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Meet ‘The Brain’ – Klopp’s lieutenant who has key role in Anfield revolution

Liverpool’s inspirational manager could not do without the guidance of Zeljko Buvac, says Paul Joyce.



Behind the beaming smile for the cameras and the witty one-liners churned out for the assembled media, Jürgen Klopp cut an altogether different figure backstage. Anxious, tetchy and, for the first time in almost 15-years, feeling exposed.



Klopp roamed the training facility at Melwood after that press conference in which he was announced as Liverpool manager looking a little distracted, inquiring on an almost hourly basis about the whereabouts of one man in particular.



Then, five days later, Zeljko Buvac walked into the training ground and in an instant the mood changed. In the 13 months since, Klopp’s spirit has never wavered.



The process of obtaining a work permit had delayed the Bosnian Serb’s entrance, but he eventually arrived on Merseyside in style in a private jet that was chartered on the insistence of the man who gave him the nickname, “The Brain”.



Klopp’s reasoning was simple. If they could not arrive together, then they would at least arrive the same way.



The story serves to underline all of the facets that lie at the heart of the relationship between Klopp and his trusted lieutenant, his assistant manager who is playing an understated but crucial role in the club’s renaissance. Those tenets are loyalty, trust and reverence.



Theirs is a bond — professional more than social — that was forged as team-mates at Mainz where they struck a pact that whoever went into management first would always find a role for the other once their respective playing careers had finished. Klopp’s transition straight from player to coach in 2001 made good the agreement and it feels better that it happened that way round.



Buvac — who was in charge of lower league German club Neukirchen for three years as Klopp, who at 49 is six years his junior, finished his playing career — is happiest when ceding the spotlight, although Liverpool’s players note that he operates above the level of a normal assistant.



Peter Krawietz — known as “The Eyes” — completes the triumvirate which came from Borussia Dortmund in October 2015, but it is Buvac on whom Klopp leans most.



“It is unthinkable that they would do something without each other,” says Colin Bell, an Englishman who began his playing career with Leicester City and was reserve-team coach at Mainz under Klopp.



“Zeljko reads the game very well, he has great footballing ideas and is always looking at finding new ways on how to play and train.



“When Mainz started to play 4-3-3 it was different to the Dutch way, where you have a central striker and two out-and-out wingers. Zeljko wanted the players to keep moving around, interchanging, coming inside.



“Andriy Voronin [who would later join Liverpool] scored 20 goals for Mainz [in 2002-03] and he was all over the pitch, working really hard from central striker or right wing and left wing and it was so difficult for opponents to stop him and others. I can see those sorts of aspects in the Liverpool style now, especially with the quality of the player they have.



“Closing down, surrounding opponents, going hunting for the ball — that all started in Mainz. That was one of Zeljko’s big things and he did specific training forms for that.”



Liverpool discovered that much on their summer tour to the United States.



It was in Palo Alto, California, that the drills underpinning their eye-catching performances were drummed into them. Liverpool’s secret is their training and central to their training is Buvac.



One drill using mannequins as opponents focused on team shape after attacking raids and, in particular, finding the shortest route back into a position. If that meant Jordan Henderson filling in at right back because Nathaniel Clyne had made a forward run then, as Buvac said: “Why stress? No problem.”



The moniker of “The Brain” has been updated with first-team development coach Pepijn Lijnders referring to Buvac, whose command of English has improved so that he no longer has to drag players into position to get his point across, as “the human computer”.



Klopp does not hide the importance of his assistant. There is no insecurity about building up the role of his No 2 and looking to share the credit among all of the backroom staff.



Before Klopp discussed personal terms on his own contract he insisted, to the surprise of Liverpool’s hierarchy, that deals for Buvac and Krawietz were done first. They come as a team.



It is a sign of the esteem in which he is held that Buvac, a quietly-spoken former midfielder, whose head is usually buried in a laptop when not on the training pitch, is never the butt of Klopp’s frequent jokes.



When Buvac momentarily lost his cool during Liverpool’s feisty 3-0 Europa League semi-final, second leg against Villarreal in May and was told by the Spanish side’s then coach, Marcelino, to pipe down there was an eruption next to him. Klopp flew across his technical area, defending his man and leaving his rival in no doubt that he should not dismiss Buvac again.



“It is not easy to tell two or three anecdotes about Zeljko because he keeps himself to himself in that respect, but that means when he does open his mouth you listen very carefully as a player because you know something good is going to happen,” says Bell, now in charge of Sand, the women’s Bundesliga side.



“It is a good combination and they have been through so much together. They had success at Dortmund, but also they know about when things don’t go well. The strength that they have between them gets them through.



“If they do disagree then it would never be personal. It is with a view to improving the team and they push each other. Zeljko would have his input, as would Peter, and that is important to Kloppo because he wants feedback and the different angle. I would say they bring out each other’s strengths and that makes them strong.”



At Bournemouth on Sunday, Klopp will reprise a ritual before kick-off. He will hug Krawietz before he takes his seat on the bench and then wrap Buvac in a bear hug as well, reassured to have his right-hand man at his side.



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