Klopp is matching Rodgers – but the real test starts now
Liverpool manager needs the long-term success that eluded his predecessor, writes Chris Bascombe
Jürgen Klopp reached a notable milestone when Liverpool defeated Arsenal a week ago, winning his 100th Premier League point since becoming manager. He achieved the feat quicker than illustrious predecessors Rafael Benítez, Gérard Houllier, Kenny Dalglish (second time around) and Roy Evans. Most eye-catchingly, he matched the legendary Joe Fagan by hitting that total in just 57 games.
Despite this, the most circulated statistic chronicling the start of Klopp’s reign has sought to compare him with the man from whom he took over, Brendan Rodgers. Their records during their rebuilding processes are startlingly similar.
Klopp has won 28, drawn 16 and lost 13 of his 57 games. In the same period, Rodgers won 27, drew 16 and lost 14.
Klopp’s side have scored 113 Premier League goals; Rodgers’s managed 115. Neither could claim a stubborn defence reinforced exciting football, Klopp conceding 74 to Rodgers’s 66. Extend the comparison to all competitions and there is still little to separate them. Klopp has managed Liverpool in 88 games, winning 43. Rodgers won 47 in that time. For those following this trail, Celtic’s current manager is likely to stay ahead for a while as it was at this point in his reign he oversaw the charge that almost ended the title famine at Anfield. What is more curious than the statistical resemblances is the manner in which the likeness is applied, as if to diminish one or both. Essentially, they demonstrate excellent early work from two exceptional coaches. Check out the figures for Benítez and Houllier and they were pretty much the same, the Spanish coach winning 29 of his first 57 league games in charge, Houllier 28, with both suffering more defeats. These were encouraging returns during a period of transition. Klopp will gladly replicate their cup treble or Champions League victory if it is on offer. Yet, beyond these figures, it is dangerous to offer a meaningful comparison of the work Rodgers did in 2012 and what Klopp has done in the past 18 months.
The circumstances for any appointment are different, so too are the standards of personnel they inherited, and no doubt Rodgers would also argue that the club’s structure has been significantly tweaked since his departure in October 2015.
Rodgers often looked wistfully at what had gone before and wondered how his side could have played with Jamie Carragher in his prime, or Xabi Alonso and Javier Mascherano in midfield.
Klopp is entitled to look at the squad he was left with and consider how much he would have benefited from Luis Suárez, Steven Gerrard, the emerging Raheem Sterling and a more regularly fit Daniel Sturridge.
For Rodgers, there was the Suárez era and the post-Suárez era. In Rodgers’s 46 league games after the striker’s sale to Barcelona, Liverpool won 21 and lost 14, scoring just 60 goals.
What Klopp has achieved with broadly the same group of players is a fairer point of reference. Victory over Burnley today would give Klopp’s side 55 points from 28 games. Last year they won 60, the year before 62, from 38 matches.
In the 27 years since Liverpool last won the title, they have managed to collect 70 points on just eight occasions, only three of which were in the past 10 years. Even that might not be enough to guarantee a top-four finish this season, but it is a more tangible demonstration of improvement.
In the midst of the fury after every dissatisfying defeat, there are times when we must remind ourselves that Liverpool are being judged to a standard rarely met since 1990.
To date, Klopp has spent an estimated £62million and recouped £70million in transfers, frugal when compared to the £290million (£200 million recouped) during Rodgers’s reign.
And although the inconsistency of results is another obvious similarity – not just between Klopp and Rodgers but every Liverpool manager for three decades – Klopp’s performances against higher calibre opponents are more encouraging. In his 32 league fixtures against the annual top-four contenders – Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham – Rodgers claimed 10 wins but lost 14. Klopp has played against those so-called ‘elite’ clubs 17 times so far, losing only once. He is still waiting for his first Premier League win over Manchester United, but he did defeat them in last season’s Europa League. When Rodgers arrived at Liverpool, he took the core of the team who had endured the worst run of home form since the club’s relegation in 1954, despite making two domestic cup finals, and made spectacular progress, nearly winning the title 18 months later. Klopp inherited a club who were still depressed by that narrow Premier League failure and immediately led them to two cup finals, nearly winning a Europa League trophy. Comparing Klopp’s start to that of a manager who was two points from the title in his second season is more complimentary than demeaning. But longer term, Liverpool must hope these parallels run their course as the German coach seeks to maintain the upward curve that eluded the man he replaced.