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Jurgen Klopp felt Liverpool were missing a trick.
At the start of pre-season in the summer of 2018, he sat down with assistants Pep Lijnders and Peter Krawietz and ordered a complete overhaul of the club’s set-piece routines.
Klopp had been busy trying to pinpoint where gains could be made on the back of the club’s fourth-place finish in the Premier League and a chastening defeat to Real Madrid in the Champions League final.
The stats told him that in terms of making set-pieces count, Liverpool were distinctly mid-table. They had a habit of wasting them at one end and looking vulnerable dealing with them at the other.
With the aerial prowess of Virgil van Dijk — coupled with the pinpoint accuracy of dead-ball specialist Trent Alexander-Arnold — Klopp was convinced they should be a much more potent weapon in Liverpool’s attacking armoury.
He also knew that with opponents desperately trying to come up with plans to nullify the threat of attacking trio Roberto Firmino, Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane, his team needed to keep evolving to ensure they retained an element of surprise. “We need to be unpredictable,” is a message the manager regularly reiterates to players and staff alike.
Around the same time that Lijnders and Krawietz were tasked with improving set-pieces, Klopp*brought specialist throw-in coach Thomas Gronnemark*on board after reading about his work in a German newspaper.
The transformation in that area over the past 18 months has been remarkable. For all the focus on Klopp’s force of personality and man-management in turning Liverpool into Champions League winners and Premier League champions-elect, his attention to detail is often overlooked. The planning for every mission is meticulous.
When Van Dijk soared highest to power home a header from Alexander-Arnold’s corner against Manchester United at Anfield on Sunday, it cemented their status as the top-flight’s set-piece kings.
Liverpool have scored 14 league goals (including penalties) from set pieces so far this season, more than any other team. Last season, they topped that table with 29 set-piece goals. Bournemouth and Manchester United were joint second on 21.
At set plays — from free kicks, corners and throws — in the Premier League, Liverpool managed just eight goals in the entire 2017-18 season. That figure leapt to 14 for 2018-19 and they are on nine so far this term.
Krawietz, who is nicknamed “The Eye” by Klopp, works closely with the club’s team of video analysts to find weaknesses they believe Liverpool can exploit.
The 48-year-old German coach then discusses their findings with Klopp and Lijnders before a decision is made on what set-pieces to work on with the players.
To help reinforce what they are trying to achieve, the squad are shown examples on a big screen before they head out on to the training field to put the theory into practice. The day before a game is always when Liverpool focus on set-piece routines.
“Our record in that area is credit to all the boys and the analysts who do so much of the work,” Lijnders tells*The Athletic.
“We always come up with a clear plan in how we can make our set-pieces count against a particular opponent and then we implement those ways in training. We really spend time on it. It comes with conviction. We’re really all together and also as individuals become better and better so our set-pieces have improved.
“For example, look at Trent’s delivery. That’s one thing and the timing and heading of Virgil is another. We need to use these strengths. They give colour to the ideas we have.
“We try to help as coaches by giving them good moves and ideas. It’s a good weapon, especially against a deep defending team as when you’re always trying to create you’re bound to have more corners. There’s a strong emphasis on making set-pieces decisive.
“Offensive teams don’t usually have this mentality. It’s more the teams who aren’t dominant in games but we really have that mentality to be a set-play team.”
The opening goal against United was especially satisfying for Liverpool staff because they had worked on pinpointing that area during training at Melwood on Saturday.
“We wanted to target that near post and we managed to do that,” confirmed Van Dijk, whose eight-goal haul in the Premier League since joining Liverpool two years ago is more than any other centre-back in the division. “It was a perfect corner from Trent. It was a good feeling. We have players who can be very dangerous in those situations, including myself.”
Alexander-Arnold has assisted five league goals from dead-ball situations this season, more than any other player across Europe’s top five leagues. His total tally of 21 Premier League assists since the start of last season is more than any other top-flight player.
His development since being handed his full league debut by Klopp against United three years ago has been astonishing. He’s following in the footsteps of his boyhood hero Steven Gerrard with his dead-ball prowess, as well as providing the Scouse heartbeat to this trophy-winning machine.
He’s already taken the most famous corner in Anfield history when his quick-thinking putting the killer fourth goal on a plate for Divock Origi as Liverpool pulled off a miraculous fightback against Barcelona en route to European glory last season.
On that occasion, Lijnders had relayed a message to the ball boys at the academy on the day of the game urging them to ensure they recycled the ball quickly as they had spotted that Barcelona had a habit of switching off and could be caught off-guard.
“The team behind the team here are fantastic,” left-back Andy Robertson tells*The Athletic*shortly after victory over United sent Liverpool 16 points clear with a game in hand.
“They really examine an opponent’s strengths and weaknesses and work out good plans. The day before every game, we do 11 v 11 at Melwood and try to make the set-piece routines work.
“Peter takes the leads on it in team meetings and talks us through everything with the video analysis. Credit to him and the analysis team. When we score goals from that area, it feels good because we’re repaying them for all their hard work.
“Sometimes, it’s a routine we’ve used to our advantage in a previous game or a routine that another team has had joy with. It’s about having the right delivery and ensuring that the right man is on the end of it.
“Trent’s delivery was right on the money and Virgil did so well to get on the end of it. They tried to mark him out of it but his movement was phenomenal. Set pieces are a massive part of football, so why not take try to take advantage of them?”
That Van Dijk opener gave Liverpool the platform to dominate. But for a questionable VAR decision, some poor finishing and inspired goalkeeping, Klopp’s men would have been out of sight before United rallied.
When the points were finally secured at the death, the second goal came from another set piece. Van Dijk won the initial header from a United corner, Alisson claimed and then expertly released Salah, who finished in style to spark scenes of delirium inside Anfield.
Since Klopp ordered that set-piece overhaul 18 months ago, Liverpool have taken 161 points out of the last 180 on offer.
There’s nothing lucky about this team. There’s expertise and hard graft in abundance. No stone has been left unturned in Klopp’s quest for excellence.
