Smile is Klopp defence mechanism

THE fact that we live in an age where personality is king is best highlighted by Donald Trump — the world’s most powerful man exemplifies our culture of style over substance.

And it’s something that Jurgen Klopp (left) benefits from at Liverpool too.

The thing I keep coming back to about the German is that he had a bad time in winter last year, but before every game he pressed the magic reset button by standing in front of TV cameras laughing, smiling and looking as if he has just come off the back of a 10-game winning streak.

Everyone has spent the week getting frustrated at the same old failing, but suddenly they see that and they’re thinking, "Oh blimey, everything’s all right. Why am I worried? Everything’s cool. Jurgen’s laughing, smiling, everything’s OK". That is a very powerful tool to sell to fans and just as Everton didn’t sort out their strikering issue in the summer, the smiles and the laughter are papering over the cracks caused by the fact he did not sort out his defence.

I’m not convinced he’s a very good coach when it comes to defending and it looks to me that he is on his way to being a well-liked, popular also-ran.