Inside Klopps Liverpool a season that flirted with immortality and ended in heartbreak – The Athletic

Champions dont complain, they are too busy getting better.

That was the motivational message, written in large letters, that greeted Jurgen Klopps squad when they assembled in the western Austrian state of Tyrol after a two-hour drive from Salzburg.

It was late last July and the Liverpool squad were at the midway point of an unprecedented four-week European training camp. Limbs were weary but spirits were high.

With the ongoing effects of the pandemic again ruling out the possibility of a lucrative pre-season tour to either America or Asia, Klopp and assistant Pep Lijnders had free reign to create what they regarded as the perfect base for the challenges ahead.

No long-haul travel, no commercial appearances, no unwanted distractions. They kept things fresh by dividing that precious month away between Salzburg, Tyrol and the French spa town of Evian. Both on and off the field, every box was ticked.

The contrast to the previous summer, when a spate of positive COVID-19 tests led to players isolating in their Austrian hotel rooms and training was hampered by monsoon conditions, could hardly have been more stark.

Liverpool had been running on empty by the end of the 2020-21 season. Their defence of the Premier League title had been derailed by a series of devastating injuries. The players hated the soulless environment of behind closed doors football and the strict protocols which meant they couldnt even eat meals together.

After a gutsy resurgence on the run-in salvaged Champions League qualification, Klopps men had nothing left to give. But when they were reunited in Salzburg two months later the mood was very different.

Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane had enjoyed the rare luxury of an extended summer break and the benefits were there for all to see. Trent Alexander-Arnold was similarly revitalised after a thigh injury in a pre-tournament warm-up game forced him to sit out the European Championship. Englands loss proved to be Liverpools gain.

The feel-good factor was fuelled by the return to the fold of centre-backs Virgil van Dijk, Joel Matip and Joe Gomez after lengthy injury rehabilitation programmes. The spine and structure of the team were being restored.

Groundstaff team manager Warren Scott was there too, at Klopps request, to ensure the training pitches were prepared exactly how the manager wanted them.

Klopp knew that being away from home for so long was a big ask for the players but he passionately explained to them how they would all benefit over the course of the season.

There were punishing double sessions.

Were not going to kill you on the first day I thought wed do that on the second day, roared Klopp.

Players had to complete six 1km runs, with just a minutes rest in between. James Milner once again proved himself to be the king of endurance as he showed others a clean pair of heels.

There was a big emphasis on training drills designed to increase the intensity of Liverpools counter-pressing as well as the fluency and potency of their counter-attacks. Lijnders, who puts together the training programme, spoke about the need to fine-tune the ability to hit opponents with organised chaos. There was a competitive element to every exercise with forfeits such as 30 push-ups for the losers.

The better you play, the more you play. The better you finish, the less you run. The worse you play, the more you run. Natural pressure, explained Lijnders.

Three months later, he would liken Liverpools ravenous front line to the raptors from Jurassic Park after Manchester United had been humiliated 5-0 at Old Trafford.

Away from the turf, the spirit and camaraderie in the squad were enhanced by quizzes, table-tennis competitions, bike rides and karaoke nights.

Towards the end of the Austrian leg of the trip, Klopp organised a party for the 40 or so staff members who had supported the players across the previous weeks. The manager wanted to say thank you for everyones commitment throughout a gruelling period during which many of them had spent a considerable amount of time away from their families. The pandemic meant the creation of two bubbles throughout July, with one set of employees being replaced by another halfway through the camp.

The venue was a mountain cabin set away from the team hotel in a secluded wooded area, high above the alpine town of Seefeld. There was a buffet of smoked meats and cheeses. Attendees could order whatever they wanted from a free bar.

Klopp did not give a speech but ensured he made his way around the room, starting conversations with each person.

