Bring The Noise by Raphael Honigstein (March 2018)
Bring The Noise is a highly enjoyable look into current Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp’s career. In the English-speaking portion of the football world, Klopp is associated with gegenpressing, a high-energy, high-pressure style of play that uses all eleven players on the field to chase, harass, and pursue opponents wherever or whenever the ball is most likely to be won. However, the key to his success is not entirely down to tactics – his biggest strength is his ability to use his understanding of players to get the most out of their natural ability.
His success comes down to a very simple thing – Klopp always remembers how he wanted to be treated when he was a player. I think many do not value their own experiences in this way and become the type of leader they disliked when they were younger. Klopp never seems to lose this knowledge and it informs his understanding of how players will respond to his management.
He knows, for example, that as a blunt personality he must always temper his comments with lightness and self-deprecation. He understands that players always respond better to suggestions for improvement rather than to specific reasons for not being put on the field. He never forgets that talented players generally do not believe they will benefit from further coaching. These aren’t insights he gleaned from study or from a coaching mentor – these are basic conclusions he reached as a player that he is making use of now in his role leading players.
He also varies his approach with players based on their career level. With a young team, he is less patient than he is with an older team. This approach contrasts with the common belief that younger players require more patience but Klopp recognizes that older teams have more playing experience and thus take a longer time to adapt to new operating styles and eliminating old habits. However, he does take great care to protect a young team because their ability to recover from setbacks is not as developed as that of an experienced unit.
The most important thing about Klopp is how he supports his players. The general cliché about managers is that the best ones love their players – Klopp exemplifies the very concept. He genuinely wants to see his players do well and is the happiest person in the stadium when they succeed. But he also wants to see them succeed off the pitch. To borrow a thought from the book, if Klopp’s best player came to him one day and said – you know, boss, I think I’m going to retire and become a florist – Klopp would probably be disappointed (and likely very confused) but he would also be the first in line to buy a bouquet the next day.
One up: I should note that though Klopp boasts significant man-management skills, tactics do matter in the job and Klopp is more than capable in this aspect of his role. His tactics are based on a simple idea – since it is easier to create chaos than it is to retain calm, a team that is comfortable in chaos should have the edge on an opponent that prefers to play in peaceful conditions.
Thus, Klopp trains his team to generate disorder and teaches them how to make the same good decisions in wild conditions that other teams make in comfortable settings. One way Klopp does this is by using practice to simulate the constant movement and changes of pace that a real game features. The goal of his training sessions is to make important movements, patterns, and rhythms automatic without ever allowing the players to know what is coming next.
At a higher level, what Klopp understands is that long-term excellence bases itself in regular successes that are explainable results of repeated behavior. If his teams train the same way all the time, it is far easier for him to link their victories back to the simplest behaviors they make every day on the training ground.
One down: No matter how many books are written on the importance of asking the right questions, most people have a hard time figuring out how to expose their ignorance. This prevents them from reaching out when in need and those who could help are unable to do so. If a person is completely unable to express a need for help, the only way this handicap can be overcome is through excessive study and preparation for the first job. It also helps to have a confidant to use as a sounding board for navigating through any unusual situations.
It was also a shame to read about the various ways success can bring harm. The most widely observed way is how people stop saying ‘yes’ to every little thing once they start to achieve real success. With real success comes an honest self-confidence, of course, and those who once accepted every invitation because of their insecurity may be justified in a new approach. However, the value of being open to new experiences cannot be overstated and even the most successful people would do well to remind themselves of this every once in a while.
Just saying: Klopp is one of those people whose total disregard for the superficial opinions of others endears him immediately to everyone around him. He isn’t the sort who will sweep the driveway until a neighbor looks out and says – ah, good man! If the driveway doesn’t require sweeping, Klopp will probably just stand there and smoke cigarettes instead.
