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On Sunday, Liverpool officially parted ways with Željko Buvač, with the club coming to terms with their former assistant manager and terminating his contract nine months after he departed the club for reasons that have never been made public.
Today, with little fanfare, Pepijn Lijnders and Peter Krawietz were officially promoted to assistant manager roles at Anfield after the duo had taken on increased duties following Buvač’s departure. It’s hardly a surprise, but it is still welcome clarity.
Lijnders’ role had been left undefined by the club following his return from a failed five-month spell in charge at NEC Nijmegen last season, and the 35-year-old officially becoming one of Klopp’s two assistant managers is probably the bigger news.
For Krawietz it’s more of a natural progression, as he had previously been listed as second assistant coach. With Buvač’s departure he was next in line, and his role alongside Klopp during matches had made his position clear no matter the title.
New titles and—potentially—new contracts aside, functionally it’s more of the same for Klopp and the club, as the trio will now continue to do what they’ve so far managed to exceptionally well this season: coach Liverpool to win football games.
Two of them may have new official roles, but in practice the goal will be more of the same as Liverpool look to keep their place at the top of the Premier League pack with the season now 60% of the way through.