TEAM Klopp

How Liverpool boss’ first squad meeting led to historic 2019

TO UNDERSTAND how Liverpool got to this point, becoming the first English club to win the Champions League, Super Cup and Club World Cup in a year, requires a rewind. The characteristics of Jurgen Klopp’s side can be traced back to his first major meeting in charge of the club in the second week of Oct 2015, when he gathered the squad in the press room at Melwood, detailing what he required of them before impressing that they had the opportunity to “create history together.”

On a flip chart, the German had spelt out the word TEAM, ascribing a short description to each letter: terrible to play against, enthusiastic to meet challenges, ambitious every day and mentally strong machines.

After Liverpool won the Club World Cup for the first time – their third trophy in six months – Joe Gomez’s summation of the 1-0 victory over Flamengo echoed that initial directive from Klopp.

“We were not just coming here for the sake of it,” said the centreback. “We were not coming here to have fun; we came here with ambition.

“We have now come away as world champions. This team has that mindset. Once we put our minds to it, we stick to it.”

Liverpool are terrible to play against. They were certainly enthusiastic to contest a tournament so many in Europe talk down. There could be no question marks over their ambition to become world champions and the players have morphed beyond mentally strong machines into – to use Klopp’s favourite tag – “f ****** mentality monsters.”

Liverpool needed extra-time to oust their Brazilian counterparts courtesy of a Roberto Firmino finish but Gomez said it only highlighted Liverpool’s psychological steel.

“We kept our heads and we kept playing and then Bobby pops up. That’s the mentality we are trying to build, it’s a great characteristic and who knows where it can take us. We are trying to make winning trophies a habit.”

Liverpool have become the embodiment of the team Klopp envisaged during his introductory presentation on Merseyside, but success could not have been possible without their failures.

The squad’s resolve has been built by losing the 2016 League Cup final on penalties to Manchester City, the Europa League to Sevilla short months later and finishing runners-up to Real Madrid in the 2018 Champions League.

Missing out on last season’s Premier League title by a point to Pep Guardiola’s juggernaut after recording the highest total in the club’s history – 97 – has been the fuel for their form in the division.

The last six months have been a product of the lessons, experience, gutting near misses and growth since Klopp’s appointment.

“You have to lose big to realise you are not a loser,” the 52-year-old said in July.

“You accept it has happened, yes, but that you can still be a winner. These are the things that made us all stronger and I’m happy that I have these boys, that I keep these boys together because they went through all these things.”

Liverpool now have an addiction for silverware, which is underpinned by humility and an appetite for hard work. Despite their presence in finals being the norm under Klopp, they view every showpiece as their last crack of winning a trophy.

“Leading up to the first Champions League final where we got beat, we said to ourselves that we may not be here again so play with no regrets,” leftback Andy Robertson explained.

“We did that and fell short, but the following season we were back. We didn’t expect that. To get here (being Club World Cup victors), you need to win the Champions League and we know just how hard that is from the last two years.

“We needed to take it like we’ll never be back and now we’re world champions for

2019. It’s incredible.”

So then, back to that first major talk

Klopp gave to his Liverpool squad. The

German rounded up every staffer at the training complex and asked them to introduce themselves as well as describe their roles at the club.

Their audience? The players.

“In that meeting, he created the responsibility we had to each other, the responsibility to perform and he told us

‘everyone is responsible for everything,’” Lijnders said.

That strong sense of unity is the power source as Liverpool aim to end a 30-year title drought while trying to extend their status as European champions.

They are, as per Klopp’s prediction, creating history together. – The

Independent