Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp will issue his new players with
three basic instructions: "Run, run and run!"
That is the message the German gave to his Mainz players back in
2007, Tim Hoogland has revealed after being signed by Klopp that
year.
Klopp is expected to push Liverpool's stars to their physical
limits as they bid to establish a clear and defined brand of football
at Anfield, report the Liverpool Echo.
Former Fulham defender Hoogland revealed in an interview with
FourFourTwo magazine that players would be set specific
running targets by their manager.
“You have to run. That’s it,” Hoogland said. “I think this
is one of the important things you have to know about him. The whole
team has to run 120 km (74.5 miles) collectively every game. 120km
minimum.”
Patrick Owomoyela, who spent five years under Klopp at Borussia
Dortmund, backs up Hoogland’s claims, and says players would be
given rewards if they hit their individual targets.
“In his first year he said he wouldn’t guarantee anything
apart from that when we reached 120km per game then it would be much
harder for us to lose,” he said.
“He actually offered us a day off when we reached that target.
He thought that if we reached that then we would win the game. And
from then on it became easy because we understood that his plan would
work.”
At Liverpool, Klopp will inherit a number of players who are used
to hard running. James Milner, the vice captain, was flagged up
earlier this season as the player who covers the most ground per game
(12.29km) in the Premier League.
Much, of course, will depend on whether Klopp gets the buy-in from
his new players. Hoogland spent just one season under him at Mainz
before the manager moved on to Dortmund, but is in no doubt that
Liverpool have appointed one of the best man-managers around.
He said: “His speeches are really good and they make you want to
go out and play. He’s one of the best managers I’ve had for
motivation.
“You’ve seen it in the past when he’s standing in the
technical area, he can go really crazy. But on the other hand, I
think it can give extra motivation. He pushes you to a really, really
high level.”
Omomoyela, a former Germany international, concurs.
“He creates pictures in your heads when he talks,” he said.
“He will find the right picture to put in your head to make you
feel or see what he wants you to understand. Then it’s easy for you
to believe, understand, and to do it. That’s something special.
“He brought the winning mentality back to Dortmund. He gave the
whole team hope of doing better than the last year, and he just
showed us that if we followed and believed in him then there will be
success at the end.
“It didn’t take long for him to prove it to us. Even in his
first year, the team was doing much better than the year before. From
then on it was only forwards. There was progression and it was always
in the right direction. We just believed him and followed him.”
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