After the second leg of the Champions League semi-final with Barcelona, Trent Alexander-Arnold delivered a miraculous counter-defeat-win assist near an Anfield corner cue, Peter Kravitz joked: "We've been rehearsing for weeks. Then he quickly stopped the humor and explained with German rigor: "No, that is actually Trent's impromptu response." ”
"In fact, we have repeatedly stressed the importance of quickly firing set-pieces, we have considered different situations in which we have taken a corner kick or a free kick and practiced it constantly. But we encourage and demand that our players change in all circumstances. At this time, long training and constant repetition produce wonderful spontaneous behavior. ”
In a sense, the German joke is more than just superficial; like all good jokes, it contains a little truth.
Deeply engaged in video recording for 20 years
Kravitz has been the eye of Jürgen Klopp's team for nearly 20 years, thanks to his mastery of visual processing and video analysis, and he has been a source of insight for Klopp's team from the start.
Kravitz was born in Mainz and graduated from a university in the city. In 1996, with his newly earned sports degree, he landed a job as a video analyst at a club in his hometown. Klopp was still playing for Mainz at the time. Ironically, when Klopp was at right-back, Kravitz had the responsibility to point out his positional flaws, while his fellow Germans were unhappy with that. Although the two had a frosty relationship at first, they developed a warm relationship after their first video analysis meeting. They sat together, exchanging their thoughts, and there would be countless more such experiences between the two of them in the days to come.
Of all the players at the club, Klopp is one of the people most interested in Kravitz's work, which he sees as an opportunity to learn more about the advantages of video analysis. After being named Coach of Mainz, Klopp promoted Kravitz to chief scout in 2001. He then joined Klopp's behind-the-scenes team, where he spent 7 years as an assistant coach at Dortmund.
From 2008 to 2015, Kravitz improved and optimized his video analysis for Dortmund's players. He focuses on improving the team's performance, while also preparing for analysing opponents' tactics to determine their relative strengths and weaknesses and how to exploit them. "That's the bottom line for any video analysis," he said in 2012. 'The players should leave after the meeting with a lot of respect for their opponents, but at the same time have to have enough confidence.
Looking back at Kravitz's career following Klopp, it is clear that this desire to grow, improve and learn has never diminished since he came to Merseyside with Klopp in the autumn of 2015. In more than 250 games under Klopp, Kravitz prepared for every one, and his analysis was as sharp as ever.
Liverpool coaching staff group portrait
In December 2019, Klopp released the heartening news that he had signed a new five-year contract with Liverpool and that he would remain at the club until 2024, quelling speculation about another 7-year cycle. "When I got the call in the fall of 2015," he admitted, "I felt like we were the perfect couple; if anything, I now feel like I underestimated it." This club is a good place and I don't want to leave. ”
In his signing speech, Klopp stressed the importance of his assistant coaches Kravitz and Leanders, as well as other first-team coaches. "I'm lucky to have so many great staff around. Honestly, in that regard, I feel like I'm the luckiest coach in the world. ”
In addition to his assistant coach, Liverpool has 40 behind-the-scenes staff at all levels. Currently known ones include: Mona Nemmer and Andreas Kornmeyer (nutrition director and fitness training coach) – to Jack Robinson and John Achterberg (first-team goalkeeper coaches), Thomas Gronnemark (heavily underrated side-throwing coaches) and Vitor Matos (youth coaches), Klopp's Liverpool is a thought workshop.
The innovative and pragmatic spirit among Klopp's professional entourage is another key reason why the club is so successful. "Peter and Pep have contributed as much as I have to the development of the team, although as a coach a lot of people may see me as the face of the club and their input and expertise is invaluable to the goals we pursue," he praised.
Klopp is the leader and face of the team, he defines the spirit of the team and inspires his players: he describes himself as the "heart" of the team. Leandez, seemingly replacing former assistant coach Bouac, as the team's "brain", is responsible for the training process, while Kravits, as the "eye", is responsible for analyzing and preparing the video and providing insight.
