.
What is required?
Klopp is being brought in because FSG think the squad Liverpool has is good enough to be in closer contention for the title, and because Brendan Rodgers's slow, sideways passing approach was not making best use of the assets available.
Klopp can definitely change the way Liverpool play for the better, but whether the Anfield faithful will have enough patience to wait to see the benefits is something we'll find out at the end of the season.
What about the players? Klopp usually set up his team at Dortmund in a 4-2-3-1. Here's an example of one from 2013:
seems likely that he'd do the same at Liverpool. Based on the types of player he tended to use - particularly when playing Aubemeyang out wide rather than up front where he prefers - he might have a problem with the current playing squad. If similar players are placed in similar positions, Rodgers has left him with this:
But all those expensive signings he brought in over the last few seasons really want to play like this:
Can the Dortmund approach work at Liverpool?
Christian Benteke is a diet version of Robert Lewandowski - he can hold up the ball, link play and provides genuine threat from crosses but he's not Lewandowski. If Klopp employs the non-stop gegenpress, he'll want energy in behind which means he has to pick from Ings (a striker), Sturridge (a striker), Firmino (nobody knows) and the list goes on.
Daniel Sturridge has been superb for Liverpool (when available) and should be a first pick at number nine. But he's just not the same kind of player that Klopp has traditionally employed in that role. When Lewandowski left Klopp struggled to replace him - as any manager would - but signings like Ciro Immobile, designed to offer a similar style of play upfront, simply didn't work out.
There is always the chance that Sturridge could be played alongside Benteke, or another striker of course, in some sort of 4-3-1-2, or 3-4-1-2 as Klopp has done before. He's used 4-3-3 occasionally as well. Some of his critics have suggested that at times he changed his formation too much and too often.
So what we have here is a young, ambitious manager who found it too difficult to replace two of his best players in subsequent seasons, made poor transfers in and attempt to plug the gap and had to adjust his style of play accordingly.
Sound familiar?
Brendan Rodgers tried to work his way through several transitionary periods of his own making and could never quite work it out. Klopp finds himself in the middle of someone else's mess, in a league where his nearest rivals have already overtaken and outspent.
Klopp will bring some much needed optimism and enthusiasm to Anfield. Whether he can bring the exciting style of play he pioneered at Borussia Dortmund is another matter altogether. If he can do it this season it will be an amazing achievement.
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