Jürgen Klopp - Liverpool FC Manager

just having one game per week to prepare for and no insane travelling has to be a blessing for the manager. It was in 2013 so why not now.

On the button Mick - us not being in Europe was without doubt sold as one 'excuse' for our great form back then. There's really no valid reason for the same rationale not to apply now, I suppose. 

Okay we don't have a Luis Suarez or Steven Gerrard, to make things easier, in the way only a top class player can but if our method of operation favours not signing a Suarez or Gerrard (but rather waiting for the 'new' one) then surely, if we are happy with that; we can't, (with a straight face anyhow), use that as an 'excuse' for failure.
 
Like s@int, I have every faith that Jürgen knows exactly what's required and, in having that faith, I just have to believe we'll do well - I mean; isn't that what having belief is?

It's actually a tad disconcerting when you see who the folk are who aren't just as confident in the man, as I am but hopefully they're wrong in their assessment.

"Oh ye of little faith" - Jesus H. Christ, circa 33 AD  

It does seem a little strange that all of a sudden it's not much of an advantage. I was told back then that it was a huge advantage, and I must confess I believed it myself  . Every Chelsea fan I know (and for my sins it's quite a few) are convinced them not being in Europe is a huge bonus for Conte (they don't overly concern themselves with their ability to "attract players" because of it, the fools). The Mancs who come in the pub are rubbing their hands with glee over the prospect of Mourinho disregarding the Europa League as a viable trophy for them, purely so they can really go for it in the league.

So I'm going to stick with what my original view always was, and what my common sense tells me. Is it easier to go play Everton on the Sunday when you've had a Wednesday flight to Tibliski followed by a game in sub zero temperatures, a late night flight home followed by a bowl of cornflakes, some half arsed training and a quick rub down with linseed oil? OR, is it fractionally preferable in terms of playing our local rivals if we spend the Wednesday watching Coronation St at home, maybe spending a bit of time with the Mrs. Before Thursday working on patterns of play and Friday in normal training? I'm going to go out on a limb and say that swerving the Aeroflot, even given the (no doubt excellent) on flight borscht and freezing our collective bollocks off in some God forsaken corner of Europe is doing nothing for our chances at Goodison, and we'll do better without the hassle.

Out there I know, but there it is.

It does seem a little strange that all of a sudden it's not much of an advantage.

Is that what I said Mick or was it really:

So while I do agree it's an advantage I think at this point it's become way over emphasised due to the continued highlighting of 2 extremely rare set of circumstances that had an awful lot more to do with other factors than just 'no European football'.

I was told back then that it was a huge advantage, and I must confess I believed it myself  . Every Chelsea fan I know (and for my sins it's quite a few) are convinced them not being in Europe is a huge bonus for Conte (they don't overly concern themselves with their ability to "attract players" because of it, the fools). The Mancs who come in the pub are rubbing their hands with glee over the prospect of Mourinho disregarding the Europa League as a viable trophy for them, purely so they can really go for it in the league.

So would Liverpool fans say the very same, football fans naturally oversell the positives of their own club to rivals, obviously.

So I'm going to stick with what my original view always was, and what my common sense tells me. Is it easier to go play Everton on the Sunday when you've had a Wednesday flight to Tibliski followed by a game in sub zero temperatures, a late night flight home followed by a bowl of cornflakes, some half arsed training and a quick rub down with linseed oil? OR, is it fractionally preferable in terms of playing our local rivals if we spend the Wednesday watching Coronation St at home, maybe spending a bit of time with the Mrs. Before Thursday working on patterns of play and Friday in normal training? I'm going to go out on a limb and say that swerving the Aeroflot, even given the (no doubt excellent) on flight borscht and freezing our collective bollocks off in some God forsaken corner of Europe is doing nothing for our chances at Goodison, and we'll do better without the hassle.

So instead of not much of an advantage you're actually saying it's a slight advantage? The difference there doesn't sound much to me.

Rather than trying to pick our way between slight/not much/huge/massive and all these other ambiguous terms why not take a look at some proper research on the matter:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/35146716

Best case scenario looking like a 4.2 point difference over an entire season. Like I said not the monumental title winning difference of 20 points we actually need and seems suggested will happen thanks to this 'advantage'. That's of course ignoring all the positive data that study also shows.

It's an interesting answer Luke. A cynic though might conclude that perhaps you're clearing away any positives before the season starts in order to "get your excuses in early". I was often accused of the same thing under Rodgers until I predicted we'd win the league and got laughed at then lauded as we bloody nearly did.