It became clear during the course of the evening how highly he valued Harvey Elliott. In one of the UKs national newspapers, there was a story linking Liverpool to Saul Niguez, the Atletico Madrid midfielder who eventually signed for Chelsea. Klopp suggested the story was not true why would it be when Elliott, a teenager recently returned from a successful loan at Championship Blackburn, had trained so fantastically in Austria?

When Liverpool moved on to Evian, Klopp invited TV presenter, author and adventurer Ben Fogle to talk to the players about pushing yourself to the limit both physically and mentally. Fogle drew upon his experiences of rowing across the Atlantic Ocean, running 160 miles through the Sahara Desert and climbing Mount Everest. It went down well with his audience.

I helped them with their mind control and mental agility under pressure through the context of my own expeditions, Fogle said. Already great footballers, the challenge was how to keep on top of their game when it is not one single mountain, but a whole mountain range that you have to climb each season consistency in the face of expectation and pressure.

Attitude comes from the top. A positive mindset is key to success. Jurgen glows with optimism. His smile is infectious.

When the transfer window closed at the end of August, there was a debate raging over whether Liverpool had been active enough in the market to be regarded as serious contenders for the biggest prizes, and a section of the fanbase was restless.

Georginio Wijnaldum hadnt been replaced following his Bosman move to Paris Saint-Germain. The sole recruit was young centre-back Ibrahima Konate, a 35 million signing who had not been a first-choice pick at RB Leipzig, a team a struggling Liverpool had beaten convincingly, 2-0 home and away, in the 2020-21 Champions League last-16. Konate was an unused substitute in both games. It was hardly a booming statement of intent.

When the Kop started singing the Reds have got no money but well still win the league, it was belted out more in hope than expectation.

In contrast, Manchester City had spent 100 million on Jack Grealish and Chelsea 97.5 million on Romelu Lukaku. Manchester United had brought in Jadon Sancho, Raphael Varane and Cristiano Ronaldo.

We cant spend money we dont have, insisted Klopp. You cannot compare to the other clubs. They obviously dont have any limits, but we have limits.

I am more than happy with the squad I have. We have so many things that you cannot sign. You cannot sign counter-pressing, you cannot sign the atmosphere that we create in the stadium, you cannot sign togetherness, you cannot sign Anfield, you cannot sign our anthem. Thats what we have to use.

Klopp was equally bullish behind the scenes as he repeatedly talked up the talent in front of him during team meetings. Being written off suited the manager perfectly in his mission to create an us versus the world mentality.

It had been a summer when Liverpool had prioritised retention. Alexander-Arnold, Fabinho, Alisson, Van Dijk, Andrew Robertson and Jordan Henderson all signed new long-term contracts. As well as key senior players returning from injuries, youthful exuberance had been added to the mix in the forms of teenagers Elliott and Kaide Gordon.

Liverpool would have to evolve with Wijnaldum gone but Klopp felt it would also enable them to be more unpredictable.

There were brainstorming sessions with his staff in Austria. They came up with a plan designed to get more out of Alexander-Arnold by having him operate in pockets of space more centrally, where his range of passing could do more damage. Salahs presence throughout pre-season meant the tactical tweaks on Liverpools right side could be worked on day after day.

Circumstances meant Klopp had rarely been able to field a midfield three of Fabinho, Thiago and Henderson previously. Much more was expected from Thiago in his second season with Liverpool, Henderson had fully recovered from groin surgery in the February and the ease with which Elliott adjusted to a new midfield role also gave them another option in that department.

It would prove to be Wijnaldum, who was in and out of the PSG side all season and started only 18 of their 38 league games and three of eight in the Champions League, rather than Liverpool who had regrets over their parting of ways.

The priority was always to bolster the squad defensively and they landed their top target in Konate. Villarreals Pau Torres, Benoit Badiashile of Monaco and Sevillas Jules Kounde had also been on the shortlist.

Konate was the preferred option because they felt his pace and physicality were ideally suited to playing in Klopps high line. The character references as well as the scouting reports had been glowing. Chelsea, Manchester United and Real Madrid were also interested, but the players heart was set on Anfield after a video call with Klopp.

