Jurgen Klopp's transformation of Germany: he makes a hand gesture and the whole team presses

Jurgen Klopp was quick to admit that it would take time to truly develop his German national team. The 1-1 draw between Germany and the Netherlands in the first match of the Nations League sent that message to the new Germany coach and former Liverpool manager. Klopp made his long-awaited return to the bench, two months after replacing Julian Nagelsmann as Germany coach. Expectations were high to see what he had managed to do in such a short time. Of course, there could be no major changes, but one image caught the attention of the fans: Klopp gave one of the most significant moments of the match with a simple hand gesture, which activated the pressing of the entire team against the Netherlands.

Every German player reacted to the gesture made by the coach near the touchline, as central defender Van Hecke prepared to take the ball from full-back Dumfries. For some, it is the “Klopp effect”. A first taste of what his Germany will be like. Klopp’s basic structure has remained the same from Dortmund to Liverpool: a 4-3-3. On paper, three strikers, three midfielders and a four-man back line; however, in the off-ball phase, the scheme changes shape. When the opposition builds the game calmly and the team retreats, the 4-3-3 becomes a 4-1-4-1. And that is exactly what Klopp is trying to create.

This transformation is the essence of the new Germany coach's game: the same 11 players, two different configurations depending on the phase of the game. The defensive midfielder remains alone in front of the defense to cover the space between the two central defenders, the two advanced midfielders stand in the same line with the wingers and the main striker stands up front. The pressing is activated by the back pass from the full-back to the central defender. The analysis highlights the movements of Adeyemi and Gnabry, who press the defenders at full speed, precisely to force the opponents into mistakes. And Germany, in a short time, seems to have already mastered Klopp's game.

Ultimately, Klopp's career successes were built on his perfect Liverpool: a mechanism he created in his own image and likeness, where possession of the ball was not an end in itself, but led to a series of rapid passes towards the goal. Not only that: pressing was essential in the German coach's game, which forced opponents to make mistakes precisely thanks to the high pressure that started from the attackers and reached the two full-backs, who had the task of supporting the action. The fact that with just a hand gesture the entire German team managed to immediately understand their coach's signal shows that Klopp is working well in trying to speed up the process and give Germany the way of playing that he prefers.