Times article today with Rasmus interviewed:
The idea of adding an extra coach to the first-team set-up at FC Midtjylland had been pitched, though what happened next is a window into a club where inspiration and innovation collide. “We decided to recruit a brain scientist instead,” Rasmus Ankersen, chairman of the Danish side, said matter-of-factly.
In their quest to maximise potential and overcome traditional barriers, at home and abroad, Midtjylland have a sleep coach, a ball-striking coach and — like Liverpool, their Champions League opponents — a throw-in coach.
This out-of-the-box thinking has propelled a club that was formed in 1999 after the merger of two fierce rivals — Ikast FS and Herning Fremad — into the group stage of the Champions League for the first time.
Their mentality, Ankersen says, is that “David had to beat Goliath by using different weapons”, and so appointing a cognitive psychologist seemed a natural step a few years ago.
“We thought it would be interesting to see if we could align the way the brain works and learns most effectively with the way we practise on the pitch,” said Ankersen, who is also the director of football at the Sky Bet Championship side Brentford.
“It definitely got our coaches to think more about how they plan sessions, how they achieve what they want in sessions and also helped them understand that different players have different learning styles. And it makes a big difference how you communicate to those players, how you set up the exercise to maximise each individual’s learning.
“We worked a little bit with meditation but not as something that gives us a competitive edge. We have a sleep coach who helps players optimise sleep. That is still underrated within elite sports.
“We have a ball-striking coach who works with the guys’ output on direct free kicks, but [also] just in general. It is like in golf where players work with their swing. Why don’t footballers do the same with how they strike the ball?
“In the set pieces, we take a lot of inspiration from American football and how they have playbooks. An American footballer is meant to remember 100 plays every season. Why can’t a footballer not remember ten set-piece corner combinations?
“Innovation often doesn’t come from the big clubs. It comes from the small clubs, because big clubs are not prepared to take enough risks. There is too much to lose. I actually think Liverpool have gone against that because they are a big club that is really trying to adopt a different way of doing things, and I think that paid off for them massively. Big, big kudos to them for that.”
That said, the throw-in coach Thomas Gronnemark had already been helping Midtjylland make large gains when Jürgen Klopp handed him a contract at Anfield in 2018.
The formation of Midtjylland came one weekend when Ikast FS and Herning Fremad suffered defeats and were predicted by many to be doomed to failure. “They couldn’t really get to the next level,” Ankersen said. “So they met at one of the guy’s offices, and they wrote down the key principles of a merger on the back of a napkin, and the next day they called the press in and said, ‘We’ve decided to become one club.’
“It is very much in the DNA of Midtjylland to try to do things differently.”
Matthew Benham, the Brentford owner, became the majority shareholder six years ago and the analytical approach that took the Championship club to the cusp of the Premier League last season has brought success for Midtjylland in the Danish Superliga.
Ankersen’s role at both clubs means his weekend can invariably be akin to having a “hammer smashed into your face”. While Midtjylland came from 2-0 down to beat Brondby 3-2, Brentford’s comeback failed in losing 3-2 away to Stoke City.
Tomorrow, while Brentford look to regroup against Norwich City, Ankersen, 37, will be at Anfield to see if Midtjylland can cause an upset. Their debut in the Champions League group stages ended in a 4-0 loss to Atalanta last week.
They remain an antidote to talk of the creation of a European Super League. “Midtjylland is a good example of, you know, the importance of keeping the dream alive for small clubs,” Ankersen said. “I’ve been taking part in all these ECA [European Club Association] meetings in the past few years, where all the conversations are what the future is going to look like in European football, and listen, I think, unfortunately the way it’s going — there’s going to be some reforms coming up in the next years. They will move football towards becoming more of a closed league for the big teams.
“But I think it’s really important for football, too, because that’s the fairytale we love, to follow that it’s actually possible for a team like Midtjylland, from a small town with 50,000 people in the middle of nowhere in the west of Denmark, to go and play on the biggest stage. So I hope that opportunity will still be kept alive for us and other teams in similar positions, but I think it’s going to be more and more difficult.”
They have made life uncomfortable for England’s elite before, beating Manchester United 2-1 in the Europa League four years ago before losing the second leg 5-1, when Marcus Rashford scored two goals on debut.
Whatever happens against Klopp’s side, the occasion will be remembered. Especially for the kit man Jorn Kjaer, the father of Denmark captain and AC Milan defender Simon, and an aficionado on all things Liverpool.
“His kit room is only Liverpool because he is a massive Liverpool fan,” Ankersen said. “There are a few Midtjylland shirts in there but there are Liverpool shirts all over the kit room.
“A big, big moment for him was last year when we played Europa League qualification against Rangers and he had a chance to meet Steven Gerrard, Liverpool legend.
“He cried when he saw the draw here because this is obviously a very, very big thing for him to go to Anfield. A lot of people in Denmark in our area have two clubs they support and that’s Midtjylland and Liverpool.”
Alisson eases Klopp’s fear
Jürgen Klopp’s defensive worries have been eased by the quick return to action of his goalkeeper Alisson.
The Brazil No 1 had been expected to be sidelined for at least six weeks with a shoulder injury suffered at the start of October. But he returned to the side for the win against Sheffield United on Saturday.
“I was at the club every day doing sessions with the physios and the fitness department for five or six hours,” Alisson said.
Klopp insists he will treat Midtjylland with the utmost respect tonight. “We don’t see them as a small club. We see them as a proper challenger in the group,” he said.