Klopp’s created a Ferrari at the front..but still has a milk float at the back
JURGEN KLOPP has built the equivalent of a hybrid car in his two years at Liverpool.
The front end is like a Ferrari, with an engine that purrs under the bonnet... and, unfortunately, the back end is like a milk float.
I’m a huge fan of Klopp’s passion, his charisma, and I believe he will get it right. I believe he will bring the glory days back to Anfield.
But I’m surprised he let the transfer window close without solving Liverpool’s chronic weakness at the back.
Once it became clear he was not going to prise Virgil van Dijk away from Southampton, was there not a Plan B to bring in an alternative centre-back?
There are people out there who think Liverpool aren’t a big club any more, because they haven’t won the title since 1990.
Oh, really? So were Manchester United not a big club when they went 26 years without winning the league between 1967 and 1993? Pull the other one.
And the first call on 606 last weekend was a Liverpool fan calling for Klopp to go. How depressing. You don’t win backto-back Bundesliga titles ahead of Bayern Munich, or reach a Champions League final, if you can’t put a football team together.
But when Klopp reaches his second anniversary as Liverpool manager next month, there should be clear evidence he is taking the club in the right direction – back towards the top.
After 72 Premier League games in charge, he has taken 131 points, where his predecessor Brendan Rodgers had won 138, but that doesn’t tell the whole story.
Klopp (right) has had the unenviable task of rebuilding Liverpool after 15 years where Steven Gerrard had been the team’s heartbeat.
So far, he has made them the most exciting side in the country going forward, and it wouldn’t surprise me if they were the Premier League’s top scorers this season.
I could happily sit and watch Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah’s movement and interchange all day long. And the return of Philippe Coutinho is a huge bonus. But what is going on at the back, where they have to be more disciplined, ruthless and consistent? There is too much chopping and changing at centre-back, with Dejan Lovren partnering Joel Matip one week and Ragnar Klavan the next. There is too much chopping and changing with the keeper, with Simon Mignolet in goal one week and Loris Karius the next. And I am not convinced that Jordan Henderson and Emre Can provide the best ‘screen’ for their centrebacks as a pair of holding midfielders. Look at the best teams from the last 20 years, and that central defensive block was always settled. At Manchester United, there was Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic, with Edwin van der Sar behind them, and Paul Scholes and Michael Carrick holding the fort in midfield.
In Arsenal’s heyday, the personnel were Tony Adams, Martin Keown, David Seaman, Patrick Vieira and Emmanuel Petit.
And two seasons ago, Leicester showed what you can achieve with consistency. As a unit, Wes Morgan, Robert Huth, Kasper Schmeichel, N’Golo Kante and Danny Drinkwater were organised, spirited and outstanding.
Liverpool don’t have a ‘block’ anywhere near as settled, or as good, as those I’ve listed above.
I don’t understand why Klopp didn’t go for Michael Keane when it became clear Saints weren’t going to play ball over Van Dijk.
The way in which Liverpool crumbled defensively at the Etihad was alarming.
For heaven’s sake, stick with Klopp but, while he searches for the right formula at the back, it looks like more of the same this season: nice roof, shame about the foundations.
Aspiring champions don’t just have a Ferrari engine under the bonnet – they have to be as reliable as a Mercedes.