Chapter 347: Chapter 80: Blitzkrieg! Klopp’s Rise to Power! Suarez: I’m Not as Good as Wang Shuo! The Ill-fated Van Gaal

Take Santana, for example.

He was definitely going through some things in his personal life, and Klopp knew it.

So, for this match, Santana was benched. It was a form of protection.

Just think, what would a player think in that situation?

They would definitely be moved to tears with gratitude for the head coach!

Another classic example happened not too long ago. After Mourinho poached Sneider from Real Madrid for Inter Milan, he immediately gave him a long vacation, letting him clear his head and take care of his personal affairs.

After he returned, Sneider’s form was explosive, and he was completely devoted to Mourinho!

Of course, there are counterexamples. For instance, a manager might treat his players well but end up losing the match, or even the entire season, and get sacked for it.

Due to the code of confidentiality in the locker room, no outsider would ever know what the head coach really did for the players.

But everyone inside that locker room remembered.

Without a doubt, Klopp was the type of head coach who could earn the complete trust and support of his players.

Speaking of which, Wang Shuo recalled an interesting story he had heard during his time at Mainz.

How did Klopp rise to power back then?

At the time, the head coach of Mainz was Klauen, who had a bizarre level of confidence in his own influence in the locker room.

With the team performing poorly and the players holding major grievances against him, the famous German coach decided to do something.

He took all the players to a hotel, ordered them drinks to give them some liquid courage, and then asked them to make a decision.

"Do you still support me staying on at Mainz?"

If they chose to support him, then everyone would work together to help Mainz out of its predicament.

If they refused, Klauen would resign on the spot.

According to insiders, Klauen’s plan was to use this method to force the players to declare their continued support for him as head coach. He would then stage a touching reconciliation scene, making peace with everyone.

The grand finale would be Mainz staging a comeback from the depths of a slump!

That was the classic script Klauen had envisioned.

But the final result was completely beyond Klauen’s expectations.

When he returned to the hotel and asked everyone to declare their stance, aside from a small group who remained silent, every player who spoke up said NO!

This outcome was completely unexpected, and Klauen completely fell apart!

’This isn’t the script I was expecting!’

But how could the head coach of Mainz be willing to give up so easily?

So, he went back on his promise. Instead of resigning, he decided to hold a press conference to try and oust the locker room leaders, including Klopp.

Under these circumstances, Heidel and others intervened, dissuaded Klauen, and forced him to resign.

And that was how Klopp subsequently came to power.

From the moment he took over, Klopp had the full support of everyone in the locker room. Mainz immediately went on a winning streak and successfully avoided relegation from the 2nd Bundesliga.

Through this incident, Wang Shuo learned a lot from Klopp.

’Almost all of a team’s problems don’t come from the outside.’

’Neither the fans nor public opinion can really bring down a team.’

’What truly causes a team to collapse is always something internal to the locker room.’

’Either the management is making trouble and severely affecting the locker room, or irreconcilable conflicts have arisen within it.’

’And when the locker room is forged into a solid, united block, that’s when the team’s fighting spirit is at its absolute strongest!’

’Klopp’s method of managing the locker room might require more heart and energy. It might be slow to show results, or you might not see any effect at all.’

’Sometimes, when dealing with players with more eccentric personalities, it might not be very effective.’

’But once he succeeds in unifying them, the team becomes incredibly formidable!’

That was the case with Mainz before.

Wang Shuo believed that the current Dortmund team was the same!

...

「Morning of February 8th. Amsterdam-Zuidoost, Netherlands.」

Ajax had been in excellent form recently, boasting an undefeated record of four wins and two draws in their last six matches.

This was especially true for their last two games, a 4-0 victory over Roda JC and a 3-0 win against Twente, both of which were decisive victories.

This allowed everyone at Ajax to breathe a collective sigh of relief.

The atmosphere at the De Toekomst Training Base was also very lively.

As training time approached, the players gradually arrived, chatting and laughing all the way from the parking lot where they met.

Once they reached the locker room, the discussions grew even more animated.

Due to their historical ties, and with two former Barça players, Oleg and Gabriel, currently on the squad, the Barça influence at Ajax was very strong.

After every match day, the most discussed topic in the locker room was Guardiola’s Barça.

Real Madrid was also a team that Ajax followed closely.

Over the past weekend, there had only been one clash of titans: the Premier League’s London derby, where Chelsea defeated Arsenal 2-0 at home.

The unlucky Gunners had once again fallen further behind.

It was only the beginning of February, and their hopes for the title were already gone!

"Luis, did you see yesterday’s Bundesliga match between Dortmund and Frankfurt?"

The young Uruguayan midfielder, Nicolas Lodeiro, asked Suarez.

Lodeiro hailed from the Montevideo Nacional Team. He had just joined Ajax from Uruguay at the end of January for a fee of 4 million euros, and he shared the same agent as Suarez.