In the rush to identify the root cause of Liverpool's problems this term, Pep Lijnders has been caught in plenty of friendly fire.
The Reds' assistant manager has, at times, been bizarrely criticised for releasing a book on the eve of the current Premier League campaign by many without any real insight into the inner workings behind the scenes.
"The alarm bells should have been ringing for @LFC fans when the current assistant manager wrote a book while still employed by the club." tweeted 2005 Champions League winner Didi Hamann in early September. "How he was allowed to do it I’m not too sure."
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It was a school of thought Hamann would revisit of Monday's dismal defeat at Brentford: "Well well well" he posted in a quote tweet of his initial hot-take back in September.
It's a viewpoint that is not entirely exclusive to the former midfielder but Hamann is the most high profile figure to have questioned the release of a book that merely attempted to accentuate the feel-good factor of a memorable season rather than give away trade secrets that has subsequently helped opponents.
But given the stuttering that has gone on pretty much all season, it should come as no surprise to see a scattergun approach taken to criticism of those at Anfield. Klopp is perhaps insulated best from such frustration given what he has presided over during his time at the club, but that does not make others immune it would seem, even if the reasons behind a poor campaign to date are myriad and nuanced.
A piece in The Telegraph on Wednesday sought to highlight the growing importance of Lijnders, who is generally viewed as one of the brightest young coaches in Europe, given his achievements already at a relatively young age. The timing of the piece however, coming just two days after a fifth Premier League loss of the season, only served to ramp up the frustrations of those seeking a definitive reason for the significant drop off in virtually all areas.
"When I watch Liverpool now, and certainly in midfield, it feels like Jurgen Klopp's team is morphing into something else," said Jamie Carragher in his role as a Sky Sports pundit on Monday. "The only team it reminds me of is when I played against Arsenal under Arsene Wenger.
"Yes, they were a great football team. But with their actual pace and physicality, teams could not cope with it. Then that team morphed into something really technical and they never won again.
"I don't know if there is an influence from Pep Lijnders, who is Klopp's number two and has a huge say in what goes on as well, maybe a Dutch way of thinking, getting players on the ball, thinking Liverpool need to keep tweaking things because people are used to them."
Lijnders' importance to the cause has not particularly swelled in recent times, the Dutch coach has been a vital sounding board for Klopp for years, particularly since Zeljko Buvac departed suddenly by ending a near two-decade working relationship with the manager in the spring of 2018.
The addition of Cody Gakpo from Lijnders's former club PSV Eindhoven has been viewed as further evidence, but the Dutchman's counsel has been sought by Klopp on all matters for years. For example, it was Lijnders's contacts at Porto that helped gather glowing character references on Diogo Jota, prior to the club sealing a £40m deal in September 2020.
His ability to speak Portuguese has also been vital in helping players like Luis Diaz and Darwin Nunez settle on Merseyside, while he and elite development coach Vitor Matos are understood to relay key messages to both attackers in Portuguese as their English lessons continue.
Lijnders also helped Diaz decide that Liverpool was the destination for him 12 months ago as strong interest from Tottenham also swirled around the Colombian winger. The assistant boss cut short a skiing holiday with his wife, Danielle, to jump on a Zoom call alongside Klopp and sporting director Julian Ward to convince the attacker his future was at Anfield.
For all the theories around Liverpool's underperformance this term, Klopp's enduring faith in Lijnders is certainly not one with foundation.
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