I have a few Liverpool friends and they seem to be buzzing like it was the day after the Istanbul final. You could see most of them coming out, slowly yet cautiously, of their hole on social media. Hashtags with #KloppForKop were going around on every social media platform available when the rumours had just surfaced. To be honest, when the deal was announced, it was a bittersweet moment for me. I definitely like the idea of Jürgen Klopp in the Premier League. But him managing Liverpool does break my heart a bit.
Warning. If you are not a Liverpool fan, then this picture might hurt you. Just a bit.
After a shambolic start to the league, Liverpool needed a change. Desperately. When their owners, Fenway Sports Group, finally announced they had let Brendan Rodgers (The Carefully Chosen One) go, the football universe was hooked on to see who would succeed him. Let us be clear on one thing about Rodgers. He is a decent manager. He made mistakes, huge ones at times, but he did give the Kop fans some memories to hold on to. According to me, his greatest accomplishment was getting Liverpool within a shouting distance to take the league in the 2013/2014 season. I mean he beat the top teams convincingly that year. Manchester United, Manchester City, Arsenal etc. were all blown away by a well-oiled Kop team. Mind you it wasn’t his mistake when Gerrard slipped against Chelsea on that fateful day. That was the best team Liverpool had on paper and Chelsea had come to defend. It was just bad luck. Chelsea took the result and Manchester City took the season with a few results going their way. But overall when Rodgers left Liverpool he had a 50% success rate. That’s a decent statistic for someone whose tactics were criticized too much.
These 4 words would be perfect to summarize Brendan Rodgers stay at Anfield.
Liverpool showed faith in the Northern Irishman after that incredible season. But after a 6th place finish last year and securing a lowly 10th place after 8 games into the league in the present season after spending millions on players over the last few transfer windows, their trust was thinning. The door was shown to Rodgers. Enter the German, Jürgen Norbert Klopp.
Jürgen Klopp has worked at 2 clubs prior to the Liverpool job. His boyhood club FSV Mainz 05 where he started off as a striker but then later converted himself into a defender. He also managed Mainz 05 after his playing career and got them into the Bundesliga from the first division. He was their longest serving manager in the process with a total of 8 years of experience under the German’s belt. After Mainz 05, what put Klopp on the football map was his job as the boss of Borussia Dortmund. At that time, Dortmund was a team in crisis. In the season prior to Klopp’s arrival they had gone through 3 managers and were just a point above the relegation zone. It was considered their worst season in 20 years. Soon after Klopp’s arrival he had changed the team to fit his style of play. Klopp loves to play entertaining football. He implements a lot of pace in his tactics and loves the idea of counter-attacking with his frontline players. He also believes in a strong defensive line with the ability to read the game with ease. He also has an eye for spotting and developing talents, such as the likes of Robert Lewandowski, Marco Reus, Matt Hummels and more, all making a significant contribution to Dortmund’s campaign over the years. As he mentioned in interviews before, he hates to disappoint 80,000 people in a stadium while playing a boring and defensive game. He converted Dortmund into an action-packed powerhouse. Under him Dortmund won the Bundesliga back to back, The DFB- POKAL Cup (The German version of the F.A Cup), DFL-Super cup (The German version of the Community shield) and also made it to the Champions League final in the 2012/2013 season. Bayern Munich might have won that final. But Borussia Dortmund definitely won the hearts of football fans around the world. Klopp’s last season in charge for the club was a blip and they finished off with a lowly placed 7th position. Klopp decided to call it quits and take a sabbatical from the game.
Who doesn’t a love a manager who enjoys a wild celebration? Hopefully, Liverpool gives him a reason for more of these high-flying jumps in many years to come.
Jürgen Klopp is the right man to take Liverpool out of this rut. A 3-year deal shows enough faith and gives him enough time for a turnaround in the club’s fortunes as well. He is ruthless when he has to be, but he also has the knowledge to take this team ahead. He has inherited a good squad and to make them great will not be a long journey. With Daniel Sturridge, Christian Benteke, Roberto Firmino, Philippe Coutinho, James Milner, Nathaniel Clyne etc. He Has the ability to make this team work, something that Rodgers couldn’t get right. His first press conference for Liverpool made an impression on me. It showed that the man is confident, calm, poised and most importantly too cool for most of us. He promises to deliver and the one quote that got to me is when he was asked by the reporter what message he has for the Liverpool fans and he said and I quote, “We have to change from doubters to believers. Now.” I think he hit the nail in his first interview itself and he seems to be on the right path to winning the crowd at Anfield.
This Liverpool squad needs a breath of fresh air. Klopp might just be the solution for this problem.
As a football enthusiast I think Liverpool supporters have got what they wanted. A top coach who knows how the game is played and has the capability to shut their rivals down in a convincing way. Klopp also comes with this impeccable style of handling the ‘’British Media”, something that is very required in the Premier League. He looks like the kind of guy that can tick people off with his statements. But why would he care. He is a man who is as emotional as most of us are when it comes to our team winning and he hates it when right decisions go against him. It is a matter of time now that we will see Klopp in action and his first game against a pacey Tottenham squad might define how the season would go. But even if it results in a defeat, he needs to be given time to adapt. Once that is done, which I am sure won’t take long, I think Anfield will become a fearful destination to visit not only by domestic clubs but also by their European counterparts out there.
Bend it with Borges 