Jurgen Klopp's first press conference as the new head coach of Liverpool consisted of a full house. The media room was packed with cameras, journalists and anticipation as the German talked about his new managerial beginning.
Hidden amongst his innate ability to provide a sound bite, describing himself as the 'Normal One' and stressing the need for supporters to change from doubters to believers, Klopp was asked about his playing style.
'Transition game' was the roughly translated version of his response. He represented a modern brand of offensive football at his previous club, Borussia Dortmund, and had a desire to bring the approach to English shores.
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Throughout his time in the Bundesliga, Klopp developed as a trainer to become the face of contemporary and trendy pressing, winning two league titles and three domestic cups in the process.
The defensive mechanism of closing down opponents in order to regain the ball had been around for decades, but Klopp was arguably the first high-profile name to successfully establish pressing as a means of generating chances to score.
Upon losing possession, his Dortmund team cultivated a reputation for reacting instantly. His players would hound the space around the opponent who had the ball by working as a coordinated pack, and costly mistakes often followed.
'Gegenpressing' was the term that became associated with Klopp and his one-of-a-kind profile, which means counter-pressing in German and effectively summed up his abnormal plan of attack.
As a consequence of the immediate pressure cooker environment created by Klopp's forceful gang of players, opponents would typically make enforced errors and lose possession in valuable areas of the pitch near their own goal.
Those moments of total disorganisation were embraced by Klopp. The man from the Black Forest actively pursued chaos on the field, with the belief that his players were trained to flourish in comparison to their uninitiated peers.
Once regaining the ball, Klopp instructed his players to focus on trying to score without a second thought, rather than playing safe by passing backwards. He was not interested in starting yet another lengthy possession sequence in the mould of Pep Guardiola, he wanted blood.
"If you win the ball back high up the pitch and you are close to goal, it's only one pass away from a really good opportunity most of the time," Klopp said shortly after arriving in England. "No playmaker in the world can be as good as a good counter-pressing situation."
Liverpool were eager to reap the rewards of Klopp's futuristic methods upon his appointment in October 2015, with a half-baked version of his football evidenced in his first game in charge against Mauricio Pochettino's Tottenham Hotspur.
The Reds harried Spurs for 90 minutes as though they were possessed, covering more distance than in any of their previous Premier League matches under Brendan Rodgers that season and also becoming the first side to outrun Pochettino's outfit.
Klopp had quickly injected a degree of intensity to Liverpool's game, but the relentless pace of the team's running had a negative impact on their use of the ball.
"There were many full-throttle moments in the game. We were a little bit nervous when we got the ball because the pulse was a little too high at this moment," said the German.
Over time, Liverpool would install the necessary building blocks for Klopp to implement his extreme transition game on Merseyside
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Mona Nemmer was appointed as the club's head of nutrition after joining from Bayern Munich in July 2016, and Andreas Kornmayer made the same switch to become head of fitness and conditioning.
Speed and mobility was added to the squad over a number of transfer windows with Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah forming a trio with Roberto Firmino in attack. The indestructible Gini Wijnaldum linked up with the legs of Jordan Henderson in central midfield, and Andy Robertson also fitted the mould of a marathon runner.
The Reds climbed the table and restored their status as Champions League regulars, but Liverpool appeared to hit a glass ceiling.
Premier League sides were not as accommodating to Klopp's ways as those in the Bundesliga. Classic English pragmatism took centre stage whenever Liverpool faced inferior opposition, with the likes of Sam Allardyce, Alan Pardew and Sean Dyche unwilling to present the Reds with opportunities to press by hitting persistent long passes.
Klopp's primary offensive weapon was nullified on countless occasions by the bottom half of England's top-flight. Goalless draws were suffered against Stoke City, West Brom, Everton and Southampton, with losses inflicted by Burnley, Crystal Palace, Swansea City and Hull City.
If one period of time was to be highlighted as Liverpool's watershed moment, it would be the summer of 2018.
Fabinho was signed from AS Monaco to become Liverpool's 'lighthouse' according to Pep Lijinders, Klopp's second-in-command. The Brazilian was capable of remaining cool-headed despite the anarchy that surrounded him in the centre of the park, and he became the team's new no.6 in place of Henderson.
Alisson Becker was bought from AS Roma for a notably expensive price for a goalkeeper, and he would offer valuable ball-playing perks alongside Virgil van Dijk, who had arrived six months earlier for a world-record transfer fee, and Trent Alexander-Arnold, who was now mature enough to perform three times per week after previously having his minutes managed.
Klopp had ingrained the counter-pressing behaviour of his BVB outfit at Liverpool, but the team required a more expansive range of tools in order to manage the varying challenges of a 38-game campaign better than rivals such as Manchester City.
"In our tactical portfolio, we want to be attuned to the various styles of play we will meet and to have the appropriate countermeasure," said Peter Krawietz, Klopp's long-term assistant.
Van Dijk arrived as the most expensive player ever purchased by Liverpool, but the Reds would harvest their worth from him by making the Dutchman central to the team's new-found possession game.
His unrivalled ability to distribute long passes from deep was harnessed by Klopp. Van Dijk was used as a quarterback of sorts, he was a swift avenue into the final third at Anfield, with Salah and Mane able to use their explosive speed to retrieve his direct passes in behind.
His imposing 6-foot-4 frame allowed Klopp to commit more players forward, and his perks were applied to offensive set-pieces, scoring 10 Premier League goals since his transfer with each of those originating from dead-ball situations.
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Alexander-Arnold supplied several of those deliveries into the penalty box for Van Dijk; the Scouse academy graduate evolved into Liverpool's unorthodox answer to finding a way through deep-defending opponents.
As a right-back, he was afforded an unjustifiable amount of space despite his threat on the ball. Klopp was almost forced to take back his comments regarding pressing as a playmaker due to Alexander-Arnold's emergence as that type of player within his team.
"We want to be able to transform comfortably and fluidly from a possession team to a counter-attacking team" said Lijinders. "Basically, having different 'flight plans' but all well executed."
With every passing season, Klopp has added another layer to Liverpool's weaponry: crosses, throw-ins, long passes, overlapping runs, counter-attacks from deep. The counter-pressing identity of the Reds has persisted, but while expanding and strengthening, with the arrival of Thiago Alcantara in the summer of 2020 personifying the tactical shift.
A delicate product of Barcelona's youth academy, Thiago was a controller rather than an instigator of disorder. The Spanish midfielder was once a favourite of Guardiola during his time at Bayern Munich; he was the kind of player that Klopp's approach was designed to fluster.
At Anfield, he joined to become a conductor of Klopp's organised chaos. Ex-Reds midfielder Javier Mascherano has referenced how Liverpool have adopted elements of Guardiola's ideas in their search for a more well-rounded armoury, citing positional play as a reason behind their dominance.
The initial transition game that Klopp promised to formulate has matured, and the attack that was once one dimensional is now multifaceted.
He's changed the club during his six-year tenure, but the club have changed him just as much.
