The two-time Bundesliga winning coach celebrates his first year in charge of the Reds on Saturday having overseen a huge upswing in fortunes for the Merseyside outfit
A Premier League season is 38 games long. Jurgen Klopp has been manager of Liverpool for 37 so far. If you were to look at his first calendar year in charge as a league season then Liverpool would be fifth heading into the final round of matches. They would be two points behind Manchester City – with 64 points to City’s 66; two ahead of Manchester United in sixth. They would, then, be in with a reasonable shout for Champions League football. It’s an accurate measurement.
How Klopp made Liverpool so exciting
October 8 marks Klopp’s one-year Liverpool anniversary and - while not perfect – the Reds are visibly better. There has been a landmark result once every few weeks for Klopp; evidence and encouragement that his training ground and transfer market approaches are paying dividends. Arsenal, Leicester City and Chelsea have already been blitzed this season alone. Last season big wins were registered against Jose Mourinho’s version of Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United.
There have been other high points like the remarkable Europa League comeback win at Anfield over Borussia Dortmund, the 4-0 derby drubbing of Everton and huge victories against Southampton and Aston Villa. Liverpool finished eighth last season as a result of their inability to put together consistent runs of form. When they were good though, they were very good.And so the case remains. They are currently fourth – the Premier League's top scorers since Klopp took over – and he has totally reinvigorated a club which had lost its momentum. They lead the league across a number of disciplines under Klopp – goals aside. Highest average possession rate, most tackles, most sprints. They are very close to the top in a few more; only Tottenham and Bournemouth have covered more ground, only Tottenham have faced fewer shots, only Arsenal and Manchester City have hit more passes.
There is a clear pattern emerging to Klopp’s play after the incoherence which came at the end of Brendan Rodgers’s tenure.
'Liverpool can challenge for the title'
The Northern Irishman was the very definition of boom and bust; he led Liverpool supporters to the edge of hysteria, coming as close as he did to a title win in 2014. The only way was down with Luis Suarez, Steven Gerrard and Raheem Sterling among the key players to leave. Rodgers was in a tail spin just 18 months on from his tantalising close miss. Klopp has helped restore the club through a mix of his magnetic personality, his high-class pedigree as a two-time Bundesliga winner and the on-field improvements.
The Premier League devours coaches. Teams are looking more for a man to blame after three bad results than for someone to build a dynasty. Credit to Liverpool. With their six-year contract for Klopp and by placing him in control of the club’s transfer strategy, they have signalled that the £7m-per-season coach is in for the long haul.
