5 reasons why Liverpool won't make the top four in the 2017/18 season

#5 Jurgen Klopp is outgunned

Compared to the likes of Antonio Conte, Jurgen Klopp appears to be outgunned

When Jurgen Klopp first moved to Anfield in October 2015 he received a great amount of publicity, as he was seen as one of the world’s best young managers; an innovator who had used his famed geggenpress tactic to enable Borussia Dortmund to rise up and become one of the most feared clubs in Europe, even overhauling Bayern Munich to be the top club in Germany for a short period.

He was expected to light up the Premier League in a similar way, but thus far that hasn’t really happened. The Premier League already had some of the strongest managers in the world at the time of Klopp’s arrival, and since then it’s gained a couple more world greats in the form of Pep Guardiola and Antonio Conte. Throw in up-and-coming bosses looking to prove their worth like Marco Silva and Sean Dyche, and is Klopp outgunned?

I’d say potentially he is. The geggenpress is no longer an all-conquering tactic and it could be argued that at Tottenham, Mauricio Pochettino has evolved the style even further and even more effectively. And against the tactical brilliance of the likes of Guardiola, Conte and Jose Mourinho, Klopp just doesn’t seem like the progressive genius he did about half a decade ago.

Liverpool may have felt they had made a masterstroke by bringing Klopp in, but like his tactical nous, the likelihood is that it’s already been surpassed – bad news for their top four hopes this season.