Sometimes we may need a lifeline to get us out of a state of loss and disorientation that may throw us into oblivion, after which we will only become a memory.
Rocky Balboa needed that lifeline after his defeat by Clapper Lang, and after the death of his manager and friend, Mickey Goldmill, and he found it in Apollo Creed.
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Cinema has its own charm, which has captured many eyes and hearts over time.
We cannot enumerate the immortal works of art that have been passed down through generations, and each of us has a work of art that we love, for his very own reasons.
And Juergen Klopp is no exception to this, and there is no greater belief that Rocky Balboa films should be shown in German schools, to indicate the extent of the man's obsession with the series.
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We don't really know the reason behind that obsession, maybe it's about how difficult and epic Rocky's journey is from rock bottom to top, maybe it's about hard work and persistence, and doing everything you have to achieve the desired goal.
We know how cliché it sounds, but we like to think that this is why Klopp trusts Pep Leenders, his assistant at Liverpool, because they share the same vision of pushing players to give their all on the field, a vision that Leenders articulated in his book "Intensity: Our Identity" ( Intensity: our identity), which was released last August, in which he recounts the details of last season for Liverpool, saying: “We wanted to give everything. Why would someone want to have everything if they did not give everything to achieve it?”
The book "Intensity: our identity" by Pip Leanders (communication sites)
Klopp may see something from Apollo Creed in Leanders, he may see that this man is the lifeline for Liverpool in the current period, especially after his expected departure in 2026. Klopp may see that his Dutch assistant carries that spark that Creed ignited inside Balboa, which prepared him to devour his opponents like a tiger Again, but here the question of 75 million euros is raised;
Is he really capable of that?
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Four rounds.. two knockouts
The destructive machine - as described by Mickey - Clapper Lang, knocked out his opponent, and it did not take more than two rounds to defeat him in the first fight between them, after Rocky was affected by the problems of his manager - and his friend - with the heart, which increased because Lang pushed him before the start of the fight, which led to his death in the end.
To be honest, it was not that easy with City, it took a bitter struggle with Liverpool that ended with the Citizens winning the league by one point, as was the case in the 2018-2019 season.
Although that season was a starting point for the Reds to win the league in the following season, the matter was different this time, when Ilkay Gundogan scored the third goal for the citizens against Aston Villa in the last round of the Premier League, he dealt the first fatal blow to the face of Liverpool fans, announcing the end of the conflict. And the Reds fell for the second time against Pep in the direct competition between the two teams for the league title.
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"The five minutes after the match are more important than the five days we prepare for the match."
Jurgen Klopp (3)
Jane Ireland, a coach for youth teams in Chattanooga, Tennessee, talks about the importance of self-analysis after any match on the “Girls soccer development” platform, likening it to a series of self-critical questions;
Did the team play well?
Did each player play well?
Is there anything that needs improvement in performance?
And so on.
She mentioned the importance of the player doing this analysis immediately after the match, even if for a few moments, as it does not require more than dedicating five minutes for this purpose.
Also, these notes must be precise and detailed, otherwise they will lose their meaning.
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We'd like to suspect that those five minutes are where Klopp tries to follow the advice of Dave Clark, former editor of Soccer Coach Weekly, about the positive approach youth coaches should take when speaking to their players.
Clark calls for focusing on the side, whether this is in exercises or before matches or - in this case - after them, and this also applies to matches that end in loss, especially major losses, and is there a greater loss than losing the Champions League final, especially if you are the party The best in most of the match?
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In his aforementioned book, Leanders talks about the calm that prevailed in the locker room at the time, that deadly calm that was dominated by frustration, disappointment, and some crying sounds, such as the sound of Rocky crying when Mickey lost his life after the fight against Lang.
Leenders recalls Klopp's conversation in that room, and how proud they were after that match against Real Madrid in Paris, saying:
"It's different this time. Maybe more for me than for you in all honesty right now, but it is. That's not a cliché, and I know I've used it enough; we'll be back. I promise you. I know you guys aren't proud of yourselves." Now, but you have to do it with time. Many thanks to our crew, to you guys and to all our families because this has not been easy at all."