I saw sincerity on his face, Konate said. Which players dont want to come here? I know if I have a problem in my life, Klopp will help.

Konate grew in stature over the course of his debut season, from being a back-up to starting both the FA Cup and Champions League finals. His aerial prowess proved to be a huge asset at both ends of the field.

Whereas Konate needed a period of adaptation before really coming to the fore, a surprise addition to the squad at the end of the January window got off to a flyer and never looked back.

Liverpool had intended to pursue a deal for Porto attacker Luis Diaz this summer but those plans were urgently brought forward when it emerged that Tottenham were close to securing his signature. By then, Liverpool sporting director Michael Edwards, whose decision to stand down at the end of the season had been revealed by The Athletic in November, was in the process of gradually handing over responsibilities to his successor Julian Ward.

It was Ward who led the negotiations with Porto and managed to out-flank Spurs. An initial fee of 35 million, potentially rising to 50 million, was agreed. A key element for the cash-strapped Portuguese club was Liverpools willingness to transfer 7 million instantly so they could pay debts and stave off the threat of being banned from European competition by UEFA.

Klopp said the signing of Diaz was made with one eye on tomorrow but the Colombia international was a man in a hurry. He lit up Anfield on his debut off the bench against Cardiff City in the FA Cup and quickly established himself on the left side of Liverpools front line.

His impact was such that Klopp opted to utilise Mane as his No 9, and that switch worked a treat.

With Diaz on board, Liverpool had a new dimension. Bringing in someone of such calibre gave everyone in the dressing room a lift.

After Liverpool scraped into the Champions League by winning their final game of the season against Crystal Palace at Anfield, Klopp went on holiday for nearly eight weeks.

It was his longest summer break since becoming Liverpool manager in October 2015. For the first seven days, he left his phone in his suitcase and did not even look at it. The separation afforded him a period of reflection.

He had hated pandemic football. It seemed like a different sport.

Klopp is an emotional coach. Liverpool are an emotional club. Performing in empty stadiums felt like his wings had been cut in half. You try to fly but it is pretty difficult, he later concluded.

Matches were usually the reward for hard weeks work. The atmosphere in the stadium would energise the players. Now, playing felt like an extension of everyones toil.

Training also suffered. Klopp was not allowed to drive to work with a colleague on the coaching staff, as he sometimes does. He was not allowed to eat his breakfast at the same table as someone else. The players got changed separately and, during COVID-19 outbreaks, were encouraged to keep their distance from one another even while outside in the fresh air.

The pandemic world did not afford the closeness that he craves and needs to have an impact. Liverpools 2020-21 season nearly collapsed for all sorts of reasons. The conditions did not favour them and the injuries stacked up. Klopp felt he was able to deal with the death of his mother in Germany despite not being allowed to fly home for the funeral. Yet the circumstances of his job meant he was under immense pressure all of the time.

He felt support from Liverpools owners, particularly Mike Gordon. His relationship with Fenway Sports Groups president, it is said, will outlast his tenure at the club. There is a brotherly instinct between the two men a rare respect, the sort that is difficult to find in football. FSGs involvement in the European Super League project did not rock that, even though Klopp privately and publicly was firmly against the idea.

Klopp felt as though Gordon had been compassionate throughout Liverpools struggles. He also felt guilty about not reciprocating such kindness because he had been so down about his performance as a coach.

He was obsessed with solving Liverpools problems that between January and May last year, Klopp barely took a day off. He had never thought more about football. How could he make it work? Was he missing something obvious?

He hated hearing it when Liverpool were described as the Premier Leagues worst-ever defending champions but he came to realise he possessed the ability to be calmer than he thought when the going got really tough.

During this period, Liverpool lost six consecutive home matches a club record.

