He is the man who has Jurgen Klopp’s ear, the man tasked with helping one of the best managers in the world outwit the opposition. Before the Champions League final in May, Liverpool’s assistant coach Peter Krawietz discussed tactical tweaks, the Philippe Coutinho deal and the impacts of Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk with The Athletic.



Let’s turn back the clock. It’s the beginning of the 2017-18 season. What did you think Liverpool needed to do to develop further?We had just worked really hard to finish fourth and considered that a big success. Now it was time to make it count and finish the job. We wanted to reach the Champions League group stage. That was the dominating consideration during pre-season. We wanted to make sure the team was functioning as soon as possible, as we needed to be sharp in the very first games. It helped us to a good start in the Premier League, but we struggled in September. We had been very busy in July, as we needed to...