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The Liverpool manager, Jürgen Klopp, made a comment towards his club’s deepest rivals Man United, vis-a-vis the signing of Pogba (UK Daily Mail):
'If you bring one player in for £100m and he gets injured, then it all goes through the chimney,
'The day that this is football, I'm not in a job anymore, because the game is about playing together.
'That is how everybody in football understands it. You always want to have the best, but building the group is necessary to be successful.
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'Other clubs can go out and spend more money and collect top players.
'I want to do it differently. I would even do it differently if I could spend that money.
'I don't know exactly how much money we could spend because nobody has told me, 'No, you can't do this.'
'If I spend money, it is because I am trying to build a team, a real team. Barcelona did it. You can win championships, you can win titles, but there is a manner in which you want it.'
Liverpool however has spent well over £100m in this current window. And Klopp himself had this to say in response, when commenting on this allegation of hypocrisy (from BBC News):
"Did I change my opinion? Yes. It's better to change your opinion than not have one at all. It's still kind of true. I couldn't have imagined the world could have changed. £100m was a crazy number but since then the world changed.
So is he being a hypocrite? And does it matter? It doesn’t.
We’ve seen many times over the years how managers use psychological ploys on others.
Mourinho, Wenger, Ferguson, Benitez, Conte, Guardiola, etc. have all said or been the recipients of barbs designed to undermine, scathe, or unseat others.
This is part of the game, and I don’t mean football per se, but getting one over others’ managerial rivals.
And it works, albeit piecemeal. Ferguson famously did this to Keegan in 1996, and it possibly showed given Keegan’s classic reaction.
It could be, albeit only via speculation on my part, that this was his aim when critiquing United for Pogba’s signing.
It was about calling out a rival, to get a psychological edge over his rival. And note that Man United is the biggest enemy of Liverpool.
Like Arsenal and Tottenham, Newcastle and Sunderland, and Celtic and Rangers are respectively. A manager calling out his club’s greatest rivals goes down well, at all times.
Moreover, Klopp was relatively new in the job at the time. He took over from Brendan Rodgers in autumn 2015, and despite reaching both the League Cup and Europa League finals, he was still embedding himself into the club and amongst the fans.
It was more about ingratiating himself with the club and the fans, then anything else.
Yes, I’m speculating here. I cannot know his intent, naturally. And these points I’m detailing are ultimately just conjecture. But I genuinely don’t believe his comments were as bad as being made out.
Change of heart
Maybe he had a change of heart since then, considering two years had passed between then and now?
To succeed in modern day football, one needs to spend the big money. The best players cost the most money, it’s that simple.
Maybe he’s had a Damascene conversion, and seen the light, who knows?
Having a change of heart, or altering one’s perspective, is not hypocrisy. As humans, we always re-evaluate our perceptions, thoughts, judgments, and views. Maybe Klopp has done the same.
In the end, I don’t share the view that Klopp is being hypocritical. Yes, there has been a discrepancy in his views between then and now. But then the game is to spend big, and Liverpool realizes this. Klopp knows this, and FSG know this too.
He has come out to say that it doesn’t bother him that much, and that’s understandable.
I think also that sometimes people say things they don’t mean, for whatever reason. It may be just to throw people off, or things they may think but not pay much credence too.
It’s inevitable that the press and fans will nit-pick statements made. However, I believe Klopp is right to spend money, as this is the way to success in the contemporary footballing world.
Can Liverpool win their first title since Sir “King” Kenny was a manager? Who knows? Though I will stick my neck out here – I believe they can win the league. Nay will win it. Crazy to say? Maybe.
But then City is strong and will remain such in the coming season. They may not win the league though, as much as they did, as sustaining that level (especially a record-breaking one) is difficult.
Moreover, City has only signed Mahrez, and has less evident faults than Liverpool. Klopp new his team needed a keeper, and he’s got such. The city has far less apparent weaknesses.
Aguero and Silva are in their thirties, but they can readily get other top strikers or midfielders. Maybe Mbappe could be a City player in a few years, who knows? City also has many good younger players, like Sterling, Sane, De Bruyne, and Walker.
Liverpool has more room to improve, and City may plateau slightly, which is natural. And the club overall is more engaged and progressive, as it’s been a while since they won anything (2012 League Cup). It’s been 28 years since they last won the league, being led by the recently knighted Sir Kenny Dalglish.
It’s fully understandable if Liverpool fans think it’s their time to shine. The Champions League final boosted them, and they naturally hold a great history in that competition. The club would certainly want to go one better next season.
Salah’s world-class form, his Golden Boot, and Player of the Year Awards will be eager to be expanded, as well as Firmino and Mane as fellow attackers.
Liverpool holistically is a club on the up. And I’m not a Liverpool fan by any stretch, though as a Gooner Liverpool is setting a benchmark that we need to reach. The relative positions of both clubs have changed, compared to 5 or 6 years ago.
Back then, they barely got top four, and we were mainstays in it. The reverse, as for now, is certainly apt, and something Arsenal must aim to rectify. We’re changing under Emery, with this being masterminded by Gazidis, but more needs to be done to get to the level Liverpool and Klopp are displaying.