Explaining defeats was a lot more difficult than detailing victories. Sometimes, it was impossible for Klopp to say what he really believed because there was always another match just around the corner in a compressed season that began later than usual after 2019-20s three-month hiatus and had to finish in time for the postponed-by-a-year Euros. It added to the feeling that he was living in a cage.

He would go home to Formby, considering what had gone wrong again: individual and collective performances, injuries, the weather and decisions from the match officials had all gone against Liverpool. He felt guilty about earning so much money but not being able to come up with any solutions.

Liverpool went into the final day only joint-fourth, ahead of Leicester on goal difference, but secured a third-placed finish. Klopp considers it one of his greatest achievements.

Yet by the end of May, after that last win over Palace, the pursuit had drained him more than hed ever been. He did not care about what came next. The pursuit of trying to sign this player and sell that one could wait. For a while, he was done. It had been the hardest time of our football lives.

By the middle of the July, however, Klopp was ready to go again.

Liverpools long pre-season camp made him feel confident about the teams prospects. There were big early wins, over Atletico Madrid away in the Champions League and then battering Manchester United on their own pitch five days later. That Sunday at Old Trafford, his wife Ulla was in the away end. She was in with the travelling fans again six months later when Liverpool returned to Manchester to face their title rivals at the Etihad. Though Liverpool could not beat City that day, Ulla returned home telling her husband about how much Liverpools fans loved him.

Whereas Liverpool had stumbled from game to game in the previous season, the rhythm was now back. Klopp, who leaves most of the coaching to Ljinders during any week, could see his players were responding to his words when he stepped into the routine the day before a match.

The quadruple was not a realistic target for him, but the possibility of it made him think again about his future at Liverpool.

The club, he concluded, had not even felt the positive impact of the new training ground in Kirkby yet because of COVID-19 restrictions. He was building a second great team at Liverpool something he had not really been able to do in any of his previous jobs. Could he just hand over everything hed built to someone else?

He and Ulla were in their kitchen when Klopp started the conversation about extending his contract, which was due to expire in two years time. It became clear Ulla was just as happy living in Formby as her husband. Klopp called his agent, Marc Kosicke, who then contacted FSGs principal owner John W Henry. Klopp was not seeking a pay rise, just an extension. FSG had been keen to open negotiations but did not want Klopp to feel pressurised.

The other key element for Klopp was the future of his staff. He only wanted to be with them. Had some decided to move on, maybe hed have thought differently about extending. Instead, an agreement was reached with a month of the season remaining. The news he was staying until 2026 came just at the right time, sharpening excitement among the fanbase.

Two days later, Liverpool won at Newcastle in the league to maintain their pursuit of the title; three days after that, they secured their third appearance in the Champions League final in five years.

These are the days, read a banner in the away end at the semi-final second leg away to Villarreal.

They certainly were.

Klopp gathered his players together in the meeting room at the AXA Training Centre and delivered a passionate speech about what needed to change. Those present in January described it as a crucial reset.

The first month of the calendar year has traditionally been a time when Liverpools fortunes have dipped during Klopps reign and there were fears that history was about to repeat itself.

Liverpool had kicked off 2022 by letting a two-goal lead slip in a 2-2 draw with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. Klopp had been forced to watch those events unfold at home after testing positive for COVID-19. Alisson, Joel Matip and Roberto Firmino were absent for the same reason.

Salah, Mane and Naby Keita flew straight from London to Cameroon to play in the Africa Cup of Nations.

By the time Liverpools next Premier League game, at home to Brentford, came around two weeks later, the gap to City had grown to 14 points. Although Klopps men had two games in hand, talk of trying to catch Pep Guardiolas defending champions appeared fanciful.

Liverpool had taken just two of the previous nine points available. There had been mitigating circumstances, not least away to Tottenham, where Klopp had been forced to hand a first top-flight start to 19-year-old midfielder Tyler Morton with Fabinho, Thiago and Henderson all out.

