Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has told spox.com that he does not believe the teams he has managed get enough credit for the possession-based football they play.
Liverpool have averaged 55 percent of possession in games in the Premier League this season — fifth best throughout the entire league — according to statistics website Whoscored.
While Klopp says his current Liverpool side do regularly employ high-pressing strategies in order to win back the ball, he feels other tactics have also led to recent success.
When asked whether his teams have had more and more possession over in recent years, Klopp replied: “It’s grown massively.
“Manchester City only have marginally more possession than we have. If you’d ask about the differences between both teams, you wouldn’t get ‘City has marginally more possession’ as answer.
“You’d hear that Manchester City has a footballing approach while Liverpool are gegenpressing [counterpressing]. Our footballing approach is often underestimated, I believe.
“We did not win promotion at Mainz because we defended better than the rest of the league. We already played different systems there. But we reduced to being a pressing side.
“But who cares? There are worse images. But we never felt like it was the case, and it’s not the complete truth.”
Klopp added: “We don’t say gegenpressing is the only way. But it turned out to make sense for us and it remains an important part of our game.
“We’d love to have 90 percent of the ball. But what we do in the end is to solve problems every single day.
“We don’t know today the problems we will have in March. And even if we play the best football we can play there are at least five teams in this league who can play as good. It’s about who reacts how in the crucial moments.”
Klopp is adamant that his playing style is not as physically demanding as other approaches across Europe.
But Reds boss says that his players “must realise that the effort is worthwhile” when they create a chance as a result of their intense playing style.
“It’s not more intensive than other approaches and it doesn’t hurt,” he added. “It hurts when Barcelona makes you run and you always try and get hold of the ball. But if you win the ball and ideally have a shot than that’s recovery, both mentally and physically.
“Ask a boxer: He fires 100 punches, and those 95 missing the target are really exhausting. Those five hitting the opponent feel world class. That’s the goal of our measures.
“The players must realise that the effort is worthwhile. The match is just too long to just to progress from one good moment to another.
“The teams must always have the feeling it’s very much part of the match, and we, as the coaches, make sure the players have that feeling.”
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