Jurgen Klopp has been described as the world's best football manager by the coach whose thinking was hugely influential earlier in the Liverpool boss's career.
Klopp has revitalised virtually every aspect of the club since arriving at Anfield in October 2015, following his successful spell at Borussia Dortmund where he led them to two Bundesliga titles and a Champions League final.
After leading the Reds to two cup finals in his first six months in charge, Klopp led Liverpool back into the Champions League in 2017 and, following a lost final in Kiev, won the club's sixth European Cup in Madrid last year.
After adding the UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup, Klopp's Reds ended the club's 30-year wait for a domestic league title this summer and look primed for a further assault on major honours this season.
Ralf Rangnick, regarded as the 'godfather of gegenpressing' and one of the most influential coaches in modern times, has been talking to the New York Times about his admiration of Klopp and how he has contributed to the tactical evolution of the game.
A key tenet of Rangnick's ideology, the 'eight-second rule' which is the timeframe teams should aim to win the ball back from the opposition, is adopted by many top coaches these days but Klopp, who is said to have co-opted much of Rangnick's thinking early in his career, is the one he considers to be the best in his field and he used the example of Liverpool's incredible Champions League semi-final fightback from a three-goal first leg deficit against the might of Lionel Messi and Barcelona to describe why.
“Lionel Messi is the best player in the world,” Rangnick said.
“But even he is not resistant to the press.
"Look at what happened against Liverpool and against Bayern: If you play in unison, as a team, then even he had no solutions.”
Rangnick did say pressing is not the only aspect of his ideology, adding: "It is a very important part of the game as people like me and Jürgen see it.
“But it is only a part of it.”
Rangnick resigned from his position as head of sport and development at the Red Bull group earlier this year but has been involved with a number of German clubs, with players such as Joël Matip, Roberto Firmino, Naby Keita and Sadio Mané said to owe their big break in Europe to him.
