Intensity – Inside Liverpool FC

In the hierarchy of things that I love in my life Liverpool Football Club is certainly in the top five. Watching the Reds play at Anfield when a ticket becomes available is the preferred option but I will settle for watching on the TV. Reading about Liverpool comes a close second. This goes from my teenage years reading magazines and newspapers to the present day of reading books such as player and manager biographies to fan experiences. One of the aspects of football I really enjoy is the tactical side of things. From the formation of the team to the patterns of play that managers employ to beat the opposition. I have spent plenty of my teenage and adult years playing Football Manager and FIFA to execute these Tactics and Formations.

Intensity – Inside Liverpool FC is written in a diary format by Jurgen Klopp’s assistant Pep Ljinders. He describes the atmosphere and the work that goes on during the week leading up to games on the weekend. What I really love about this wonderful book is the conversations that are had between Klopp and Ljinders as well. There are also senior players who get involved in certain conversations with the coaching team and then the rest of the squad.

The season the book covers is the 2021/22 season which turns out to be a season where Liverpool came touching distance from winning all four trophies on offer. So this is modern day football at the highest level and we are getting a behind the scenes access to the thoughts and methods of one of the best managers in the world and his coaching staff. Traditionally you would expect a book like this to be released retrospectively perhaps once the coaches had retired but this was in real-time.

Ironically the book got released at the start of the 22/23 season where Liverpool really struggled on the pitch and there was a lot of criticism towards Pep and the book which in my opinion was uncalled for. The criticism was based on over-generalizations. For me it just goes to show the confidence of Jurgen and Pep to release the book and knowing that even though we are transparent we have complete confidence in our ability to evolve and still stay one step ahead. The 22/23 season did not necessarily reflect that but the mindset is certainly there.

As I went through the book it brought back wonderful memories of individual games. It evokes thoughts of where you watched the game and whom you were with. It really brings back those happy times. Honourable mentions go to the last-minute winner at Wolves and the FA Cup Final. My favourite memory of course of that season was 5-0 win against bitter rivals Manchester United at Old Trafford. For the first time in my life I secured a ticket at Old Trafford and boy it did not disappoint. Over the years there have been many highs but this really tops it all. To win with such a margin at their place is like winning the golden ticket. Most of the time these fixtures tend to be very edgy and victory is down to small margins but this was completely epic. To go through that journey again from the perspective of the coach and the team building up to the fixture was remarkable. Reading a book with a smile on your face is a distinct experience.

There was also the insight into the goings on behind the scenes of a major transfer. Liverpool had bought Luis Diaz from under the noses of Tottenham Hotspur in January. To get an idea of the discussions that took place to acquire the player was interesting. It’s not only the fans that go through the anxiety of getting a transfer over the line it’s the people involved with the club also.

As mentioned above the 22/23 season was a bit of a disaster following an amazing season. This brings me to a passage in the book where Pep explains that he and Jurgen have a conversation where they said they would trust the same players to do it again the next season. I found this to be quite short sighted because we had an aging squad especially in the midfield. To compound that further we had a couple of players who had poor injury records and could not turn out on a regularly basis. I would have thought that a more pragmatic approach would have been better to find replacements particularly in midfield. In addition this the fact that we played every single fixture that was on offer that season was always going to take its toll.