JURGEN KLOPP MADE LIVERPOOL GREAT AGAIN - BUT HE RANKS BEHIND PREMIER LEAGUE'S BEST
Jurgen Klopp has been a fantastic asset for English football - but he has only won as many titles as Claudio Ranieri.
And when the all-time great managers from the Premier League era are arranged in some sort of pecking order, Klopp will probably be in the bracket just behind Pep Guardiola, Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger.
You could argue it has been his misfortune to compete with Guardiola and Manchester City every year because Liverpool have twice missed out on the trophy by a single point despite a phenomenal campaign.
In the 2018-19 season, somehow 97 points was not enough for Klopp to breast the tape, and three years later they fell agonisingly short on 92 points. So where does that leave Klopp in the league table of greatness when he leaves Merseyside next month?
Well, he has won more Bundesliga titles (two) with Borussia Dortmund than Premier League crowns at Liverpool. Pep has already won 11 titles in three countries with Barcelona, Bayern Munich and City - now he looks on course to make it a round dozen.
Should Klopp have won more trophies at Anfield? Maybe - but Mikel Arteta might find himself in the same boat at Arsenal because he is up against a winning machine.
Instead of counting cups and titles, I believe Klopp will go down as the man who made Liverpool great again - arguably the club’s most influential manager since Bill Shankly because he made the people happy.
He will always have the mind-bending glory of of that 2019 Champions League semi-final comeback against Barcelona, the 18-match winning streak in 2019-20 en route to the title and the sheer excitement of his ‘heavy metal’ football.
Klopp built two great teams - the first one contained Europe’s deadliest front three in Mo Salah, Roberto Firming and Sadio Mane, and the current side was in contention for four trophies until last month despite a wholesale rebuild of his midfield last summer.
On reflection, did his announcement, three months ago, that he was stepping down at the end of this season ultimately derail Liverpool’s charge?
Some people say his ‘farewell tour’ became a distraction and the players lost their focus, but I don’t buy into that argument. If the boardroom hierarchy knew of Klopp’s wish to leave, the news would have leaked out somewhere.
And a month later, despite a squad decimated by injuries, Liverpool went on to win the League Cup final against Chelsea. It’s sad that his reign looks destined to end in a sense of anti-climax, and I will miss his emotion, passion and occasional spikiness.
But Klopp’s successor will inherit a good structure with lots of young players who have come through the academy - Michael Bradley, Jarell Quansah, Jayden Danns and Bobby Clark among them - and he has done a remarkable job.
Over the course of almost nine seasons, he has restored Liverpool among the giants of European football.
But there is a reason he has only won the title once at Anfield: It’s because over a 38-game season, the Premier League is harder to win than the Champions League over 13 games.
That’s why only seven clubs - Manchester United, Blackburn, Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City, Leicester and Liverpool - have won it in 32 years. And although the bottom line is harsh, incredibly he has not lifted the trophy any more than Ranieri after Leicester’s fairytale success in 2016.
Don't scrap replays!
I loved picking up my copy of the Daily Mirror to find a campaign to save the magic of the FA Cup by reversing the abolition of replays on the front page.
As a stakeholder in the competition, I stand by my comment that Macclesfield - and 760-odd other clubs who enter the Cup every season - should have had a vote on the matter.
And I’m backing the Mirror’s petition to save FA Cup replays. I was amused by one columnist’s argument that the argument for preserving them was based on “teary nostalgia”… adorned with a photo of Hereford players toasting their famous giant killing of Newcastle in 1972.
DON'T SCRAP REPLAYS! Join our petition to keep the magic of the FA Cup alive!
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2024-04-26T17:13:25Z dg43tfdfdgfd