Typical Klopp! Why cutting short his sabbatical for Liverpool should come as no surprise

Jurgen Klopp left Dortmund this summer for a 12-month sabbatical

THOSE who know Jurgen Klopp always knew he would fail. Not at his job but in keeping away.

For the workaholic, the notion of spending 12 months on sabbatical seemed alien and, in practice, has proved too difficult an ask with which to adhere.
Thomas Tuchel, the former Mainz coach who replaced Klopp at Borussia Dortmund in the summer, took his year out and Pep Guardiola decamped to New York in between leaving Barcelona and moving to the Bundesliga with Bayern Munich.
Yet while Klopp has spent time on the small German island of Sylt where he has a home, visiting old friends in Mainz, where he was both player and manager, and also in Portugal, a familiar pattern has been played out of late.

His first thought when waking early each day has been of the game he was immersed in for 26 years straight as a player and coach. Four months out has merely fuelled his hunger to improve.
"Typical Klopp" was one friend's description and Liverpool will be the beneficiaries of the 48-year-old's brief recharging of his batteries when he is officially sworn in as Brendan Rodgers' successor in the next 48-hours.
Klopp ticks many boxes: a big name who will lift the club, neutralise apathy, and whose desire to better himself ensures he will attack the task of reviving the club's fortunes with a frenzy.

Whether the weight of Klopp's personality can be transferred to a team lacking in character will be intriguing, though not all of methods for instilling spirit involve showing photographs of how Barcelona celebrate every goal "like it's the first they've ever scored." Note photographs and not videos. Klopp does not want to copy Barcelona's style.
After leading Mainz to promotion in 2004, pre-season preparations veered from the usual script.
"You can speak about spirit - or you can live it," said Klopp. "We took the team to a lake in Sweden where there was no electricity. We went for five days without food.
"The other coaches said: 'Don't you think it's better to train playing football?' No. I wanted the team to feel that they can survive everything. My assistant coach thinks I'm an idiot. He asks if we can train there. No. Can we run there? No. But we can swim and fish!

Jurgen Klopp has managed just two clubs, Mainz and Dortmund, in his 14-year career

"When I meet one of those players now, from our 'Special Forces', they tell me what happened in the first and last minute and every story in between. Each night in a tent, lying on the roots, you don't forget that. We had to find the next island. The first one there had to make a fire and boil some water. We were like Bravehearts.
"You can stick a knife in me here - no problem. We went to the Bundesliga and people could not believe how strong we were."
Once he sets foot inside Anfield, he will find there is plenty to do if he is to replicate the success he enjoyed in the Bundesliga with Dortmund on Merseyside.
One of the criticisms of Liverpool has been their vulnerability when not in possession. In contrast, Klopp is a stickler for his players knowing exactly what to do when their opponents have the ball.
It is a blueprint in part derived from one of his first coaches as Mainz, Wolfgang Frank, who would watch videos of Arrigo Sacchi's work at AC Milan hundreds upon hundreds of times. Sacchi would perform defensive drills, using sticks and without the balls, and players of the calibre of Paolo Maldini, Franco Baresi and Demetrio Albertini dutifully followed.
The footage planted a seed with Klopp.
"We used to think before then that if the other players are better, you have to lose," he said. "After that we learned anything is possible - you can beat better teams by using tactics."