10 reasons why Klopp is the perfect man for Liverpool

Liverpool have confirmed Jurgen Klopp will be their new manager, replacing Brendan Rodgers as Liverpool’s main man, and has signed a three year contract with the Reds. The former Dortmund man will bring his own backroom staff, consisting of assistants Zeljko Buvac and Peter Krawietz to the club.

With the arrival of one of the biggest managers in world football at Liverpool, we look at ten ways in which Klopp could be the perfect man for Liverpool.

10. Statistical Comparison: Rodgers v Klopp

Personal honours

Brendan Rodgers: LMA Manager of the Year 2013/14

Jurgen Klopp: 2x German Football Manager of the Year, FIFA World Coach of the Year runner-up

Favoured formation

Brendan Rodgers: 3-1-4-2

Jurgen Klopp: 4-2-3-1

Career win percentage

Brendan Rodgers: 46.5% won, 22.5% drawn, 31% lost (1.62 points per match)

Jurgen Klopp: 49.5% won, 23.4% drawn, 27.1% lost (1.72 points per match)

Titles won

Brendan Rodgers: Football League Championship play-offs

Jurgen Klopp: 2x Bundesliga, 3x DFL-Supercup, DFB-Pokal, Champions League runner-up

9. Klopp knows how to handle the media easily

Simply put, Klopp is  the box office. There has to be a big personality to succeed at Anfield and be taken in by the Kop and clearly, the 48-year-old delivers from that standpoint. Klopp has great managing ability but his enormous personality has certainly helped him increase his popularity worldwide.

Being an eloquent speaker, he honed his skills for years by working as a television pundit at ZDF. Premier League’s media, which can seem irritatingly snide at times, is difficult to deal with but Klopp effervesces with honesty, good intentions, and passion for the game. Liverpool, where joy has been a rare thing over the last 18 months, looks like a good enough place to start.

His press conferences and post match interviews are always full of entertaining quotes and bags of charisma. Not only for Liverpool, but he is good for the Premier League as a whole.

We would never hear Rodgers saying, “If we should finish second this summer, I’ll find a truck and drive it through my garden. If nobody will rejoice, I’ll do it alone”.

8. Klopp loves counter-attacking football

Klopp admires counter-attacking football and a high pressing game. His Dortmund side of the  2010s were a joy to watch. His style of relentless pressing and quick passing moves helped him get control over the game.  “Gegenpressing” is  Klopp’s footballing philosophy of running nonstop for 90 minutes and closing down opponents so they don’t have any time on the ball. Both goals & pressing have been an issue for Liverpool after Suarez’s departure.

Liverpool’s attacking woes under Klopp can be rectified. Lewandowski, Reus and Aubameyang have all progressed well under his management. He also prefers attacking midfielders over defensive ones, meaning he clearly believes in the fact that attack is the best form of defense.

Dortmund scored 80 goals or more in the Bundesliga three years consecutively and defeated Bayern Munich & Real Madrid during that time too.

7. Klopp is passionate about the clubs he coaches

Klopp gets involved with the players, management, the city and above all, with the fans. He has a knack of being on the touchline, all the while motivating the crowd behind him & the players on the field throughout the game. He is especially known for his jumping-and-punching-the-air celebration, which we will now be seeing frequently in Premier League matches.

The Liverpool job is a high-pressure one and extremely challenging. Many past managers at Liverpool have failed to build a good atmosphere throughout the campaign. However, Klopp seems perfect for the occasion. He will engage with the fans and will quickly adapt to Liverpool’s culture, due to its similarity with the one at Dortmund.

6. Klopp is the right man to sort tactical instability

Liverpool have been struggling with a stable first team squad, be it injuries or inconsistency of players. Klopp, with his better training regimes, could be lethal in sorting out various tactical woes recently faced by Liverpool. Apart from his last season with Dortmund, the team had conceded less than 50 goals under the German’s management. Even in the 13/14 campaign, which was the best season Liverpool had under Rodgers, they were scored against a total of 51 times. Klopp can surely fix the famous trouble seeking Liverpool backline.