You don't actually need to get your excuses in with me though, I'm not expecting a title challenge even though we have the "not in Europe" advantage. In actual fact, given our likely zero net spend and current wage structure, I'm not expecting much at all so like as not I'm going to be pretty satisfied with Jürgen, no need for excuses with me.

I think in the fullbess of time this season will come to be looked back on as a learning curve for Jürgen and a large section of the fan base. This will be the season in which Jürgen goes from saying to FSG "don't worry guys I've got this, AND I can do it without spending money!" To saying to them "give me some proper money FFS!". The fans will no doubt join him on the road to Damascus. Me, I'm already there sitting in the market square drinking a strange foreign brew which tastes mildly lovely in the oppressive heat.

Best case scenario looking like a 4.2 point difference over an entire season. Like I said not the monumental title winning difference of 20 points we actually need and seems suggested will happen thanks to this 'advantage'. That's of course ignoring all the positive data that study also shows.

It's okay Luke, we've now got a keeper who is going to save us around 10-15 pts. alone!

Throw in all the other advantages I mentioned (no Europe too), and the job's a good 'un.

It's an interesting answer Luke. A cynic though might conclude that perhaps you're clearing away any positives before the season starts in order to "get your excuses in early". I was often accused of the same thing under Rodgers until I predicted we'd win the league and got laughed at then lauded as we bloody nearly did.

You don't actually need to get your excuses in with me though, I'm not expecting a title challenge even though we have the "not in Europe" advantage. In actual fact, given our likely zero net spend and current wage structure, I'm not expecting much at all so like as not I'm going to be pretty satisfied with Jürgen, no need for excuses with me.

I think in the fullbess of time this season will come to be looked back on as a learning curve for Jürgen and a large section of the fan base. This will be the season in which Jürgen goes from saying to FSG "don't worry guys I've got this, AND I can do it without spending money!" To saying to them "give me some proper money FFS!". The fans will no doubt join him on the road to Damascus. Me, I'm already there sitting in the market square drinking a strange foreign brew which tastes mildly lovely in the oppressive heat.

Ah well you'd be wrong Mick because I am becoming increasingly confident the longer this window goes on, I think we've signed some excellent players who will improve us in some of our weakest areas from last season. The main stumbling block between us and the title challenge we all crave I still believe will be consistency. If we manage to overcome that and sign a LB of real quality then I will be up there with S@int's level of optimism.

All I was trying to do was quantify this 'no European football' discussion, as simple as that. It seems though that agendas need to be pushed in favour of genuine discussion and that does neither those peddling it nor the forum any favours in my opinion.

It's okay Luke, we've now got a keeper who is going to save us around 10-15 pts. alone!

Throw in all the other advantages I mentioned (no Europe too), and the job's a good 'un.

I hope so.

Ah well you'd be wrong Mick because I am becoming increasingly confident the longer this window goes on, I think we've signed some excellent players who will improve us in some of our weakest areas from last season. The main stumbling block between us and the title challenge we all crave I still believe will be consistency. If we manage to overcome that and sign a LB of real quality then I will be up there with S@int's level of optimism.

All I was trying to do was quantify this 'no European football' discussion, as simple as that. It seems though that agendas need to be pushed in favour of genuine discussion and that does neither those peddling it nor the forum any favours in my opinion.

Fair play Luke. No doubt just before the season kicks off there'll be a "what is par this season?" thread and I'll note your heightened aspirations in there then. For my part, barring a late spree by Jürgen I think I know where'll I'll be at.

Fair play Luke. No doubt just before the season kicks off there'll be a "what is par this season?" thread and I'll note your heightened aspirations in there then. For my part, barring a late spree by Jürgen I think I know where'll I'll be at.

Do you think top 4 is achievable?

Do you think top 4 is achievable?

I think our squad is strong enough now to get top 4 although a lot depends on Sturridge staying fit and Mignolet not being first choice.

We are still a little way short of a title challenging squad. A full back, a midfielder and a prolific striker for when the inevitable happens with Danny would be enough imo to see us up there.

I think the Henderson and Milner twins are not quite at the level we need to control games, but the imminent sale of Allen and Lucas could allow us space to bring in someone who can.

Sell Benteke and bring in a prolific striker and we are good to go although it wouldn't surprise me overmuch if Benteke stays and Lallana or Henderson depart instead.

Still over a month of the transfer window left and I am back to feeling a lot more positive than I was a few days ago.   

 

Do you think top 4 is achievable?

It's probably best to wait until all the squad building is complete mate, but suffice to say I think it would be a brilliant achievement in my opinion if we finished as high as fourth. We've got to get above five of Man City, Man Utd, Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham, Leicester, West Ham and Southampton.

