Jurgen Klopp and the Psychology of the Touchline Manager

Reacting to his Liverpool side’s enthralling 4-3 win away to Arsenal at a sun-drenched Emirates Stadium on Sunday afternoon, Jurgen Klopp admitted that he had made a “big mistake” on the touchline after his side netted three goals in 14 second-half minutes.

The German joined celebrations for Sadio Mane’s excellent solo strike, Liverpool’s fourth of the afternoon, lofting the £30 million summer signing in the air as he was applauded by his new team-mates—it’s something he told reporters at full-time that he regretted:

We came out [for the second half], scored wonderful goals, and then I made a big mistake, because I was involved in celebrations.

That will happen, hopefully, one or two times in my life, but not so early in the game, because it was the wrong sign for all of us. It felt for everybody in that moment “that’s it”, and then you look at your watch and then “oh!”, there’s still half an hour to go—that’s not good.

So the crowd was a little bit angry, obviously, Arsenal fought back, showed character, scored the goals, we defended—again—not so good, and after the third goal we were back in the race.

As Klopp attested, Liverpool ultimately held on despite goals from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Calum Chambers adding to Theo Walcott’s opener to set up a tense finale at 4-3, but his admission is a salient one.

While supporters and pundits alike apportioned blame to Alberto Moreno for the Reds’ sloppy defensive effort at the Emirates, Klopp placed it at his own feet, opening an important debate as to the responsibility of the new breed of touchline managers.

“During the game I’m quite passionate, involved, maybe it sometimes looks like I’m a supporter,” Klopp told ITV during Liverpool’s UEFA Europa League campaign in 2015/16, “but I’m not—I try to give advice to people throughout those 90 minutes.”

This serves as a crystallisation of Klopp’s approach on the touchline, and why the former Borussia Dortmund manager has connected so closely with both supporters and players alike in his time with the Reds.

The vision of Klopp bounding up the touchline to celebrate an important goal, or pumping his fist alongside long-serving assistant Zeljko Buvac in the dugout, is one that Merseyside has grown accustomed to—and one that has stemmed from his time with Mainz 05 and Dortmund.

In the buildup to Sunday’s clash, Liverpool’s official Twitter account even appropriated one of Klopp’s trademark celebrations from his side’s 4-0 pre-season victory over Barcelona in anticipation:

It’s nearly the weekend and with it comes the #PLkickoff!