Jürgen Klopp - Liverpool FC Manager

I know every season is different and we had the upheaval of changing managers but purely on a player by player basis this squad was good enough to win the league this season.

Of course it was if you judge it by the fact Leicester won it

But by that thought so was Arsenals, Spurs, Chelsea, City's, Utd's, Southamptons, West Ham, Everton and the list would go on..
Leicester, fair play to them, even though I've struggled to say that for all the run in, well done to them, but it's a freak occurrence that won't happen again for a number of years if at all in the modern game.

They got on a run, they had what none of the other top sides had and that's European football, they also had the fact that for the most part of the season people didn't take them seriously, the fact that the bottom few sides thought they were of their level and their six pointers, the mid rank teams thought they were better than them and the top sides did t regard them at all, so the majority of sides took it to them, played complete front foot football and therefore played into their hands with high lines that their pace took advantage of.
Their players grew and grew in confidence and that confidence mixed with teams playing open high lines just played into their hands.. Fate almost took over.

Again fair play to them, but their squad? There are probably 10+ in the league with better squads.

The difference for us? Even though we haven't won the league since 1990? Sides still see us as a massive massive scalp, a scalp that they can celebrate. Whether that's a Utd, Chelsea or Arsenal as what they deem a contender or an Everton who want to give their local rivals a bloody nose or the rest of the sides in the league who see the famous Liverpool as one of the biggest games of the season, the trip to Anfield something they tell their kids about. And they play deep, they play counter, they try to stop us rather than play toe to toe with us and afford us the space and lack of respect they give Leicester.

That's one of the biggest things we have to get over, that the majority of sides we play think of us as a cup final.. And we haven't been good enough over the last 26 years to bully that..

Klopp said after West Brom St Anfield that he would never let that happen again.. In terms of style and lack of ambition to get to us and that's the key..
Leicester and the level of their squad will never have to approach games as we (and other top sides) have to.

Again fair play to them but they aren't us. Their squad isn't as good as ours, their manager isn't either.. But they don't play with the pressure of our expectancy either.

I believe Klopp will get us to rise above that level and we will challenge

It could be with our flair players who have a tendency to drift in and out (Coutinho, Firminho, Lallana, even Sturridge) what they really miss is a top quality, commanding central midfielder. An Alonso to ping it around, a Gerrard to arrive and cause havok opens up all sorts of doors to these lads, and too often with our team they are kind of left to create something on their own. If for example Can, or Henderson or Milner were 10 goal a season midfielders, each time they get on the ball around the box someone has to get really tight, like they tried to with Gerrard. As it is teams can sit off and just cover our flair guys, I sometimes think they get a bit of a bum rap for "not doing anything".

It's a nice Sunday afternoon you keyboard warriors turn off your tablet, phone or what ever and go and get some fresh air.

 

It's far better than Leicester's and they won it Walt.

I know every season is different and we had the upheaval of changing managers but purely on a player by player basis this squad was good enough to win the league this season.

It's hard to say really mate. We have better players but maybe more "weak links " too ?

Over the season they played the more consistently successful football, while we vacillated between the sublime and the bloody awful.

They proved they were better over a season than not only us but Arsenal, Spurs, Citeh etc etc. We proved we were better than those sides on occasion.

If we had been capable of playing the way we did against Citeh for example in every game we would have won the league. Sadly it is the side that can adapt best to each individual challenge that different sides formation, tactics etc  present that wins the league not the team that produces a good performance every now and then. We just couldn't handle certain teams... Leicester did.

Great achievement by Leicester imo and under-rated by some.   

Because you went there I'll play.

Abramovich took over Chelsea in 2003 and Mansour City in 2008. The Cowboys bought us in 2007.

Stevie G had scored 28 Liverpool goals in the six seasons before Benitez came and a further 104 by the end of the season that he was sacked which as well as being down to him coming into his prime, a jump in goals like that was a lot down to Rafa changing Stevie's style of play. Stevie even said the same. To put what I am saying into context, Jordan Henderson has scored 22 goals in his first 5 seasons here. I know he's nowhere near the level of Stevie but I'm sure if his goals tally rose so significantly you'd be giving a lot of credit to Jürgen whilst getting the spade in the ground for the footings for his statue. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, Rafa gets none from you.

