Liverpool have discovered the ultimate playmaker to confirm Jrgen Klopp evolution is complete – Liverpool.com

If you wanted to look at how far Liverpool have come under the management of Jrgen Klopp, you only have to look at the competitions they have won and continue to compete for these days, compared with when he was first appointed. The German did remarkably well to guide the side he inherited to the League Cup and Europa League finals in 2016, but the Reds have far bigger targets in mind now.

But in terms of how they have advanced this far, clearly there have been many factors. Perhaps most importantly, the clubs recruitment has been outstanding over an extended period, with players brought in who fit perfectly with how Klopp wants his team to play.

But perhaps most vital of all has been an ability to turn what was arguably the Reds biggest weakness of their current managers reign into a strength. That takes serious hard work, and we have seen evidence of it in the recent victories over Everton and Villarreal.

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Much was said regarding Klopps style of heavy metal football when he was appointed and the impact of that was seen from day one. Theres a famous image of Adam Lallana almost collapsing in his managers arms when he was substituted in Klopps first game in charge, a 0-0 draw at Tottenham. The Reds were now a high pressing team and determined to prove that whether home or away.

However, opposition managers are not dumb. How do you stop a team that thrives on winning the ball high up the pitch to create goalscoring opportunities? Give them the ball and challenge them to break down your deep-lying defence.

Liverpool were repeatedly set this test in 2015/16 and then Klopps first full season at the helm, and repeatedly they failed it. In those two campaigns, the Reds had 10 league matches in which they had at least 70 per cent of the possession, and they won just three of them. Even then, one of the victories saw Hull City receive a first-half red card, so when playing against 11 men who had no interest in having the ball, Liverpool usually struggled.

But theres no interest in having the ball, and then theres what Everton served up at Anfield last weekend. The Reds recorded the second highest possession figure seen in a Premier League match since 2003/04 (when records began) in the latest edition of the Merseyside derby. Yet despite attempting 82.4 per cent of the total passes, Liverpool were still able to force six high turnovers.

These are defined by Opta as sequences that start in open play and begin 40m or less from the opponents goal, and they give a good indication of pressing in-or-just-outside the final third. While the Reds total of six against Everton was down on their seasonal average, it was a decent effort in light of Evertons play dead tactics. And more importantly, one of the high turnovers led to Liverpools opening goal.

The Blues were unable to play their way out of defence thanks to the close attention of multiple men in red, Fabinho recovered the ball and the sequence leading to the goal was underway. It was the seventh time Liverpool have scored from a high turnover in the league this season, more than any other team in the division. Klopps men may not have been as productive in an attacking sense from pressing high against Villarreal, but they still set a new benchmark for 2021/22 with their efforts.

Where once possession-averse teams confounded Liverpool, they can now have majority ownership of the ball and still win it back. This means it works from a defensive standpoint as well as from the more obvious attacking perspective, and that was very evident against Unai Emerys side.

Villarreal simply could not get out from the back, so swarmed were they by Liverpool players. The Spanish side completed just six open play passes into the final third all evening; Trent Alexander-Arnold alone was successful with three times as many. While they had been under pressure for much of their quarter-final tie with Bayern Munich, they were still able to break out and have a total of 16 shots in the 180 minutes. At Anfield, they had just one, and that from a set-piece situation.

The tables from five years ago have been well and truly turned for Liverpool. Where they were once clueless when having lots of possession, their opponents are now hopeless in both attacking and defensive terms when they do. Klopp famously once said that no playmaker in the world can be as good as a good counter-pressing situation, but his side have perhaps proved that no defensive midfielder can be as good going the other way either.

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Liverpool have discovered the ultimate playmaker to confirm Jrgen Klopp evolution is complete - Liverpool.com