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It has taken nine long months, but Zeljko Buvac's Liverpool exit has finally been confirmed.

The departure of 'The Brain' was quietly confirmed by the club as Pep Lijnders stepped up alongside Peter Krawietz to become Jurgen Klopp's full-time assistant manager.

Buvac unofficially left the club in April, effectively ending a 17-year working relationship with the manager who famously dubbed him 'The Brain' - but for a long time his name echoed around social media whenever the Reds stumbled.

Very few are privy to what exactly Buvac's role entailed during his two-and-a-half years at Anfield or the influence and impact he had on Klopp and his squad.

(Image: Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

However, the highly-respected coach's name has never been too far away whenever the Reds have hit choppy waters under Klopp since leaving.

But slowly, that's starting to change. Liverpool have lost just once in the Premier League this season and improved as an attacking unit as the season has gone on. Talk of Liverpool not being the slick, cohesive unit they were at times last season has stopped.

The Reds have improved as a team and are far more consistent in the league than they ever were when Buvac was around.

So how have the Reds fared since he departed after the goalless draw to Stoke City on April 28?

Liverpool have played 35 games since that afternoon against the Potters and lost just nine times.

Those defeats can - at least, in part - be explained in mitigation.

A 4-2 defeat against Roma in the Stadio Olimpico was still enough to see the Reds qualify for the Champions League final before a rotated lineup was beaten 1-0 away to Chelsea in the Premier League as Klopp perhaps prioritised that game in Kiev.

A loss to Real Madrid in the final owed an awful lot to the error-strewn display of goalkeeper Loris Karius, while Klopp again rotated heavily in the 2-1 reverse to Chelsea in the Carabao Cup this season.

A defeat to Wolves in the FA Cup saw three teenagers in the Reds' starting line up and a loss to Man City - the only one of this Premier League campaign so far - was a close fought affair.

However, there can be little doubt that defeats away to PSG, Napoli and - more alarmingly - Red Star in the Champions League were disappointing performances that were given the result they deserved.

The Reds looked bereft of creativity and lacked the high-octane, intense pressing game they made their calling card throughout most of last season.

Buvac's exit though - as evidence by Liverpool's best-ever start to a Premier League season - is unlikely to be root cause of such off-nights.

Liverpool reporter James Pearce explains how Pep Lijnders has grown in importance to Klopp here

Rafa Benitez was plagued with similar theories surrounding Pako Ayestaran when the Spaniard's most trusted lieutenant was put on gardening leave 11 years ago.

"He said that maybe he would like to leave the club and we are now analysing the situation," was Benitez's terse response when quizzed about his assistant's departure in September 2007.

Ayestaran had worked closely alongside Benitez for three years and helped the club to victory in the 2005 Champions League and the FA Cup 12 months later.

He was credited with improving fitness at Anfield through sports science and detailing the exact minutes played by each player throughout a season, which were factors that greatly influenced Benitez's often controversial rotation policy.

Ayestaran was also believed to have been a big sounding board for Benitez over tactical and technical matters and the ex-Reds manager admitted the departure would be keenly felt.

"Eleven years we have worked together but now we must analysis the situation," he said. "I know things but the best thing now is to say nothing and wait. I think he will go but I don't think he will be at the game tomorrow."

And while his exit coincided with Benitez's failure to land any further silverware at Anfield, Ayestaran's move away the was not the death knell some had predicted for Rafa's reign.

The Reds would end the 2007/08 season as Champions League semi-finalists before a fourth-place Premier League finish was followed up by a genuine title challenge that would see Benitez's men fall just short to one of the strongest Manchester United sides in the Premier League era.

Patrice Bergues was another assistant whose importance has perhaps been exaggerated over time since he left Gerard Houllier's side in 2001.

The Frenchman worked alongside Houllier for four years, helping Liverpool win the 'Treble' of the UEFA Cup, FA Cup and League Cup in 2001.

Indeed, the former Lille coach was Houllier's first signing when he arrived at the club in 1998 and the legendary Ian Rush has previously discussed Bergues' ability as an assistant manager - and the impact his exit had on the club.

“When Patrice Bergues left in 2001, Gerard Houllier replaced him with Jacques Crevoisier and then Christiano Damiano, neither of whom commanded the same respect from players and other members of staff," said Rush, who had a minor coaching role at Melwood at the time.

Bergues was clearly a popular figure around the club, but, Phil Thompson is regarded more fondly for his work during the same period with the European Cup-winning captain actually managing the club in Houllier's absence as he recovered from heart surgery.

"It's different being No1, if only for a while," Thompson admitted on the eve of a Champions League tie in Kiev in 2002.

"The players are fine with it. I know I come across as abrasive but we are all here to do a job. I'm not here to be liked, and nor is Gerard. But I'd like to think that I command a bit of respect from the players."

Thompson would enjoy some short-lived success as a manager, steering Liverpool into the last eight of the Champions League and picking up a Premier League Manager of the Month gong in November and March that season.

Houllier would enjoy further success in 2003, lifting the League Cup after beating Manchester United, and the downfall of the Frenchman was more likely to have been poor transfer dealings of the 2002 summer rather than Bergues leaving.

Undoubtedly, the role of the assistant manager is a crucial strand in set-up of a football club, and while Liverpool are currently without the benefit of Buvac's experience, know-how and attention to detail, Klopp will attest that he has the right men in place behind the scenes.

Indeed Lijnders has grown in importance to Liverpool and Krawietz is a quiet but crucial presence alongside the Dutchman.

One glance at the league table is enough proof at present.