Does anything really need to be added here?
That talk is what separates Jurgen from many coaches at the highest levels;
Dealing with difficulties, and bringing out the best in the player by working on the psychological and mental sides, and whoever can maintain that kind of calmness when losing the fourth European final out of five finals with Dortmund and Liverpool, he really does not need more.
But the winds do not come as the ships desire. Perhaps there is some kind of unintended sarcasm in mentioning the winds here, but what is meant is that things do not always go as we would like, and the world is not bedded with roses, and words do not erase bad memories easily, and we would like to think that the current season for Liverpool is a living example. on it.
on and off
The matter is as Leenders described it in the title of his book;
Sharpness is identity, and that requires giving 100% of what you have as a player to belong to that group of players in Leanders' opinion, and if you do not give everything you have, the system collapses, and perhaps at first glance this view seems appropriate to describe what Liverpool is suffering from this year;
Because the players do not give everything they have to maintain the stability of the system, but here we have to ask a question;
Is that all the problem?
To understand the matter, we may have to refer to the "PPDA" rate, or "Passes per defensive actions", which expresses the number of passes by the opponent before making a defensive intervention by the team.
In a 3-3 draw with Brighton this season, that average was 6.99 passes for Liverpool, according to Understat, and according to Statsbomb, the average number was 9.6 at that point in the season.
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: PPDA stats for Liverpool after 7 Premier League matches – Source: Understat
To be clear, the higher this number is, the less intense the team's pressure is.
This number rose for Liverpool, according to Statsbomb, to 15.1 assists over the course of last October before the start of the World Cup, before it decreased again in the three matches that Liverpool played in the league to 10.83 assists, and in general, it rose. The figure has increased to 14.1 in the team's last ten matches in the league.
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PPDA statistic for Liverpool in the last 10 Premier League matches – Source: Understat
The "PPDA" statistic for Liverpool in the period after the Brighton match until the Southampton match in the Premier League – Source: Understat
This means that the team has not settled on the intensity of pressure it had in previous seasons, and this is more evident in the statistics of pressure on opponents in the middle and last two-thirds of the field, which decreased significantly last October;
As the team was pressing 62 times per 90 minutes in the middle third, and that number decreased to 53.2 times this season, and the same number decreased in the last third from 44.8 last season to 35.2 this season.
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The team has not settled on the intensity of the pressure that it must follow during this season as well, and there is no better evidence than the variation in the “PPDA” numbers during intermittent periods of the season, as well as the ball recovery numbers as a result of pressure attempts, meaning that the team suffers from a clear identity crisis. Those numbers from decrease to increase and then to decrease again indicate how difficult it is for players to adapt to the intensity that Klopp and Leanders demand of them.
It is not only about the players, although they are an important factor in what happens to the team, but it is also about Klopp and Leanders, whether this is on the level of identity or on the tactical level.
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When dreams turn into nightmares
"Eight in attack, two in defence... that's the dream"
Pep Leanders
Once again, Leanders' words in his book express what we want to talk about.
He had gone on here to talk about preparing for the Norwich City match at the start of the 2021-2022 season, about the idea that nourishes the club's culture, which is that the team is the one that influences the player's mentality, not the other way around, and he used the same approach in training;
The team should be one unit, especially in the stages when the team is out of possession.
Leanders believes that if they can do that he can play with just eight attackers and two defensive players.
Perhaps we should do justice to the man here;
58 realized chances made are not a bad number at all, and it is only more surprising than the percentage of those chances being recorded;
27.6%, the worst of all Premier League teams, maybe the problem isn't just the defensive system after all.
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The spread of Liverpool offensive players in the Everton match - Source: Communication sites
This culture of operating as a unit especially outside of possession is at the top of what Liverpool have been missing this season.
In the previous picture from the Everton match, we can extract many problems.