Together, they created a Gestalt (a school of psychology) coaching group in which the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. It was in this high degree of solidarity that decisions were made about development and training aimed at nurturing Liverpool's spirit of play in the image of Klopp's "psychological monster".
Loyal and always growing
Kravitz is perhaps a more mysterious member who rarely gives media interviews. He seems more content to run his business without being spied on. On the other hand, there is no doubt that Leandders is Klopp's most obvious tactical partner. After serving as a mouthpiece for press conferences on several occasions, the Dutchman has proven himself to be a passionate agent – in fact, he has been considered a long-term replacement for the head coach.
Loyalty is a precious commodity in football, and as one of Klopp's longest-lived advisers, Kravitz remains one of his most trusted deputies. "I worked with Peter for many years, which goes back to my time in Mainz and Dortmund. Even now, I'm still amazed at what he found in the game. He has incredible talent and it's priceless to us.
"Watching him grow and become a coach like this is one of the best professional experiences for me. He's always been important to me, but since coming to Liverpool he's been very well developed personally. He was smart, insightful and important to us. ”
In order to adapt to the rhythm of English football, Liverpool's Kravitz has focused pre-match training courses more on the tactical level, which means that physical training is secondary to the acquisition of knowledge. More precisely, they are similar to understanding the procedural behavior of an opponent and how to perform a particular process in a particular match scene.
Along with the players, the philosophy of Kravitz and Liverpool's coaching staff is to use a training scenario similar to a game to simulate the intensity of the opponent (such as simulating Tottenham's play before the Champions League). This reflects the team's desire to conquer opponents through relentless pressure and the desire to win the ball on the pitch, and Liverpool's coaching curriculum is designed around this. For example, when Klopp was at Anfield, he was forced to regain the ball
The system is becoming more and more complex, and it requires the entire team to advance quickly and operate with a collective consciousness.
Liverpool have developed into one of the most efficient teams in the world in recent seasons; While skill, tactics and mentality all play a role in this, one of the most important reasons is the unity and unity of the whole club. One of Liverpool's biggest strengths is their respect for the maxim "numerical superiority".
However, the idea behind such a rigorous, holistic coaching mindset is that Liverpool's players can also find more natural and creative ways. Offensive training is reflected in offensive stats, with Kravitz once revealing to The Athletic's Raphael Honistan in an interview: "The players remember the previous situation and the way to solve the problem," he said. That's why they were later able to accomplish these things on the pitch at top speed and under tremendous pressure. This is the highest form of cooperation. ”
Indoctrination of set-pieces and tactical requirements
That's the real laugh of Kravitz's joke. In many ways, it is likely that they have at least rehearsed the possibility of this spontaneity beforehand. Alexander-Arnold's famous corner assist is a direct result of basic training rooted in spontaneous movement, which allows for improvisational originality.
These types of set-piece routines and tactical choreography require extensive video analysis and detailed conversations with individual players. These one-on-one conversations are a particularly interesting part of Kravitz's character. Back in mainz, Klopp's team had the characteristic that players would work with Kravitz for hours of video analysis to orchestrate the team's run-in.
In Liverpool, keita and Fabinho both benefited from watching hours of footage with Kravitz; Midfielders in the Liverpool system, in particular, need to have a good understanding of the lateral and vertical movement of wingers, whether with or without the ball. Brazilian Fabinho, in particular, paid off his delayed debut after joining Liverpool, which is further proof of Kravitz's expertise.
However, to this day Krawitz still does not have a single Wikipedia entry. While this isn't necessarily a touchstone for personal influence, it does prove the relative obscurity of the 48-year-old teaching assistant. But his work behind the scenes and in the coaching cabinet has had a very direct impact on the team. This is most evident in the case of set-pieces.