Now given Leicester have sold their best players, ditto Southampton who've also lost their manager, we ought surely to be able to get above those two. West Ham had a great season last time but things being equal we really ought to get above them too, particularly as they'll probably have a good go in Europe. The other five teams though? We'd have to get above two of them? If Sturridge stays fit all season (and we pick him obviously) then we'd have a shot IMHO, if not I'd say we were huge outsiders.   

It's probably best to wait until all the squad building is complete mate, but suffice to say I think it would be a brilliant achievement in my opinion if we finished as high as fourth. We've got to get above five of Man City, Man Utd, Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham, Leicester, West Ham and Southampton.

Now given Leicester have sold their best players, ditto Southampton who've also lost their manager, we ought surely to be able to get above those two. West Ham had a great season last time but things being equal we really ought to get above them too, particularly as they'll probably have a good go in Europe. The other five teams though? We'd have to get above two of them? If Sturridge stays fit all season (and we pick him obviously) then we'd have a shot IMHO, if not I'd say we were huge outsiders.   

Bit surprised you didn't add "and win a cup" as that's the usual way we all try to pretend we aren't totally pessimistic about our season.

I think with Klopp we should all have high expectations,  if we are simply looking for top 6 I think Brendan could have got us that.

Well I've already done my bet for the league some will say I'm insane but I'm quietly optimistic with our Klopp at the helm  looking forward to the season , people keeping on about the big name signing well Ibra is a big name how many would have been happy with him standing in the middle of the park doing his best Berbatov impression  .

Well I've already done my bet for the league some will say I'm insane but I'm quietly optimistic with our Klopp at the helm  looking forward to the season , people keeping on about the big name signing well Ibra is a big name how many would have been happy with him standing in the middle of the park doing his best Berbatov impression  .

I keep seeing this said on here Andy and I must have missed it. I haven't seen anybody at all saying we should have signed Ibrahimovic (although in my view he'll do well for the Mancs) or Messi, Ronaldo etc etc. Once the fee was reported for Higuain those who had been keen wrote it off, and there's been no word on the boards of us hijacking the Pogba deal, or the Sane one or anything else.

What I have seen (and I have posted myself) is people advocating us buying some proven quality players. Not necessarily expensive ones although of course they usually aren't cheap, but ones who could realistically slot straight into and improve the team. The two glaring weaknesses in the squad, (left back and controlling midfielder) remain unsolved, and unless Ings and/or Origi drastically improve (IMHO) we are short of quality up top if and when Sturridge gets injured.

Don't need "big names", just good players.

I keep seeing this said on here Andy and I must have missed it. I haven't seen anybody at all saying we should have signed Ibrahimovic (although in my view he'll do well for the Mancs) or Messi, Ronaldo etc etc. Once the fee was reported for Higuain those who had been keen wrote it off, and there's been no word on the boards of us hijacking the Pogba deal, or the Sane one or anything else.

What I have seen (and I have posted myself) is people advocating us buying some proven quality players. Not necessarily expensive ones although of course they usually aren't cheap, but ones who could realistically slot straight into and improve the team. The two glaring weaknesses in the squad, (left back and controlling midfielder) remain unsolved, and unless Ings and/or Origi drastically improve (IMHO) we are short of quality up top if and when Sturridge gets injured.

Don't need "big names", just good players.

Agree with all of that Mick. Regarding the positions you mentioned, given all the players we've already brought in, not sure that in LB, D/CM and CF we're going to be bringing in that type of quality, but you never know. Still plenty of window left. If I had to pick one it'd be LB though, cause think Moreno's decision making really needs to improve on last season for us to be more solid down his side.

Klopp hails '100%' backing from Liverpool owner as boss eyes one more signing

21:00, 23 JUL 2016 UPDATED 21:01, 23 JUL 2016
BY JAMES PEARCE

Reds boss says FSG has provided the financial backing for the deals the club needs

Jürgen Klopp insists he has had “100%” backing from Liverpool's owners in the transfer market as he revealed there could be one more signing to complete his summer recruitment drive.

The Reds boss says Fenway Sports Group has provided the financial backing for him to seal the deals he wanted in order to strengthen the squad he inherited.

Seven new faces have been added at a cost of around £70million with around £23million recouped in sales.

Georginio Wijnaldum became the latest new recruit after completing a £25million move from Newcastle United. The Dutchman linked up with the Reds in California on Saturday.

Asked whether he was satisfied with the support of FSG, Klopp told the ECHO: “100%. Absolutely, I've been able to do what I wanted.

“There was never a discussion where I had 1% of the feeling I didn't understand our situation or something. They have been really cool.

“I speak with (FSG president) Mike Gordon regularly and we're working on different fronts, working here, developing this, bringing together this.”

