So, things are not quite going to plan are they? One win in nine league games. Ouch! Brendan was fired for one win in nine – is Klopp under pressure? How far will we be allowed to slide before he really is under the threat of being axed?
I am a Klopp fan and despite his flaws I do still believe in him, but I am getting nervous.
However there are some mitigating circumstances that favour him over Rodgers. So although we are getting close to them being in a similar state, here are some factors, that to me mean things are still brighter under Klopp than – and this must be emphasized – the END of Brendan Rodgers’ tenure.
It wasn’t Stoke – Rodgers lost the last game of the 2014/2015 season 6-1 to Stoke. We have been spanked twice this year by score lines of that calibre, but by the two best footballing teams in the country, rather than the mighty Stoke.
Soon after a good season – Brendan’s glorious season wasn’t the year before he was fired, it was the year before that! We were well off the rails already. For Klopp, we are still reaping the rewards of a fine season and are still in the Champions league that that fine season rewarded us with.
Injuries – We are without Mane (again), Lallana, and Clyne (possibly not as critical.)
Lost the players – Brendan had lost the dressing room. Klopp hasn’t.
Champions League – The Champions league came and went with a whimper under Rodgers and we struggled in the Europa league, a forgettable 1-1 draw with Sion springing to mind as a precursor to the end. Under Klopp we sit atop our Champions League group, poised to qualify, and having just recorded the greatest away win ever in Champions league history.
Broken man – The failed title push broke Brendan, he was lost. Klopp does not have the demeanor of a broken man; he has the demeanor of a frustrated man with a plan.
Leeway – Klopp does deserve some latitude given his track record. It takes him time to build his teams and success, as he is always doing it from an underdog position. It was in his third season at Dortmund where he really turned it on. And that was in a far less competitive league than the Premier League. He finished 6th and 5th in his first two seasons with Borussia Dortmund before winning back to back Bundesliga titles. He’s only had one full season with Liverpool, and next season (the start of his third full season) will be the one where we get Keita and hopefully plan A for the defence i.e. VVD, otherwise there MUST be a plan B, he cannot take the same gamble again. I think this experience and our knowledge of his past buys him more time than Brendan was afforded. Even if the situations were the same it would, and they are most definitely not.
A Hard start – Admittedly we were blowing the top teams away last season, so this has been a backward step, albeit mitigated by the loss of Lallana and Mane. Salah was meant to provide the antidote to this situation, and whilst he has done fantastically well thus far carrying the liver bird on his chest, it still hasn’t stopped us crumbling with injuries to key players. All that said, we HAVE now played four of the top six in the first nine games. With arguably the weakest remaining.
Luis Suarez – There was talk and theories that Brendan rode the wave of Luis Suarez and once he was gone, Brendan was out of his depth. I won’t go into that now, but the fact of the matter is that there are no such theories about Klopp. What he has achieved so far is unquestionably down to him, and him alone.
Hope – There was no plan going forward with Rodgers. We’d lost Suarez, Sterling, and Gerrard, Sturridge was broken, and the reinforcements were not of the required standard (partly FSG’s fault). With Klopp we have Keita in the bag and should have got VVD. Now admittedly VVD was a bad gamble by Klopp. A gamble that I understand though. If he’d gone for the next guy on the list perhaps things would be better now and he’d probably have been an upgrade on Lovren, but would he help us climb to the very top of the game? Klopp would then be stuck with that guy for three to five years or so, the same predicament we find ourselves in with Lovren, and then maybe unable to warrant VVD coming in because you’ve already bought defender X (a situation we have found ourselves in time and again with below par signings), thus thwarting the master plan of us really challenging for the league. So he went all in for VVD and Keita, prioritising having a real crack at the league rather just improving a little and settling for second best, not to mention that this team is the team that got us into the Champions League in the first place. It was an admirable, if not a little foolhardy, plan. He didn’t come here to finish fourth, he came to win (sounds familiar hey?). But he didn’t get either (this season at least), and now it’s a problem.
However, there is still a plan and hope moving forward with Keita locked in, Champions league to play for, and the hope and will for a proper defender – even if it’s not VVD – and the prospect of returning key players. There is still a horizon and a plan. With Brendan he was done, we were done. Klopp is building, albeit with some mistakes, Brendan was deconstructing and decomposing.
