Rated as one of the best managers in the game at the minute, there can be no denying the impact that Jurgen Klopp has had on Liverpool since taking over at Anfield in October 2015 following the sacking of Brendan Rodgers. Klopp took over with Liverpool in tenth position; they eventually finished eighth, but currently sit in third position in the current season.
For all the good he’s done, however, it is a fact that Klopp hasn’t come close to winning the title yet, not like Rodgers did in 2013/14 when Liverpool led the table for a large stretch of the season before a late collapse saw them finish 2nd instead. Fans of the Reds would like to think that Klopp is the man to deliver their first Premier League title, but personally, I believe otherwise, and here are five reasons why.
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#1 He’s no longer seen as an innovator
Throughout football history, it’s been a fact that any time a new playing style is innovated – be it Holland’s ‘Total Football’ of the 70’s, the Italian catenaccio style, or the tiki-taka of the mid-2000’s Spain and Barcelona – other teams soon imitate it and also learn quickly how to play against it.
During his time at Borussia Dortmund, Klopp was an innovator and the style he largely pioneered lead his side to massive success, winning the Bundesliga twice and coming runners-up twice as well. In 2011/12 Dortmund even went 28 games unbeaten.
The style he innovated? ‘Heavy Metal Football’, AKA gegenpress. It’s essentially a high-pressing, high-tempo style that sees a side constantly closing their opponents down, waiting for a chance to steal the ball and counter-attack.
Klopp may have largely innovated it, but since then it’s been replicated time after time, albeit not always with the same success Dortmund had. England notably used the style in March 2016 to defeat Germany, and even lowly Coventry under Steven Pressley attempted their own spin on it.
The problem? Klopp’s sides have been doing it for almost a decade and even Pressley’s Coventry were doing it back in 2013. It’s still in vogue but it’s now well-known.
It could be argued, even, that Tottenham under Mauricio Pochettino have taken the style to another level again, at least in the Premier League. And because his tactic has now become so commonplace, it’s also become easier to play against, which is bad news for Klopp.
#2 He can’t attract top stars to Liverpool
Since moving to Liverpool, Klopp hasn’t been overly busy in the transfer game. While his signings – most notably Giorginio Wijnaldum and Sadio Mane – have usually been successful, they simply lack in marquee status when compared to the types of signings that Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United have made.
This season, for instance, has seen Chelsea buy Michy Batshuayi, N’Golo Kante, David Luiz and Marcos Alonso. Man City brought in John Stones, Ilkay Gundogan, Leroy Sane and Nolito amongst others and of course United signed Paul Pogba and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
While there’s nothing wrong with not going for the big names – Klopp, like Pochettino, seems to go for players he thinks will fit his system – it could also be argued that Liverpool simply aren’t in a position to attract the top players in the first place.
While Champions League football should help next season, it’s still a question mark whether Klopp would come out on top in a transfer race if Chelsea, City or United were in for the same player, particularly given the wages that those teams can pay over and above Liverpool.
That makes things a bit trickier for the German and in the age of the large clubs stockpiling players, top-class signings may be hard to come by. And regardless of how you feel about it, usually you need to sign top players to win the league.
#3 Other clubs are progressing too
Klopp might be looking to cement Liverpool’s status as perennial title contenders, but he isn’t the only manager out there looking to improve the fortunes of his side. Jose Mourinho is desperate to bring Man United back up to the Champions League, Mauricio Pochettino has slowly been turning Spurs into title contenders for three years now, and we’ve yet to see the best from Pep Guardiola at Man City.
Basically, this is the hardest point in history to come and manage a side in the Premier League. With the injection of money from the new TV deal signed last summer, even smaller clubs suddenly have financial clout that they never had before.
And while it doesn’t mean that West Brom for example will be going out and signing say, James Rodriguez, it does mean that any Premier League club can get hold of great – if not quite world-class – players.
A handful of years ago the Premier League was a four-horse race at best. Now you’ve got Chelsea, City, United, Arsenal, Tottenham, Liverpool and perhaps even Everton pushing for the title. And that doesn’t include dark horses like Leicester last season.
Even at a huge club like Liverpool, the odds of actually winning the league are suddenly a whole lot smaller. The Premier League has always been competitive but now it’s more competitive than ever. Which makes a Klopp title win even less likely.
#4 Liverpool haven’t produced a great player in ages
If Klopp can’t buy the very best then perhaps it’d be okay if Liverpool were producing great players instead. The fact is though that they’re simply not. Aside from Raheem Sterling, who obviously jumped ship to Man City, who was the last top player that Liverpool produced?
Jon Flanagan and Andre Wisdom so far haven’t lived up to their potential, so you’re probably going back to the 1990’s and Michael Owen and Steven Gerrard.
That’s a pretty scary thought when you consider the amount of the Premier League’s top players who are actually homegrown these days. Harry Kane, Marcus Rashford and Ross Barkley, for instance, are all academy graduates who now play key roles for their club’s first team.
And others like Harry Winks and Tom Davies have broken through this season too.
Liverpool’s academy was recently re-vamped in 2015, with a focus now on quality over quantity and streamlining, but the fruits of that may not pay off until a few more seasons down the line. For now it may be a case of Klopp watching with envy as his rival clubs bring better youngsters through their system and into their first team.
If Klopp wants to win the league with Liverpool he needs to hope the academy can produce something as special as an Owen or a Gerrard.
#5 He might be tempted elsewhere
While Liverpool are one of the most successful clubs in football history, have a massive worldwide following and still, have somewhat of a marquee name, success for them in terms of trophies has been a little scarce over recent years, notably since their Champions League triumph in 2005.
This means that unfortunately for them, they may find it hard to hang onto a boss the calibre of Jurgen Klopp. With the managerial merry-go-round a constant in modern football, big jobs are constantly appearing and any club would love to have Klopp as their boss.
Real Madrid, for instance, are rumoured to be looking to part ways with Zinedine Zidane at the end of the season. The word is that they’d like Joachim Low as the replacement, and either way that leaves one of two huge jobs – Real and the German national team – open.
That isn’t even considering the likelihood of another huge club – say Paris St. Germain or even Arsenal – suddenly needing a world-renowned manager. Klopp might not have performed miracles at Liverpool yet but his reputation from his Dortmund days is still a huge one meaning a bigger team than Liverpool could well try to tempt him away from Anfield.
It could even be that Klopp does eventually win the Premier League, just not with Liverpool!
