CHERRIES LOOKING RIPE
A COUPLE of years ago, you would have thought the ghost of Steven Gerrard would be a danger to any Liverpool manager.
But, among the miracles Jurgen Klopp is currently performing at Anfield, perhaps t he most impressive is that Kop icon Gerrard is absolutely no threat to him at all.
Back from his career swansong at LA Galaxy, the returning Gerrard ( below) may have scared the tracksuit pants off most of the recent Reds managers. Not Klopp, though. For the German uber-boss has Liverpool fans eating out of his hand and lapping up the football that has whisked his side into title contention.
Spectre
So impressive, assured and confident is the Klopp masterplan that no one at Anfield has given Gerrard’s return to Merseyside a second thought.
If there is any role on offer at Liverpool in the new year, it is likely to be at the club’s academy as a youth coach rather than sitting close to Klopp and his assistants on the first-team bench. Since flying back from America, Gerrard has already been sitting in the directors’ box at Anfield, watching Klopp’s stars.
It has not been a spectre that has been haunting Klopp in the same way Kenny Dalglish’s presence at games was viewed as bad news for Roy Hodgson during his ill-fated reign.
Nor is it provoking the kind of debate that was often triggered when Manchester United stumbled under Louis van Gaal while club hero Ryan Giggs sat alongside him.
But Klopp has so much charisma and gravitas, Liverpool fans only have eyes for him. And no wonder.
New Premier League bosses Antonio Conte and Pep Guardiola might currently sit above Klopp in the table – but no Reds fan would swap their Jurgen.
Not after the way he has bonded with them. Not after the way he celebrates victories with such gusto. And not after turning Liverpool into a team who excite with goals galore.
The first half of the season has more than gone to plan for Klopp, who almost made a spectacular mark last season reaching the Europa League and League Cup IT was the stand-out statistic going into last weekend’s games – that Bournemouth played a south-coast derby against Southampton for the right to occupy seventh spot.
Yes, that’s right. The Cherries could have been in that position at Christmas.
A staggering thought. Sadly for boss Eddie Howe (right), the Saints went marching in and trampled all finals. They lost both – to Sevilla and Manchester City – but the way they hit the ground running in August, with a 4-3 opening game league victory at Arsenal, was a sign of things to come.
Klopp has found a way of playing without an out- and- out centreforward and the interchangeable skills of Sadio Mane, Philippe Coutinho, Adam Lallana, Roberto Firmino, Daniel Sturridge and Divock Origi have come up trumps.
Liverpool have scored more goals than any Premier League team this term. And Klopp’s biggest problem might lie off the pitch.
Anyone who remembers the hysteria that gripped Anfield in 2014 will know keeping the lid on expectations is going to test every strand of his management skills.
The German is adamant that anything which cannot influence his side winning games is of no interest to him.
But if Liverpool are in with a shout at Easter, even Klopp’s pragmatism will be stretched to the limit by fans desperate to end 27 years of title hurt. over those hopes. The fact remains that it is just 18 months since this club celebrated its elevation into the big-money league. And the upwards momentum that was gathering pace 12 months ago shows little sign of letting up. Howe has assembled a team that is mobile and industrious in midfield. Up front, they are pacy through the middle and down the flanks. The arrival of Jack Wilshere on loan may not have added much to the general athleticism of the Cherries’ squad. But the Arsenal man possesses other, rarer, qualities. Bournemouth’s AN away-day ticket that guarantees wherever you travel, you end up a winner – or at least achieve a draw biggest problem will be maintaining their position.
So far this term, there have been obvious highlights.
The six-goal hammering of Hull City was one. But the remarkable turnaround against Liverpool was the stand-out moment.
Just one away win means Howe’s men have to perform on their own turf – but surely they will improve on last term’s 16th place.