So much nicer debating with intelligent people.
I will always have enormous affection for Jürgen same as I do Rafa, Houllier and to a lesser extent Brendan and Evans but something is seriously wrong with this team now to the extent I think only a change of manager will fix it. Its happened to better managers than Jürgen, sometimes you just run out of steam at a club and the players lose faith in your vision and style.
I hear where you're coming from, and there may be half a grain of truth there. But look at it from another perspective: the team needs a gradual rebuild (I'm not saying clear the lot out now) over a couple of years. Our front three all turn 30 soon, Hendo too, and Millie's super fit for his age but he can't play every game. It looks like Gini's off in the summer, and I can see Ox moving to a lower PL club, and maybe Shaq moving on as well. I really can't see Nabby Keita staying here either - it just hasn't been a good fit. And, despite Keita, which was easily his worst/most expensive failure, I 100% trust in Klopp to take charge of that rebuild and eventually leave us in a better place than we were before he came.
At the end of the day Jürgen can't go on the pitch and score the goals: that's the player's job, and it's obvious that there's a huge loss of confidence. One by one we need to replace them, maybe starting with Bobby, who I thought played ok today in a deeper role, but who's goal return has been pretty terrible for a couple of seasons now (despite his assists).
Where I would critisize Klopp is the recent substitutions (call it a lack of plan B) and the entire team's inability to see a game out. I'm pretty sure it was City v Villa I was watching the other night and, in the last five minutes City got it in Villa's corner and ran the clock down, or just passed it across the back four keeping possession. Against Leeds on Monday, and again here today, the players switched off. And that's got to come down to bad coaching/game management. I've never seen Klopp inanimate and sat on the bench as much as I have these past few weeks: he kind of looks resigned to it.
I think he deserves this summer's window. Whether it's him in charge or someone else, the task is gonna be so much harder now we're not in the CL (and maybe not even in the Europa). But I hope it's Jürgen who's here. Be careful what you wish for!
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