With many Liverpool fans wanting a new manager in place of Roy Hodgson, a couple of names have cropped up in recent days that would surprise a few people. Although definitely outsiders for the job if it became available, German managers Joachim Loew and Jurgen Klopp have both been mentioned on Reds forums as well as on this website. One of the most significant reasons as to why both have been mentioned is that they both play attacking football. In addition to this they are both young with fresh new ideas and approaches, and they have experience of developing young players, a priority for the Fenway Sports Group.
Joachim Loew – Most will know Loew as being the manager who guided Germany to a 4-1 victory over England in the summer. His teams play good, pacey modern football and are lightning quick on the counter-attack. He has nurtured players such as Mesut Ozil, Manuel Neuer, Sami Khedira and Thomas Muller to become top internationals at senior level, and some feel he could just be as effective at Liverpool.
His record as an international manager is not too shabby, guiding Germany to the European Championship final in his first major tournament as manager in Euro 2008 losing only 1-0 to Spain, while he guided Germany to 3rd place in last summer’s World Cup, losing out to Spain again in the semi-finals. His four goal victories against Argentina and England were for some, the highlights of a pretty drab tournament. Rather than be their old mechanical and solid selves, Low has carried on where Jurgen Klinsmann took off by encouraging an attacking style of play from Germany, which many would like to see at Anfield. For all the good qualities of previous managers Gerard Houllier and Rafa Benitez, priority was always given to defence rather than attack, and some Reds such as myself would love a return to the exciting Liverpool sides of the late 80s.
There could be question marks over his club experience but Low has experience here as well. He guided Stuttgart to the Cup Winners Cup final back in 1996 after winning the National Cup the season before. He also finished fourth in the league during the season he led the German club to the European final.
Jurgen Klopp – Klopp’s name will come entirely from left field for some Reds fans but the young German manager has been making a name for himself at Borussia Dortmund this season. Dortmund are currently top of the Bundesliga, 10 points ahead of second, and a staggering 14 ahead of Bayern Munich. He started life as a manager at German minnows Mainz after playing for the club for 11 years, and during his 8 year spell, he got the team promoted to Bundesliga for the first time in its history, getting them qualified for the UEFA Cup in the 2004/05 campaign.
After relegation and resigning after failing to regain promotion, he signed to become Dortmund’s manager in May 2008. In his first season he finished 6th in the league before going one better by finishing 5th last season. This season has however seen Klopp’s side mature and his team now top the Bundesliga. The team have only failed to score 2 goals or more in 2 league matches this season and they have scored 4 goals or more on a staggering 5 occasions so far this campaign. A bit different to drab 0-0 draws against FC Utrecht.
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Joachim Loew: interesting choice and intriguing manager.
I supported his appointment many months ago but some fans pissed me…
Now I’m happy to see that fans realized that He’s a valid prospect for Anfield’s manager office.
Anyway, I repeat my thought: I whould stick with Roy, at least until the end of the season.
Love to see Joachim Loew at Anfield..
Im sure with him, Liverpool will transform to attack minded football…
yeahh..
sound good..
The 1st time i’ve seen someone of real quality being mentioned(Joachim Loew)on these pages. I like his style of football, and he would probably be able to attract some good players to. Something Roy will never be able to do.
The only real candidate for me if we are not going to bring Rafa back(would still have rafa back in a heartbeat though).
How has Loew, or even Rafa for that matter, proven to be a more suitable manager to take the club forwards than Rijkaard??
Loew doesnt play attacking football.
Just pacey counter attack. In the premier league it would be no different to what we have experienced before.
Anybody rather than the chin rubber! Liverpool need a top manager, someone that attracts and inspires top players, but there are’nt many out there. If we are fortunate to get such a guy, would the yanks back him? If not then it’s a mid table manager for a mid table club.
Despite Loew’s relatively good record at international level with Germany, he’s done nothing at club level. “He guided Stuttgart to the Cup Winners Cup final back in 1996 after winning the National Cup the season before. He also finished fourth in the league during the season he led the German club to the European final.” WOW that’s amazing! This guy’s no better than Woy, I can assure you.
loew is a good option if he actually accepts to come on the mersey will be gr8 for the club, liverpool badly need modern style of play we actually lagging behind the other members of big four and now even teams like spurs or city since they got new guns and modern football!!!
Anybody that watched SA2010 world cup will see that germany played counter attacking football relying on mezut ozil’s speed, schaintegers tenacity and thomas muller. Will this transform to success in the league? Maybe but Is that what we mean by fluid attacking game(the liverpool way)? I don’t think so.
Rijkaard like a contributor mentioned. Rijkaard record apart from barcelona is worrying. ( pls look it up on the net). And it takes heavy investment on players for rijkaard to achieve what he achieved. He basically depended on the magic oF Ronaldinho and also good passes of deco (thats not a crime) but has no plan B whenever this go wrong. The players just pass the ball around the field and wait for the ‘ronaldinho magic’ to create chances.
Non of us in the real sense cannot choose the coach for LFC so its just an opinion. My opinion is FC portos’s manager ( Andre villa Boas).
My fear with both Joachim Loew and Jurgen Klopp is that they are still unproven managers. Loew has made a name for himself as the coach of the German national team following in the footsteps of Juergen Klinsmann, who then flopped spectacularly at Bayern Munich. Klopp at least has had some success at club level, with Borussia Dortmunt well ahead of the pack at the Bundesliga, however he has still to win any major titles.
As I see it, neither Klopp nor Loew can claim as yet to be half the managers that Rafa Benitez and Kenny Dalglish have proven themselves to be. Rafa would in my view be the most appropriate appointment, having taken Liverpool back to the top over the last six years, with only his last season as a blemish on an otherwise outstanding record at the club. King Ken would perhaps be a more risky choice after so many years out of a management role – but I would support his candidature ahead of most of the other names currently proposed for Liverpool.
Rafa took us back to the top?? Our second place finish was as much of a blip as last years 7th placed finish was, so take those two seasons out and you’re left with us in 4th – the same as we were for about 8 years before Rafa arrived…
Rafa had his chance and he failed – move on.
Roy didn’t deserve his chance and has failed – it’s time to move on.
Ray Wilkins anybody? Did a great job as Chelsea “manager”