Klopp will increase Liverpool’s intensity & pace, which has been a major issue with Liverpool, considering how slow they are while transiting from defence to attack. He is an attack-minded manager and with a quality set of strikers, the Reds can surely think of a top 4 finish. His task will be to find a replacement for Gerrard and find a right striking pair combination.

5. Klopp will sort Liverpool’s transfer woes

Liverpool have the least success ratio when it comes to their transfer record in the last 10-15 years. Apart from attracting a few big names, they have made some huge transfer blunders. Andy Carroll, Stewart Downing, Mario Balotelli, Iago Aspas and many other names have failed to live up to their transfer market price tags.

The departure of players like Xabi Alonso, Mascherano, Gerrard, Suarez, Torres, Sterling and Agger was also a huge disappointment for the fans. Klopp has told the owners that he wants  full control of transfers and wants to have a final say while signing players. He first asked them to scrap the transfer committee, but FSG declined it. However, they gave in later on.

Klopp has proven himself in Europe and will attract players from Dortmund, with the likes of Reus & Hummels coming in. Hence, Liverpool could be seeing some big names at the club in coming years. Klopp loves his players & will develop a bond which will help them settling in and stay at the club for a long time.

4. Klopp keeps things real

For Klopp, honesty is almost a condition and it’s a fearless honesty. He is always instinctive. Klopp has different training methods; he always tries to train his squad away from home in tough conditions.

He never prefers the squad to train on the ground, even for tough away games. He never gets into dirty politics and off-the-pitch cheap publicity. Klopp tries to take every defeat on him, thus saving his players and takes every criticism in a positive way.

3. Klopp is a proven manager in Europe

Klopp, in the last 26 years, has played three roles in total – Mainz player, Mainz manager and Dortmund manager. His greatest achievement at Dortmund was to maintain an illusion of continuity in a team where there was none.

At Dortmund, he took European football by storm and took counter-attacking football, coupled with high pressing, to another level. He got into the spotlight when he managed to promote Mainz into the top flight and into European competition in 2005. Klopp has been praised by every rival manager for the passion he shows during the game.

Klopp keeps on shuffling formations according to his opponent. He has proven himself tactically. Dortmund, even in his last campaign, gave a strong finish and ended up in a European qualification position.

Klopp left Borussia Dortmund at the end of last season following a seven-year spell  in which he won two Bundesliga titles and played in the 2013 Champions League final, only to lose to German rivals Bayern Munich.

His record at Dortmund is as follows –

Team

T-Home Supercup: 200
Bundesliga: 2010–11, 2011–12
DFB-Pokal: 2011–12
DFL-Supercup: 2013, 2014
UEFA Champions League runner–up: 2012–13

Individual

German Football Manager of the Year: 2011, 2012
Second place FIFA World Coach of the Year: 2013

2. Klopp can relate Dortmund’s culture with that of Liverpool

Klopp will  be able to drink in the tradition on Merseyside as he has experienced a similar support by Dortmund fans towards their club. Both clubs share the same anthem “You’ll never walk alone“, so Klopp will find it very nostalgic when the Kop sings it in full swing.

Klopp has previously admitted his desire to manage Liverpool and has praised Liverpool’s fans for their passion. Klopp is a passionate man himself and would love celebrating with fans and players. He is a huge Liverpool fan, and had always wanted to manage the club.

Borussia Dortmund is a club similar to Liverpool. Both financially and competitively in the second rank of European powers, but with a huge name attached to them. Liverpool has a rich history and a bigger fan base which Klopp would definitely fall for. Fans were excited about his arrival even before Rodgers’ sacking – a Liverpool survey showed that almost 3/4th of fans wanted Klopp to Liverpool.

#KloppfortheKop was the banner on Twitter & Facebook, demanding his appointment to Liverpool.

1. Klopp has great man-management skills

Shinji Kagawa, Marco Reus, Sven Bender have praised Klopp for their success. Klopp helps every player settle in, he gets himself engaged with the player’s training routine and has always shown his affection for the squad both on and off the pitch.

According to his former players, Klopp’s dressing room talks are always intriguing. He tackles media well and keeps players away from false media rumours. He never plays a player out of position and tries to build the team accordingly.