Just to clarify, are you actually Jurgen Klopp himself? Because in every one of your posts you tell RAWK what Klopp is going to do in terms of this, that and the other, as though it is not your opinion but fact, like you either are him, or have sat in a room with him while he stroked his beard and laughed and said "Eh, Babu, my old freund, this is what I think about everything there is to think about, so listen, and take notes if you want".
You donīt need to speak to someone or put probes in their head to understand how they think and why they probably make the decisions they do. I read a lot about German football over the past 6 months in general as well as on Klopp himself. Blogs, books, whatever I could get my hands on. Klopp is very German in how he sees football but also has his own ideas and elements of the game that he thinks are more important than not.
I could be totally wrong of course, he could start playing with a 5'4" deep lying playmaker. Play 3 at the back. Play a narrow diamond in midfield. Play a low block. He could literally do anything at all. He has that freedom. There is absolutely nothing at all to suggest he will though. Thatīs why itīs important.
If you study his sides and also how they have gradually changed as he made adjustments to counter the problems he faced, you can begin to understand what he wants for each role on the pitch, and why. You can understand what he might be willing to sacrifice to accommodate a particular player (Coutinho - goal threat) but also what he probably wonīt sacrifice (Allen - physicality for the sitter role, creativity and goal threat as a runner, Benteke - he pretty much does nothing that Klopp would want in any phase of play). You also see that all his formations are 4-1-4-1. At least that is their starting point in the defensive phase. It doesnīt matter what players he has on the pitch and what shape we say they will be, that is the shape he has in mind for us to press the ball. An asymmetrical 4-1-4-1. We will have a stagger line of 3 in midfield at different heights and widths on the pitch so multiple people can press from all angles for any ball in midfield, we have 4 people who can press the ball in any zone on the flank, we have one forward to shut down two defensive players (usually a FB and CB) encouraging play to go down one side or the other.
So when you say Henderson may become his sitting midfielder. Sure, that can happen, because everything is possible until it isnīt. Itīs improbable though because his first priority in that role is aerial dominance. He forces the opposition into playing long passes into certain areas of the pitch and having an explosive player and an aerially dominate player near the area he leaves open means he can usually win the ground or aerial race to the ball. Or at the very least make sure itīs heavily contested. Thatīs why at the moment that particular trap point for him is Can & Moreno.
Likewise you saying turning is irrelevant and not a requires skill in CM. You are right but only for coaches that place absolutely no importance on this. Like Mourinho. The problem is when a side presses them high up the pitch then they can no longer link play. Like Chelsea vs us last season. We separated Hazard (who was their AM) from Mikel and Ramires that day by pressing them in front of the defence. Itīs why Mourinho despite being in charge of one of the best teams in every country he manages tends to struggle most with sides that press him. Itīs why many believe Guardiola and Klopp have his number.
So unless we see Pogba, Herrera or Carrick in CM for them against Guardiola, Klopp or even Ponchetino then I suspect they will really struggle to link play. Of course with Ibra up front as a target man and the pace of Martial and Mkhitaryan running off him, they could still be a threat. But the point is a certain tactical setup can dictate to United now how they play. We would be imposing our will on them and deciding how the game is played. That is what Klopp wants and is very effective at achieving. Football is a very complicated game where the best team doesnīt always win of course, it would be boring otherwise. So maybe Mourinho still gets a good result in those games. But it wouldnīt be as a result of his tactical plan as he wontīhave been allowed to play it.
No matter what else happen, I believe we will have a risk taking goalkeeper, at least 1 explosive full back, an aggressive CB not afraid to press anything in front of him, a ball player in defence, a defender who reads the game well able to cover the more aggressive one, a sitter in midfield who is aerially dominate, a runner in midfield who can turn in tight spaces and has range, players wanting to run beyond the striker as part of the 3 attacking mids and a forward who vacates the central position a LOT in the attacking phase but who will also press hard the defence. In two years time, if Klopp is still here, almost every game that will describe our side. It does for almost every game Dortmund ever played. And there are tactical reasons for each role needing specific qualities whereby if we are lacking, it can cause a chain reaction of problems throughout the side. Just look at how much trouble Benteke caused us last season in our defensive phase (we couldnīt use pressing traps at all) attacking phase (his movement meant the center backs were rarely moved out of position preventing runners into the box) transition to defence (he didnīt press the defence allowing circulation of the ball and easier counter attacks against us) transition to attack (similar to attacking phase, he stays pretty central meaning the opposition is rarely far from their defensive shape allowing them little time to reorganise upon losing the ball).
That is how 1 player who doesnīt fit the system can just break it. Which is why Klopp will recruit to his system. As a coach, do you think he will bin his entire system to accomodate players, or bin players when the chance arrises to get players who do fit the system? For me the latter just seems more likely and all our transfers so far support this also. So I believe in 2 years time our entire squad of players will suit at least 1 role on the pitch. Or slight tactical modifications will have been made to support them (Coutinho & Wijnaldum playing near each other for example, Wij is the goal thread, Coutinho the play maker rather than the other way round in Dortmund).
This isnīt personal agenda, because if I am right then it means my 2 favourite players may have some adjusting to do or they will be upgraded on soon. Daniel Sturridge and Jordan Henderson. And to be honest, I thought Coutinho may also be in trouble unless he started attacking the box or someone was signed to play behind him but run beyond him. It seems both those things are happening now though. But I donīt think coaching or small adjustments can solve the problems of Henderson being in a Klopp midfield two (3 maybe, but then he loses attacking movement which he prefers to avoid).