The Jurgen Klopp appreciation society has stretched far and wide this week with countless Liverpool greats and giants of German football extolling the virtues of the 48-year-old and his suitability to the job at Anfield.
– VIDEO – Ancelotti – I want to manage again next year
– #360view: Klopp must have full control at Liverpool
– Phil Ball: Decaffeinated derby, Barca conspiracy
It’s difficult to disagree with the overall opinion Klopp’s enthusiasm and passion will represent a marked departure from the psychobabble which made Brendan Rodgers such a figure of fun.
As meaningless as it may seem, Rodgers doesn’t have YouTube compilations ranking his best celebrations. K
lopp’s mere presence on the touchline should energise a Merseyside crowd which had grown tired of technical talk and constant claims of character.
In Klopp, they have a character to fall in love with. He is ideally suited to English football and the soap opera of the Premier League. He speaks the language, does a fine turn in quotable lines and his game is about speed, width and work rate – a strategy which galvanises crowds.
Liverpool fans have every right to be very excited about his impeding arrival. His Dortmund CV and some of the football he had them playing during their peak years speaks for itself. Yet, Klopp is not without his flaws and Kopites will be wise not to anoint him just yet as the Stuttgart Shankly.
The various post-mortems analysing Rodgers’ regime have broadly agreed on one thing: the Ulsterman, whether directly or as a result of the transfer committee, got it horribly wrong in the market. His number of genuinely successful signings can be counted on one hand, and that’s before you even take into account the frightening expenditure.
Rodgers struggled when he had real money to spend. The Luis Suarez windfall led to an accumulation of players either overrated and overpriced or years away from first-team suitability.
It’s a smaller sample size (Bundesliga clubs just aren’t on the same economic level as the Premier League) but Klopp’s own record when spending big isn’t great.
#LFC expect to confirm Jurgen Klopp as their new manager late on Thursday. The German due on Merseyside in the morning
— Ben Smith (@BenSmithBBC) October 7, 2015
The summer of 2014 saw Dortmund lose their own Suarez in Robert Lewandowski, albeit on a free, and to compensate Klopp brought Ciro Immobile and Adrian Ramos for in excess €25m (Dh103m).
Fourteen months later, Immobile is at Sevilla on loan after three goals in 24 Bundesliga games while Ramos has just seven to his name following six league starts.
While their previous pedigree made sense before BVB purchased them, on arrival they were considerably misued. Immobile – a pacy, penalty-box poacher – forced out wide and Ramos deployed as a super-sub with minimum impact.
Then there is the case of Henrikh Mkhitaryan, a player Liverpool tried to sign during Rodgers tenure.
Bought for a club record €27.5m (Dh113.5m), his two seasons under Klopp bore a disappointing 17 goals from 87 games. The Armenian looked devoid of confidence – especially in front of goal – under Klopp, yet with Thomas Tuchel in the dugout this term he has exploded with nine goals in 12 games.
Hummels on Klopp to LFC: “He’s a great coach. I can imagine him at Liverpool. He lives for football. I’m excited to see his next step.”
— Cristian Nyari (@Cnyari) October 7, 2015
Klopp’s trademark is his ‘gegenpressing’ followed by the counterattack; constant pressure on the opposition when you lose possession, forcing mistakes before teams have a chance to set their system.
It’s a gameplan which for three seasons delivered incredible results and exhilarating football. But like all concepts it eventually began to look stale, tired and predictable and the rest of Germany became wise to it.
Klopp found it difficult to adapt and modernise as others caught up and he lost key attackers Mario Gotze and Lewandowski to Bayern (remind you of anyone?).
Like BVB, Liverpool aren’t the biggest fishes in the pond. In Bayern, Klopp was swimming with a large shark which eventually forced him to hold his hands up and admit defeat. Now he has Chelsea and the Manchester clubs to contend with.
It’s a challenge, Klopp will have a full and frenetic Kop right by his side and it will be fascinating to see how he fares. Whatever the result, one thing is for sure – it’s going to be entertaining.