Yep, Guardiola will be here, great. It will be tough but let's not try and make out that Rafa had it easier than Jürgen has now just because you realised that your 'Statue' comment shown your hypocrisy up once again. You said that coming 3rd should get Jürgen a statue, which on it's own is bad enough, (3rd ). You've then realised by saying that you may look daft for slagging Rafa off at every possible opportunity and not offering him a statue so you made out he had it dead easy under Parry and Moores and Hicks and Gilette. Unbelievable. Under those ownerships he got us a European Cup win, European Cup Runners up, FA Cup, UEFA Super Cup, Community Shield, Premier League Runners Up and numerous Champions League qualifications alongside having us as the Number 1 ranked club in European football as we beat Barca, Real, Juve, Inter, AC Milan, etc, etc, etc. on the way to doing so.

'The Rafa Benitez Stand?' Of course not, just like there shouldn't be a statue for any manager who regularly finishes 3rd. Even a St Mirren manager wouldn't get a statue for coming 3rd in a three way league with them, Rangers and Celtic.

For all our new owners' sins they are better than the last two and you know that.

Jürgen has got it harder than Rafa did? It's unreal to read such a thing, it really, really is.

Tell you what, though, Walton and Eurored, I gave you some stick when you were both slagging Rodgers off on a daily basis but know what? At least with the likes of you lads what you see is what you get. So fair play for that.

there are dark forces at work but the difference is Rodgers should never have got near the position whilst Jürgen has all the qualifications to do this job well.

Was Leicester's squad good enough to win the league?

Is Ranieri a "World-Class Manager"?

they played 40-45 games had very few injuries as apposed to 63 plus games and a shed load of injuries. Leicester city had one stat that nobody else had more points it was a one offbut they did have a very good goalkeeper,a very experienced CB and midfield and an on fire CF just playing one game a week Klopp played more games than Ranieri even though he did not arrive until mid October.
Leicester isn't a good model because they don't fit any model.

At least Klopp has united the fan base.

At least Klopp has united the fan base.

Have you read the past few pages

Have you read the past few pages

Should I have used that tongue in cheek smiley then

At least Klopp has united the fan base.

 

It's hard to say really mate. We have better players but maybe more "weak links " too ?

Over the season they played the more consistently successful football, while we vacillated between the sublime and the bloody awful.

They proved they were better over a season than not only us but Arsenal, Spurs, Citeh etc etc. We proved we were better than those sides on occasion.

If we had been capable of playing the way we did against Citeh for example in every game we would have won the league. Sadly it is the side that can adapt best to each individual challenge that different sides formation, tactics etc  present that wins the league not the team that produces a good performance every now and then. We just couldn't handle certain teams... Leicester did.

Great achievement by Leicester imo and under-rated by some.   

Great points made s@int that I agree with,there's one word you used in your first sentence and that is consistency, Leicester had this all season long,and no matter who they faced, what kind of tactics opposing sides used they got through them by playing with confidence, they only lost 3 all season, virtually played with the same X1 apart from first month or so with a team ethic we could learn from, and with consistency levels very high,

Next season we have a opportunity to match the consistency levels of the champions, without European football we will have the same light season Leicester experienced,
Klopp will have more time on the training pitches, have more recovery time,more time to work on team tactics etc,
He will strengthen as will the others but I am confident we can challenge for the title, a top 4 is certainly on the cards for me,

Read a interesting article on TAW by Adam Smith, if you haven't already check it out,?
Regarding our title chase,
I'd copy & paste it but have no idea how to not sure i can with a ipad.
Anyhoo it's worth a read.

YNWA

Great achievement by Leicester imo and under-rated by some.   

Absolutely. Leicester won by being consistently the best side in the league all season. We haven't done that for decades. It's hard to do, was an incredible achievement. And imo 'bigger' clubs *can* learn something from what they've done, and how they did it. Particularly cause they did it on 'a budget'.
Everyone said they would implode, crumble. That they hadn't a hope in hell. And yet they won it. So why could they not do it again next season? They keep their side together, they've as good a chance as anyone.
End of my Leicester love in...

Maybe we should all have a forum get together and see who's calling who a [insert any desired swear word here] then, won't be me I'm a scrawny f**ker

At least Klopp has united the fan base.

I think we're all agreed on the main course, just some discussion to be had on the trimmings...

It's far better than Leicester's and they won it Walt.

I know every season is different and we had the upheaval of changing managers but purely on a player by player basis this squad was good enough to win the league this season.

but like our side in 13/14 they had a week to prepare and then to recover and its clear this is a massive advantage for the fitness and the freshness of the players. They played with no expectation and no pressure. I don't think we had a good enough squad and their Goalkeeper, CB partnership and front two played much better than ours did.