Such as the fact that Gomez is being pressured by three Everton players, and if he loses the ball, the matter will turn into a 3 against 1 situation in favor of the Toffees, perhaps 3 against 2 if we count Mohamed Salah because of the speed factor, but the matter is somewhat unlikely, and this is due to the spread of Liverpool players offensively In the last third, which makes it difficult to preventive defense.
The spread of Liverpool offensive players in the Everton match - Source: Communication sites
By extension, this also affects the reverse pressure process, because it forces the players to run relatively long distances without the ball, and although Liverpool players are usually able to do that, we can list many reasons why they are unable to do so with the desired efficiency;
From the team playing 63 games last season, and the tragic end of the season, to introducing many new elements tactically into the team structure such as Darwin Nunez.
We think the PPDA numbers come to mind right now.
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Liverpool's bad reverse pressure against Leeds United when they grabbed the ball - Source: Communication sites
If the team's running statistics and the distances traveled this season are not an indication of that, that is, the loss of sharpness, the nightmare that Klopp and Leanders are currently experiencing, then perhaps we should talk about the number of forward passes that the team allows this season;
22.4 forward passes per 90 minutes, this is the largest rate allowed by the team in one season in all of Klopp's full seasons with Liverpool, and perhaps the rate of 8.76 interceptions of the ball per 90 minutes this season, which is the lowest in all of Klopp's seasons with the team, according to "FBref". Another indication of how bad the team is without the ball.
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This is in addition to the rate of expected goals that the team receives, without counting penalty kicks, and that rate reached 1.27 per 90 minutes according to “FBref”, which is the highest rate for one season under the leadership of Jürgen Klopp.
If all of this is not enough, then perhaps we should say that the team has received 51 chances so far in the 17 matches it played in the Premier League. The team received more than that number with only two chances in the entire past season, and we do not remember a team that received 9 of those opportunities in one match. (Against Napoli in the Champions League).
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As mentioned earlier, it's partly about the players, but it's not just that.
The team system is defensively fragile;
The team's pressure is not good. The reverse pressure is dominated by a lack of desire, ability and lack of focus. This is in addition to the spatial distributions of the players during possession, and this is the responsibility of the technical staff in our opinion.
There are many problems in Liverpool, and it is not as if the problems are one-dimensional, but rather they are in the complexity of the system by which the whole club is managed, and here Pep Leanders dreams are systematically turning into a nightmare, and it does not seem that this season is really about to end.
The question of 157 million pounds
Pep Leanders, assistant coach of Liverpool (Reuters)
We know that by this time now you may have come to your mind that logical question that imposes itself;
Does Leanders have the ability to succeed Jurgen Klopp?
The truth is that there is no ideal or logical answer to a question like this. It takes time and favorable circumstances to know the answer, despite some unreasonable indications.
Of course, we mean Ian Graham and Julian Ward when we talk about these indicators, as the decision to leave the club struck a thunderbolt on a significant proportion of the Liverpool fans, when you think of Graham, who spent 10 years inside the walls of Anfield as director of research and data analysis, and when you think about his excellent work In the many distinguished deals that he was responsible for bringing to the club, besides Michael Edwards for sure, before his departure at the end of last season, you may find the issue of his departure a bit strange. (15)
Why did the man leave after achieving such impressive successes?
Why did Edwards leave?
Why was Ward determined to leave too, even though the man had succeeded Edwards only at the beginning of the season?
Why is the Liverpool system collapsing in such a bizarre way all of a sudden?
Perhaps it is related to offering a share of the team for sale, perhaps related to the idea that the deals of Luis Diaz, Darwin Nunez and Cody Khakpo, which cost the club’s treasury approximately 157 million pounds sterling, despite being deals for distinguished players, did not fill the deficit that the team suffers from, let’s say in Midfield, for example?
Perhaps this is the part where we have to remind you that Liverpool has not made a single deal in the middle of the field since the summer of 2018 except for Thiago Alcantara, who was 29 years old at the time, and Fabio Carvalho recently.
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Perhaps we should also remind you of the talk of Robin Thorpe, former Manchester United performance advisor, about players who have exceeded the age of 32, and that dealing with them should be done with caution, by giving them more days of rest (18).
