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Klopp’s achievements
Just to remind everyone that Liverpool had not won the league in thirty years before Klopp took over as manager. In that time Manchester United had capitalised hugely on the global expansion of football to become a monster of a club and City and Chelsea joined them at the top table by less organic means to leave the rest behind. Leicester pulled off a miracle season a few years back and promptly fell away the following season. Clop built a team who conquered Europe, England and the world, beating a team that had been hailed as invincible. An outstanding league campaign where they finished second on 97 points also deserves a mention. This is not meant to sound like whinging because a year ago I was saying to anyone who would listen that Klopp couldn’t keep this going and when he goes, there will be a huge vacuum. How many defenders have City bought in their search for a decent defence? How many times have they broken the 50 million pound barrier? Can Klopp transition this team into champions again? It would take time.
Anyone observing Liverpool in the most recent transfer window would see that they don’t have the financial muscle of Chelsea, United and City. Liverpool can not afford to lose players like VVD but those clubs can bench those players. United talk of needing one or two players but is 90 million plus 60 million plus 80 million on a centre half plus…. do I need to go on!!!! So Klopp got unlucky this year. I’m disappointed with Jamie Carragher saying Klopp needs to buy three players- He surely knows that Klopp can’t do this without selling. He surely knows that if he gets Jota back from injury the attack will be fixed- that’s what Jota was for in the first place. And as for Roy Keane, my God he makes me ashamed to be Irish. Liverpool are now bad champions. Really Roy? Did it ever occur to you that your ‘good’ champions at Manu where outspending everyone else by miles for decades? Don’t you think that helped? For Chist’s sake just give Klopp time and accept that we can’t be injury free every year and unlike City- we can’t really compete when too many injuries deplete our squad. Liverpool are a big club again. Just enjoy that Liverpool fans. Who do you think could have us in better shape now than Klopp? Roy Fucking Keane? No thanks.
So if you want statistics, here’s a couple: Bayern have been very dominant in Germany for the last million years. The last coach to prevent them winning the Bundesliga was Jurgen Klopp. He wasn’t able to do that every year but he did it twice. Also, Man City have been dominant in England for a number of years with the most expensive squad in the history of football. Only one coach has stopped them from winning four-in-a-row. That’s also Jurgen Klopp. So Liverpool were never a juggernaut- just a great team playing against a juggernaut. Give Klopp time and I’m sure he can repeat that feat…if he wants to.
Thanks,
Michael, Ireland
Criticism
Dejected Liverpool Supporter says Roy Keane can’t criticise Klopp because he wasn’t a good manager himself…ugh.
Well, unless Dejected Liverpool Supporter is an anonymous Graeme Souness, how dare he criticise Roy Keane’s professional criticism!
Apparently, you can only have an opinion on a topic if you are world class at said activity yourself…
Roy Keane, footballing legend though he is, is just a chariacature peddling angry shtick at this point… he does the same about United, and literally every team that loses. Why do you care? Poor you that he dared criticise Liverpool after a 4-1 defeat… if you can’t bear to suffer hearing lesser managers criticise Klopp, maybe turn off the post match commentary after the game?
Presumably, with your world view, no one is ever is allowed to criticise Klopp, as his winning two major trophies in two years and doing so despite spending less than his rival (which, based on Liverpool fans’ mailbox correspondence, i understand he is literally the fist manager in the history of football, nay sport, to achieve) makes him the undisputed GOAT…
Maybe we should stop all post-match commentary now and replace it with the Klopp lecture, where he can explain how it was all because it was too windy or, my personal favourite, that the other side being forced to make two fist half injury subs disrupted his rhythm… all over an overly-frofthy beer or two!
Andy (MUFC)
Dejected Liverpool Fan,
I don’t really know where to start.
The role of a pundit in football today is hugely different to that of years gone. They now not only need to impart some kind of understanding of the game, but also do it in a way that will garner social media impressions/interactions etc. Roy Keane does this masterfully. Why do you think he keeps on appearing on TV?
The fact he has less managerial experience than Klopp, or less success than Pep does not mean he cannot have an opinion on the game, even if that opinion upsets you. The reason the most successful managers are not pundits is because generally they are in jobs. The reason less successful managers become pundits is because they can’t get management jobs.
If management experience & success is key to punditry, I look forward to Carragher, Redknapp, McManaman et al leaving their current positions & going to learn the game. In fact, Souness hasn’t managed in a decade, he needs to find a new job as well. Once they have all won the league & had success in Europe they can come back.
Alternatively, we can accept that people paid for their opinions will occasionally have an opinion different to our own.
James, Slough
Lukaku – A Man City target
My goodness…. in what world is Lukaku a Guardiola type player??? Guardiola would not take lukaku if he was a free transfer rather than pay penny for him.
His agents/inter need to do better
Jp
Wolves’ answer to Pogba
Hi
I watched Pote bag another two goals and an assist for Sporting last night against Maritimo, after a few games off the boil. I’ve seen him four times this season and this guy is excellent, like a right-footed Juan Mata with an engine. He’s being linked with Liverpool and United and seems certain to move on for his release clause of €53m sooner or later. Wolves, who have been excellent at harvesting the very best of Iberia in recent seasons, had him in their reserves, and passed him up barely 18 months ago. I suspect they will regret that decision for a long, long time!
Thanks
Jamie
Long ball…really?
Good man Kevin,Crewe. The team who scored against West Ham after keeping the ball for 34 passes are a long ball team.
Team who always have the most posession, who keep a high line and have small forwards are a long ball team.
Genius logic.
If you “truly believe it” and you “aren’t trying to rile people” I truly believe you should watch a different sport.
Ferg,Cork
XG
In response to Jamie, MUFC, Belfast, I’m just wondering why the hatred for xG? I find it fairly inoffensive and while not always the best indicator of a single game, it does seem to make sense when averaged out over a decent sample size. So what’s the problem and why do some people hate it?
Is it just because any stat more complex than the number of shots is offensive? Is it because it’s more complex to work out so it’s obviously a load of bollocks? I don’t get it. (the hatred not the stat)
Cheers
Andy, Cheshire
In relation to that mail from Jamie, who skips an article or letter whenever he sees XG mentioned, I am the same for that but also for anyone who mentions “low block”, “CDM” and “game time” (a horrible Americanism that has someone been absorbed into British football 
). Somebody saying “up top” when they actually mean “up front” is a red flag too.
Matthew, Belfast
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