What won Leicester the league in my opinion was out of the so called top 6, Arsenal, City, Chavs, MUFC, Spuds and US they took 17 points from a possible 36, they finished 10 points clear.

The no European football excuse for a team's success is a load of F***ing bollocks.

It seems like when a club who doesn't play in Europe have a good year, we can't just give them credit we have to find an excuse for them doing well. But, like with all excuses in football, they don't run true up and down the league. Villa haven't had European footy for the last five years, in that time they haven't finished above 15th in the table.

It's also why every year for god knows how long, whoever has won the League has also played in European competition that season.

If in the new season, we win the League it'll be because we're the F***ing greatest team in the world, not because we've been able to piss about without European football to worry us.

The no European football excuse for a team's success is a load of f**king bollocks.

It seems like when a club who doesn't play in Europe have a good year, we can't just give them credit we have to find an excuse for them doing well. But, like with all excuses in football, they don't run true up and down the league. Villa haven't had European footy for the last five years, in that time they haven't finished above 15th in the table.

It's also why every year for god knows how long, whoever has won the League has also played in European competition that season.

If in the new season, we win the League it'll be because we're the f**king greatest team in the world, not because we've been able to piss about without European football to worry us.

It helps tho Billy when your players are fresher, have more time to prepare for the next match and have less injuries,
during our Europa odyssey Klopp had barely time to work with his players and had only recovery time between matches,
Hardly the best way to prepare your team was it?

YNWA

lots of bollocks today. but a player who plays 40 games against 60 plus is going to be a different player when it matters. great if you have a big talented squad but we haven't had that luxury.
If we win the league next season I couldn't give a flying F**k why we have won it as long as we do.

Leicester set up exactly like most bottom feeder clubs do, with a park the bus, sitting back, compact defense and playing counter attacking football.  The difference between them and most of the bottom feeders was they had a better than average CM in Kante and not one but two very rapid goalscorers who rarely missed.

They basically played like a Mourinho Chelsea but without the names. 

It was nothing new, it was nothing special but it worked. 

It helps tho Billy when your players are fresher, have more time to prepare for the next match and have less injuries,
during our Europa odyssey Klopp had barely time to work with his players and had only recovery time between matches,
Hardly the best way to prepare your team was it?

YNWA

It didn't help Villa mate. They still went down with no European footy, as did Newcastle, as in fact did Norwich. Sunderland who finished 17th had no European footy. To the best of my knowledge, no side who finished in the bottom half of the table had European football last season.

Like I said, if it ran up and down the table then yeah it'd be a fair excuse. When it doesn't, I call it as bollocks. I'd rather give Leicester all the credit in the world for winning the League than look for snidy little arguments to almost try and rob them of any credit.

It didn't help Villa mate. They still went down with no European footy, as did Newcastle, as in fact did Norwich. Sunderland who finished 17th had no European footy. To the best of my knowledge, no side who finished in the bottom half of the table had European football last season.

Like I said, if it ran up and down the table then yeah it'd be a fair excuse. When it doesn't, I call it as bollocks. I'd rather give Leicester all the credit in the world for winning the League than look for snidy little arguments to almost try and rob them of any credit.

With respect Billy your Aston Villa's Norwich and Newcastle' plus those who each and every season who realistically wouldn't have a chance of winning the league have European football either, Leicester fully deserved to win the league I'm not trying to take anything away from their fantastic achievement nor am I making any sort of snidey remarks, all I am saying is had they had to juggle midweek European football aswell as a hectic league campaign it would have been much harder to sustain their consistency with the relatively small squad they had,

But we'll see, won't we?

YNWA

With respect Billy your Aston Villa's Norwich and Newcastle' plus those who each and every season who realistically wouldn't have a chance of winning the league have European football either, Leicester fully deserved to win the league I'm not trying to take anything away from their fantastic achievement nor am I making any sort of snidey remarks, all I am saying is had they had to juggle midweek European football aswell as a hectic league campaign it would have been much harder to sustain their consistency with the relatively small squad they had,

But we'll see, won't we?

YNWA

Leicester didn't realistically have a chance of winning the League at the start of the year mate. They should of been fighting relegation. Did no European football help them? Yeah probably. Was it the reason they won the League? Not a F***ing chance.

Just on an end note, I weren't referring to you making snidy remarks or taking credit from Leicester, it was just a generalisation of the British mentality. As a nation, Britain, has to find faults in it's success stories as opposed to just crediting them.