When you look at the Liverpool midfielders, you find that there are Jordan Henderson (32 years) and James Milner (36 years) who have reached or exceeded the aforementioned age, and that Thiago (31 years) is about to catch up with them soon, and that Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (29 years) Fabinho, 29, and Naby Keita, 27, are not far away either.
Liverpool has one of the largest age rates in the middle of the field, which balanced out slightly after Carvalho joined, as we mentioned.
In fact, Liverpool have the fifth-oldest average age of a team in the Premier League this season.
Now we think the reverse pressure dilemma has become more clear.
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If Klopp did not see the problem in the middle of the field only, and decided that the matter lies in the behavior of the group defensively, as he himself spoke recently, then perhaps he should pay attention to the problem of the departures, Ward, Graham and Edwards before them, which is that Leanders was a major factor in the three aforementioned deals, Those three were among 4 players assigned by the club in the last two seasons, the fourth was Ibrahima Konate of course, and it might have been possible to see Christopher Nkunku in the Reds shirt, had it not been for Klopp and Leanders, who completely rejected the idea, although the man is considered an ideal substitute for Roberto Firmino in our opinion. And he can fill Sadio Mane's void, which is the best compensation for Mohamed Salah, if the latter is not available for one reason or another.
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With Liverpool, it was - and still is - about the collective effort, with the entire club meeting at the heart of one man, but recently things do not seem like that;
With the departure of Graham Ward, the club's offer for sale, the departure of Jim Moxon, the club's doctor, at the beginning of the season, and his failure to replace him until last November, when the club announced the appointment of Jonathan Power to replace him, things do not seem as they were in the past.
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Everything was proceeding systematically, with clear steps, even if it was not appropriate for a segment of the team's fans, but there was a plan, and it was clear.
Now things seem chaotic and random, and you do not feel that the club is following the same steps as it did before, and we do not see that the reason for this is only Leanders, but what we really see is that Liverpool is living the same period that Rocky Balboa lived after the death of Mickey Goldmill, Perhaps Liverpool is living the same period in which many fans lost the passion to follow the team continuously at the beginning of the decade until the advent of Klopp, the lifeline at the time, and Apollo Creed in the dress of the revolutionary German, who at that time only asked for the faith of the fans, so will history repeat itself in Pep Leanders?
Or will Liverpool be forgotten again?
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Sources:
1- Rocky III - IMDb
2- Jurgen Klopp's passion for Rocky movies - Talksport
3- "Intensity: Our identity" book by Pip Leanders - Amazon
4- Klopp extends his contract in Liverpool until 2026 – ESPN
5- Liverpool complete the Darwin Nunez deal for 75 million plus additions – Reuters
6- Manchester City wins the English Premier League in the last seconds – Goal.com
7- The importance of self-analysis after matches - Girls soccer development
8- Coaching Tips - Using a Positive Approach to Improve Your Coaching Ability - Dave Clark - Soccer coach weekly
9- Real Madrid wins the fourteenth at the expense of Liverpool – The Guardian
10- English Premier League teams numbers - Understat
11- Why does Liverpool's new identity express less intensity?
- The Athletic
12- Why are mental monsters not as dangerous as they used to be?
-The Times
13- Statistics of English Premier League teams - Fbref
14- The statistics of the Napoli-Liverpool match in the Champions League this season - Sofascore
15- Ian Graham and Julian Ward both leave Liverpool at the end of the season - What exactly is Ian Graham's job?
- This is Anfield
16- Fenway Sports Group offers Liverpool FC for sale – Mirror
17- Liverpool Deals - Transfermarkt
18- Liverpool started the Fulham match with six players over thirty.
Does it matter?
- The Athletic
19- The average age of Premier League players - Football365
20- Jürgen Klopp writes about “problems” in the middle of his team’s field – Goal.com
21- The influence of Pep Leanders on Liverpool deals - The Telegraph
22- Appointing Jonathan Power as a doctor for Liverpool FC, replacing Jim Moxon, 4 months after his departure – This is Anfield