In the 2018-19 season, Liverpool scored 20 set-pieces in the league, almost double the previous season. At the start of last season, especially given the presence of a genius like Alexander Arnold in the squad, Klopp and his staff explicitly demanded an improvement in this segment. "We didn't score enough in these situations," Klopp admitted. "So we're more focused on this issue; not spending more time, but in a different way." The analytics department has made recommendations for what we can do, and we're working on it. How brilliant the result was. The boys loved it. It wasn't like that at first, but now they enjoy it because when it works, it works great. ”
Two free kicks from Chelsea 2-1
Liverpool's match against Stamford Bridge in September 2019-20 is a good example. The 2-1 win over Chelsea was scored from two free-kicks, kravitz's routine at Melwood. "We've been working on it," Andy Robertson revealed after the assist. 'The first one probably didn't practice much and I think Trent said he wanted to do the ball with one kick and shoot, but the other one we've been practicing and luckily he made it.
After winning the match in London, Klopp confirmed his free-kick training at left-back. However, Klopp also claimed to Assist Alexander Arnold's goal with a heel bump invented by Mohammed Salah: "This small action changed the entire angle of the shot, making it almost impossible for Kepa to save the ball." It was a wonderful goal. Kravitz and our analysts, they did a good job of set-pieces, especially corner kicks. I loved the corners in the second half, we should have scored two corners. But it wasn't a game about set-pieces, we played brilliantly but in the end you had to score and we did. "Indeed, everything was great.
At that stage of the season, Liverpool topped the table with perfect points (6 wins and 18 points) and set a record of 15 consecutive wins, while they lost just one game in the entire season of 2018/19. The victory at Stamford Bridge was Klopp's 92nd win in 150 games in charge of Liverpool. This is largely due to Kravitz's meticulous design, and as more games arrive and Liverpool break records in one way after another, more of Kravitz's work will be on display.
By early February, the Reds were at the top of the table with 73 points, 22 points ahead of second-placed Manchester City. In 42 league games unbeaten, Liverpool scored 100 of 102 points. For comparison, Klopp and his men finished fourth with 75 and 76 points respectively in their first two full seasons at Anfield (2016/17 and 2017/18).
Football is never boring
Back in 2016, Kravitz firmly stated: "We are satisfied with the recent progress, but we also know that the ending of the story is far from being achieved." Of course, he was right. Three years later, Klopp and his team reached the Champions League final after Liverpool failed to win the final three times, finally winning the Champions League in Madrid, opening a new chapter in victory.
Behind this season's impressive league lead, and Liverpool's nearly 5 years of exponential development, Kravitz's consistent humility is also striking: "I would say, so far it's not too bad, there are a few things that have been done well. It's been a great journey so far. ”
After beating Tottenham Hotspur in 2018/19, Kravitz publicly reiterated their shared desire for collective honour. In hindsight, they were far-sighted. "It's more about the overall operation. We don't just focus on champions, we want to start developing and improving over the long term.
In this context, the championship is undoubtedly our goal and greatest desire. However, we know that in the coming seasons, Liverpool may not be the most economically strong team in England. So it remains an ambitious goal. We will continue to work hard. However, the quality and depth of the team is a factor that cannot be ignored. ”
When a glittering summer unfolded in front of the Reds, few had the foresight to accurately predict how this crazy and ambitious goal would be achieved. In the following 2019/20 season, Liverpool stubbornly rise, and it is getting closer and closer to ending the long 30-year wait.
One thing that seems obvious in Kravitz's thinking, however, is that he has a firm confidence in his approach and a constant desire for further development of the team. "You're right, even when you think 'how can this work?' and when the game is over we sit together and watch the video and talk to our teammates, we're always confident about winning. If there's a chance of winning, we'll try very hard. ”
Beneath Kravitz's calm and composed exterior is an ambitious tactician: "To keep the body strong, to get stronger, to train your tactical thinking, to train your technical skills — we try to do that every day," he admits. Everything we do is for one idea and one goal: to get better and play better football. What do we need next time? What do we need to change? What do we need to improve? Defensively or offensively? Most of the time it's both. It's never boring. ”