With Steven Gerrard now in place as a managerial rival in the Premier League with Aston Villa, Jurgen Klopp could see his advice to the Liverpool legend put into practice.
Gerrard is confirmed as taking over as boss at Villa Park, making the move to the Midlands following a three-and-a-half-year spell with Rangers.
Having led Rangers to the Scottish Premiership title in 2020/21, the 41-year-old will now be looking to prove himself in the Premier League, under the spotlight as a legendary figure.
That could make his role more difficult, but speaking to UEFA.tv in 2020, Gerrard revealed the chat with Klopp that has allowed him to put his reputation aside.
“The best thing I ever did was to go away from the cameras initially,” he told Graham Hunter.
“I had a real honest, open conversation with Jurgen Klopp for a couple of hours, and the best bit of advice he gave was:
‘Don’t go into this as Steven Gerrard with the name on your back.
‘Go back to the beginning, strip it back like you’re driving a car, from the beginning.
‘Get your pitch confidence, get used to tactics, different formations. Try things, make mistakes, get it horribly, wildly wrong.
‘Experiment, do all these things away from the camera.
‘So before you test yourself in the Europa League, before you test yourself in a real competition with thousands and thousands of people, put yourself in a better place, be more prepared before you go in there.’
“He said: ‘I’ve seen tons and tons of footballers go in with their name on their back and it doesn’t work’.
“That was the best bit of advice. I don’t think I’ll ever get a better piece of advice than that, to strip it right back and go right from the beginning’.”
Gerrard was able to do so within the confines of Kirkby, as manager of Liverpool’s under-18s, also leading the club into the UEFA Youth League in charge of the under-19s.
Looking back on his time coaching with the Reds, he touched upon an appreciation of his backroom staff that also rings true with Klopp.
“Even though I went to the academy for a couple of years and got this confidence on the grass, experiment with formations and personnel and individual chats and stuff, I still think you have to go in,” he continued.
“I have made mistakes over the last couple of years as Rangers manager – I think the key is to learn from them and make sure they don’t happen again.
“But this is a job where it’s impossible not to make them, because you’re up against so many other good coaches, different players are going to challenge what you’re trying to do, they’re going to challenge your philosophy.
“For me, I’ve tried to surround myself with people who’ve got the skillsets that I probably don’t necessarily have right now, being a young manager.
“That’s how I’ve tried to approach it, to be as best-prepared I can, us as a team, to try and do our best.”
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