How Jurgen Klopp Can Get the Best out of Philippe Coutinho at Liverpool
You’ll all have been reading an awful lot about Jurgen Klopp recently, but now the hysteria has died down, the focus has to switch to just what the German can do with Liverpool regardless of what’s gone on before.
Having said that, reading Klopp’s many musings gives an insight into a man and manager who seems to create a special bond with his players, almost treating them like his children and guiding them through the many emotional highs and lows of top-level football as a father figure.
Nowhere is this more apparent than in Donald McRae’s brilliant interview with Klopp in the Guardian ahead of the 2013 Champions League final.
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Among other fascinating tales, Klopp told of how he and Shinji Kagawa “cried in each other’s arms for 20 minutes” when the Japanese midfielder decided to leave Borussia Dortmund and join Manchester United in 2012 at the end of a two-season stint in Germany during which he and Klopp had won back-to-back Bundesliga titles.
In the same interview, Klopp told of his frustration at how United were using Kagawa—who is now back at Dortmund—sparingly and in the wrong position. Perhaps only McRae can answer this fully, but you can sense the anger and emotion in the German’s words when you read them. He was still caring for the player even when he was no longer his manager.
It is that emotion, that feel for the game of football and those who play it that has got Liverpool fans so excited at the appointment of Klopp because that’s exactly how they feel too. The man and the club just seem to fit. But what of the players?
It was widely accepted that emotion got the better of Liverpool during the Brendan Rodgers reign, specifically in that madcap title rush in 2013/14, so is it a good thing to inject some more of it in the shape of the larger-than-life German coach? For one man, it certainly could be.
Because if this had been any normal Liverpool week, it would be Philippe Coutinho we’d all have been talking about and not Klopp.
The Brazilian playmaker seems to be entering that phase of an elite player’s career when their name crops up in reports next to that of Barcelona and Real Madrid. It happens slowly but surely until one of them eventually pounces and gets their man—barring any dysfunctional fax machines, of course.
The MailOnline might report that Coutinho and his representatives haven’t spoken to either club just yet, and that is probably true, but this is only the start of what will be a drawn-out process if he maintains the level of performance we’ve come to expect from him.
And so Coutinho should be linked to such storied clubs. He is one of the best players operating outside of the Champions League this season and has talents that belong on football's greatest stages.
Barcelona would probably make more sense for him given that childhood friend Neymar and ex-Liverpool team-mate Luis Suarez are there already, and he wouldn’t be human if he wasn’t enchanted by the thought of playing in such exalted company. This is where Klopp comes in, though.
Perhaps he, like Coutinho, is just passing through Anfield en route to better things. Suarez heads the list of those who’ve done that lately, and until Liverpool get back to the elite level, it’ll only grow longer.
But even if Klopp is only on Merseyside for a good time, not a long time, he will seek to create that emotional bond with his players so evident in his words about Kagawa, a player and a person he seemed distraught to lose.
The Japanese scored 21 goals in 49 appearances in those two title-winning seasons between 2010 and 2012, creating countless more. Of course, this brought him to the attention of Manchester United, and given their position as one of the clubs financially more attractive than Dortmund, they were able to get their man.
The fact it didn’t quite work out for Kagawa in Manchester should serve as a warning to players such as Coutinho, but ultimately, backing yourself in these situations is always the way to go.
Kagawa would have thought he could go to United and be a success. As would Coutinho were he to go to Barcelona, and as Raheem Sterling did when he went to Manchester City or Danny Ings when he arrived at Liverpool. What fun is the alternative?
As he enters his new job, working with a squad that is far more talented than it’s been given credit for recently, the key for Klopp is to create an environment—both emotionally and where it matters on the pitch—in which players such as Coutinho don’t want to leave without tears in their eyes: to make Liverpool a destination, and not just somewhere you pass through.
Whether that can happen without the mega-millions available at other clubs both home and abroad is uncertain, but after his success in Germany, there is little doubt Liverpool have hired the best man possible to try and do it. Just watching his introductory press conference got the fans energised.
Like the fans have done, buying in to Klopp’s way of thinking might well be the best thing Coutinho ever does in his career. Instead of Neymar and Suarez, how about linking up with fellow Brazilian Roberto Firmino or teeing up Daniel Sturridge’s latest dance? How about just enjoying your football under a man who cares about your livelihood?
Coutinho won’t spend the rest of that career at Anfield and will move on one day, but it is what he does now that feels so crucial to where Liverpool go from here.
In a recent interview with BT Sport (h/t by Football365), Steven Gerrard revealed how he told Suarez to turn down his much-publicised 2013 offer from Arsenal because he’d earn a move to Barcelona or Real Madrid if he stayed at Liverpool for another season.
Of course, turning down a move becomes harder when those two giants are after you, but this is how Coutinho should be approaching the rest of this season under Klopp.
As he did with Kagawa at Dortmund, it is impossible to imagine the new Liverpool manager won’t make the Brazil international central to everything he wants to do, with his qualities seemingly perfect for the type of football that Klopp wants to play.
Stationing Coutinho centrally with a front three of Firmino, Sturridge and Christian Benteke ahead of him opens up a whole world of possibilities for both Liverpool and their No. 10, as well as a whole world of nightmares for their opposition.
With these players all performing in what seems a rare and emotional atmosphere created by their manager, Liverpool can kick on and get back to where they feel they belong.
There might eventually be trauma, transfers and tearful goodbyes, but in Klopp’s approach and Coutinho’s qualities, the pair make up the key ingredients of surely the most fascinating period in Liverpool’s recent history.
Now it’s time to get started.
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