Klopp had raged at referee Paul Tierney after the 2-2 draw that followed for his failure to award a penalty when Diogo Jota was barged over by Emerson Royal and the decision not to send Harry Kane off for a wild lunge at Robertson, who was later dismissed himself.

I have no problems with any referees, only you, he told Tierney.

Liverpool then ended the calendar year with a dismal 1-0 defeat in Leicester three days after Christmas.

Klopp felt the balance of the team wasnt right. There were too many gaps to be exploited and game management was letting them down. The protection had to be better. They needed to tighten up collectively. He wanted them to be more aggressive out of possession.

Before those draws with Spurs and Chelsea, Liverpool had also relinquished winning positions away to promoted Brentford and at home to Brighton. Novembers defeat at West Ham had also exposed a lack of solidity.

Klopp struck a defiant tone in that meeting room in January about what could still be achieved if you commit with all you have. He told his players this was the deepest, most gifted squad hed ever worked with and that everyone would have a part to play. Lets go on an unbeaten run, give it our best and see where it takes us, he said.

We had to readjust, to be honest, Klopp later admitted. We had to agree on defence first, because otherwise youre like any team. Hard-fought, gritty 1-0 wins over Burnley and West Ham underlined that his message had got through. It helped that Van Dijk was back to his imperious best after the ruptured ACL that rocked his world early the previous season and his defensive partner Matip produced the best form of his career.

During AFCON, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Curtis Jones, Takumi Minamino and Jota all stepped up and made pivotal contributions. When Salah, Mane and Keita returned, the landscape looked considerably brighter. Thiago had also recovered from a hip problem and momentum was growing. The Spaniards influence on the team grew as his midfield double act with Fabinho gave Klopp the perfect combination of silk and steel.

The dressing room has evolved in recent years following the exits of Adam Lallana and Wijnaldum. New leaders have emerged. Alexander-Arnold, Robertson and Alisson were voted on to the expanded captains group last summer.

Klopp listens to his senior players and takes feedback on board like allowing recovery sessions to take place at home. One change that went down well with the squad in the second half of this season was the decision to train earlier in the day, with most sessions starting at noon.

Previously, training times had fluctuated significantly depending on the kick-off of the next match. Now, only the session the day before a game tends to be at 4pm, usually to fit in with travel and hotel arrangements. Players felt training earlier meant they had more energy in the sessions and had a positive impact on their personal lives.

The Carabao Cup final triumph over Chelsea in late February helped propel Liverpool forward. You have a taste of it and then you want more, says goalkeeping coach John Achterberg.

Klopps faith in second-choice keeper Caoimhin Kelleher was richly rewarded as the Irishman, who pulled off some smart saves during a goalless 120 minutes, then scored from the spot as a shootout went to sudden death, before opposite number Kepa Arrizabalaga blazed the final penalty over.

Henderson, who sets the tone for Klopp on a daily basis with his professionalism, thrust the trophy into Kellehers hands and ushered him towards the army of pitchside photographers before standing back to applaud him.

As Liverpool ate into Citys lead at the Premier League summit with a run of 10 straight wins from January to April, while also advancing in both the Champions League and the FA Cup, talk of pulling off an unprecedented quadruple intensified.

Publicly, Klopp dismissed the idea as crazy. no British team has ever done it because its so difficult.

Behind the scenes, he urged his players to just embrace the situation. This is opportunity, not pressure. Lets enjoy the journey, he told them.

Salah had provided the inspiration in the first half of the season. He scored 23 of his 31 goals before AFCON.

At times, it felt like he was having a goal of the season competition with himself. There were breathtaking individual efforts against City and Watford, a hat-trick in that Old Trafford drubbing of United and a double in the 4-1 rout of Everton at Goodison Park.

However, Salah was stung by the punishing setbacks of losing both Februarys final of AFCON and a World Cup play-off the following month to Manes Senegal.

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Inside Klopps Liverpool a season that flirted with immortality and ended in heartbreak - The Athletic