Liverpool are in search of a new manager after the club axed Brendan Rodgers this week and there’s a very impressive German that is stuck right in the middle of speculation: Jurgen Klopp.
Klopp is a charismatic guy that has studied the game for many years as a footballer and now on a managerial level, recently experiencing tremendous success with Borussia Dortmund.
For those that haven’t really followed Klopp’s career, he is admittedly a huge fan of offensive, effective and exciting football. This style of play allowed the ‘mad hat’ German to lead Borussia Dortmund to the Champions League final and (more impressively) capture back-to-back Bundesliga titles – a mean feat considering the overwhelming financial power of Bayern Munich.
But how did he overcome the odds?
Jurgen Klopp, along with his staff at Dortmund, scoured Europe for the best young talents. He gave the likes of Mats Hummels, Robert Lewandowski, Ilkay Gundogan, Marco Reus and Mario Gotze a chance to make a name for themselves – three of which now boast a World Cup winner’s medal. Impressive stuff.
During his time at Dortmund, Klopp was named the German Football Manager of the Year in 2011 – an early sign that his play-style was going to be pretty effective. Klopp later won the DFB Pokal in 2012 – a trophy that is widely considered as the second-most prestigious in Germany.
His reign came to an end just as last season’s Bundesliga campaign drew to a close, after finishing seventh in the league table, with the suggestion that England might well be his next destination. And now, Liverpool have to seize the moment.
The Reds are in a similar predicament to that of Dortmund when Klopp first took over, arguably a sleeping giant in world football. As former defender Jamie Carragher so rightly said this week, Liverpool are becoming a club that the bigger sides in England aren’t too worried about, much like Tottenham.
Speaking on Sky Sports, Carragher also touched upon some of the decisions that the club have made in recent years, in terms of recruitment. During Rodgers’ tenure, fans became accustomed to big spending, but not many players were coming into the club as a finished article. This isn’t a bad structure – the plan to build stars – but many fans would like to see at least some bang for their buck, so to speak.
Liverpool need a manager that can take them back to the football of 2013, the season where they were so marginally denied their first title win since 1990 – and Klopp has the class to do it.
The 48-year-old is a tremendous motivator that – as he proved at Borussia Dortmund – has the capability to galvanise supporters into believing in his philosophy, to grow and build an effective, young squad.
Klopp has prestige, Klopp has quality, and more importantly – Klopp has the heart.
Emotion is something that Klopp will be able to thrive on at Anfield, an atmosphere that is very similar to that of Dortmund’s. Fans seem to really enjoy a manager that shows emotion nowadays, something that never came around all that often under Rafa Benitez’s reign, but Klopp will certainly impress in that respect. He is well known for his touchline antics, wild celebrations and his charismatic interview techniques, something that will really capture the imagination of supporters.
Jurgen Klopp’s tactical nouse is another impressive factor to his game. The Stuttgart-born manager has enjoyed some huge wins in his career but none will have matched the scenes of a 4-1 victory over Real Madrid, just one example of his integrity on the big stage – something that will really bode well for him at Liverpool.
There seems to be a really good vibe around Klopp’s potential arrival at the moment, and justifiably so. He has the potential not only to recover the current poor form but has the dedication, skill set and the right philosophy to take Liverpool to the next level.
Liverpool need the Klopp Factor.
