“In the end, everything will be fine. If it wasn’t going to be okay, I wouldn’t be leaving.” The words of Jurgen Klopp after his youthful Liverpool side had somehow beaten Chelsea’s expensively assembled squad to lift the first piece of silverware in the Carabao Cup final in February.
It was a time when Liverpool fans and players were dreaming of giving their manager the perfect send off with an unprecedented quadruple. One down, three to go.
Klopp joked of how he told the players it was their fault for being so good that he felt the time was now right to leave; to leave on his terms and before it turns sour.
Unfortunately, with exactly a month left of Klopp’s tenure as Liverpool manager, it appears that his departure will be a lot less sweet than anyone anticipated up until very recently.
The wheels have completely fallen off, undermined by a lack of ruthlessness in front of goal, the legs look tired, the minds look anxious, and the pressure of wanting to ‘win it all for Jurgen’ appears to have become far too much to handle.
Speaking after the surprise home defeat to Crystal Palace, Klopp admitted that the response to the two games at Old Trafford had a psychological impact. “We lost the game in the cup and it was like a catastrophe because we were that good and lost it anyway,” he said.
Indeed, Liverpool’s dominance in that FA Cup tie in particular didn’t translate into victory and it’s carried over from there since, suffering defeat to Atalanta and Palace, and a damaging draw away to Man United in the league.
Liverpool have looked anxious, realising first that the opportunity for the perfect ‘last dance’ was gone, and then becoming frustrated that they cannot take the ridiculous number of chances they’re missing in games. In the last four games, they’ve had 78 shots, missed 14 big chances, and scored just one goal from open play - albeit that being a corner. It’s an absolutely staggering state of play.
Only two of those 78 shots, though, came in the second half against Atalanta, as Klopp’s side ran out of ideas, patience or tactical ability to get the three goals they needed.
A tired manager and a tired squad
It’s often, rightly, said that a team is a representation of its manager. Liverpool’s last eight years under Klopp have been exactly what he is; emotional, passionate, exciting.
But the manager warned that he was tired and that’s why he cannot continue. “It’s not that I want to leave it’s more that I have to,” he stressed early in February. “I don’t want to be a passenger. The job is too important, the club is too important, and that’s why I decided.”
If Klopp’s tired, then so too is his squad. He has spoken of how emotion and energy is what he needs to succeed as a manager and that works both ways.
The squad looks tired, perhaps due to the intensity of Klopp’s playing and training methods and their resultant impact on fitness and injuries. It will be interesting to see if Liverpool under a new manager have fewer injury crises than has occurred almost every winter under Klopp.
Klopp’s brand of football is also more chaotic, demanding a counter-press as the first rule. But once that counter-press fails, we’ve seen how badly things go wrong; last season being the ultimate example of such. It’s a demanding brand of football, with high risk and reward. Will a new manager with a more controlled style of play reap the rewards?
Klopp’s tenure will likely end with it being four years since Liverpool won the Premier League and five years since they lifted the Champions League. Three domestic cups since then are nice, but not really what will be remembered.
Indeed, there’s even an argument that domestic cups have actually hindered Liverpool in winning the bigger trophies. How might this season have looked had Trent Alexander-Arnold not picked up a serious knee injury in an FA Cup tie, that saw him miss 16 games? What about the impact of a two-leg League Cup semi final and subsequent final with extra time? Great in the moment, but longer term the fitness catches up with players when the big trophies actually being won.
Klopp and his assistant, Pepijn Lijnders, spoke of the ‘winning culture’ that League Cup success creates early in the season, but that’s not exactly proven the case this season has it? And while nobody is suggesting to completely bin off cup competitions, perhaps the approach to them in general is naive. There’s a reason no team has ever won a quadruple.
These are all things for the new manager and new coaching staff to consider, especially when likely adopting to the English football calendar for the first time.
“The future for this football club is bright,” Klopp has insisted. “Over the years we did it properly. They will be fine, 100 per cent. Otherwise, I wouldn’t leave.”
When Klopp announced his decision to leave, supporters wishfully pondered if he might change his mind, but there’s an increasing feeling that the timing is now right for both parties.
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