Adam Lallana reveals his first thoughts when Jurgen Klopp joined Liverpool

Adam Lallana played under Jurgen Klopp for five years at Liverpool
Adam Lallana played under Jurgen Klopp for five years at Liverpool / LINDSEY PARNABY/GettyImages
facebooktwitterreddit

Former Liverpool midfielder Adam Lallana has admitted that he had to ‘Google’ Jurgen Klopp when he first arrived at Anfield from Germany in October 2015 to find out what style of football he coached.

Klopp had won back-to-back Bundesliga titles with Borussia Dortmund in 2011 and 2012 – still the last time a club other than Bayern Munich was crowned German champions – and later also took his team to the 2013 Champions League final.

But the specifics of his success were perhaps lost on those in England, including Lallana.

Klopp left Dortmund at the end of the 2014/15 season and was expected to take some time off football, as future rival Pep Guardiola had done a couple of years earlier, but he accepted the call from Liverpool when Brendan Rodgers was sacked shortly into 2015/16.

“I remember being on international duty and him getting announced,” Lallana explained in a new docuseries, JURGEN, being produced by the Anfield Wrap.

“I remember typing his name into Google and seeing what type of football he liked. Because obviously, I had a tough first year and I was looking to kick on in my Liverpool career,” he continued, having joined Liverpool in a high profile £25m move from Southampton in 2014.

“I remember it saying he likes Gegenpressing and I was like, 'What's Gegenpressing?' You look at it and it was almost like a form of counter-pressing and running, and I thought that's the type of football I like playing.

“He thrives off and wants his team to play with emotion. There's no better way than setting the example as a manager which is what he did day in, day out.’”


Harry Symeou hosts Andy Headspeath, Quentin Gesp and Jack Gallagher to look back on the 2018 World Cup finals in Russia - join us! If you can’t see the podcast embed, click here to download or listen to the episode in full!