Left-back is the one area where Klopp is still keen to bolster his ranks.

Liverpool have been unable to agree a deal with Leicester City for Ben Chilwell, who is now expected to stay put and sign a new contract.

The Reds are considering other options but Klopp says most of the business that's still to be done concerns outgoings.

Liverpool are keen to off-load Mario Balotelli, Luis Alberto and Christian Benteke with Lazar Markovic also likely to leave.

The Reds have accepted a £13million offer from Stoke City for Joe Allen. Swansea City are also keen but have yet to match that bid.

Ryan Kent and Jon Flanagan are among those expected to go out on loan.

“We still have to do a lot of things on the selling side,” Klopp said.

“We don't want to have 500 players in the squad.

“We're in a good way. We don't need to make another three or four signings, maybe one more, maybe not.

“There's been a lot of planning. It's like a puzzle. That's how building a squad works.

“We have already bought seven players. That's a big number, it's not that we haven't been active in the transfer market. It's all about balance.

“I've heard that people have been talking about (Ragnar) Klavan as our fourth option (at centre-back). Wait and see him play and then tell me again that he should wait until all the others are injured or something.

“Okay, it's a little bit different with Alex (Manninger). He knows his role as something of an educator for the boys.

“But he gives us opportunities to feel secure with a No 3 keeper to help John (Achterberg) with all the goalkeepers around and to allow us to send Adam Bogdan, Ryan Fulton and Danny Ward on loan, and keep Shamal (George) here to play for the under-21s. That's quite cool.”

One of the real bonuses for Klopp in pre-season has been the manner in which the club's Academy youngsters have stepped up to the plate.

“We've found three young guys in our own club – Ben (Woodburn), Trent (Alexander-Arnold) and Ovie (Ejaria),” Klopp added.

“It's wonderful - really important for the club.

“In four weeks we will see they are still young. Let them go and enjoy it. Step back, train and develop. Give them the opportunity to hide again and grow. They have a lot to learn but we've already seen there's a real future for them.

“Until now the club has done everything right with these boys in terms of their education and development. I've seen it and enjoyed it.

“The past three weeks have given us a lot of good information about everyone in the squad.

“In the games they have been really fighting, really trying to play. It's not always about playing the most intensive football, but if you don't do it in pre-season, you miss a session.

“We do all this fitness stuff so that you can make the right decision in the 88th minute. You don't want it so that after 50 minutes nobody knows even what stadium they're in. You need to create a base to make the performance easier.”

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/klopp-hails-100-backing-liverpool-11655814

I really like that comment about then hiding again and growing.

Have to say even though I've been skeptical of some of our targets, when Klopp talks I can't help but feel a little more at ease and confident. I imagine the players will feed off of that and be confident as well, can't wait to get this season going!!!

Looks like that last signing could be a LB . 6M for Smith snap their hands off

https://twitter.com/indigolfc/status/756963570420703232

I keep seeing this said on here Andy and I must have missed it. I haven't seen anybody at all saying we should have signed Ibrahimovic (although in my view he'll do well for the Mancs) or Messi, Ronaldo etc etc. Once the fee was reported for Higuain those who had been keen wrote it off, and there's been no word on the boards of us hijacking the Pogba deal, or the Sane one or anything else.

What I have seen (and I have posted myself) is people advocating us buying some proven quality players. Not necessarily expensive ones although of course they usually aren't cheap, but ones who could realistically slot straight into and improve the team. The two glaring weaknesses in the squad, (left back and controlling midfielder) remain unsolved, and unless Ings and/or Origi drastically improve (IMHO) we are short of quality up top if and when Sturridge gets injured.

Don't need "big names", just good players.

That's it though mick the good players tend to be the big name players , same as proven players tend to be the big name players me I'm not that bothered the prem is littered with big name players who have come here and to an extent failed , I don't care for names or cost as long as they are the right ones and time will tell on that front , they could cost tuppence or 50 mill it's what they do with the red shirt on their back that counts .

I think with Klopp we should all have high expectations,  if we are simply looking for top 6 I think Brendan could have got us that.

Totally agree mate and I'd be very surprised if anyone [especially Jürgen] would set their expectations so low.

Jürgen is a world class manager & coach who's in "full control", signing the players he wants, getting rid of those he doesn't; all the elements are there for a top four finish.

He's on course for rebuilding his squad for a zero, probably a minus net spend.

Net so far £42.4M

With Allen £13m, Smith £6m bringing it down to £23.4m

Then Benteke, Markovic, Balotelli's futures yet to be resolved.

With only one more signing mooted.

If we qualify for Europe in terms of FFP, we'd be able to spend a fortune next summer providing the money was there.