Upon his arrival in October, Jurgen Klopp undertook the challenging task of injecting his philosophy into a struggling Liverpool.
He had to manage a squad selected and brought together by his predecessor Brendan Rodgers and the club’s transfer committee.
Liverpool was underwhelming during the first few months of the season and the injuries started to become one of Rodgers’ worst nightmares. Having to compete in four competitions, the Liverpool squad seemed incapable of following the Northern Irishman manager’s instructions.
Klopp arrived under a three-year project, aiming to bring Liverpool back to the top of English and European football as soon as possible. Straightaway he inculcated the spirit of ‘gegenpressing’ football into the team and at the beginning Liverpool looked like they gained momentum, as well as their confidence was back on track.
However, the resurgence of the squad’s spirit didn’t last for long. Rodgers’ worst nightmare quickly reappeared, with Liverpool counting more than 40 injuries after Klopp’s debut against Tottenham. With the majority of them occurring due to hamstring problems, questions started arising regarding Klopp’s intensive training sessions, as well as the team’s preseason preparation.
Heading to the winter transfer market, Klopp’s concerns regarding the injuries didn’t result to an aggressive transfer policy. Instead, he decided to use the arrows that he already has in his quiver, calling back a bunch of loanees, to train with either the first or U21s team.
“These are our players. We will speak about this next summer, in my opinion best talents should be at your own club and play together in the U21s as a team,” Klopp said.
In his mind, everyone’s is judged and the verdicts will come up at the end of the season. Given the numerous injuries – Liverpool currently counts 8 injured players -, the German manager was given the chance to challenge some of Liverpool’s assets, like Sheji Ojo, Tiago Ilori, Ryan Kent, Kevin Stewart, Cameron Brannagan, Jerome Sinclair and Pedro Chirivella.
A handful of them came back from loans and other were promoted from the youth, to assist Liverpool’s intensive back-to-back match program. Klopp and his assistants supervise the U21 and first team trainings, forming a cohesive opinion on everyone’s skills and abilities.
And yet, no one seems to be excluded from Klopp’s plans. Even if that means Liverpool are struggling to gain back the team’s consistency. Players who were in doubt regarding their future, seem to win the manager’s trust. Joe Allen fights back the rumours that this is his last season at Anfield, Lucas constantly finds himself in the first eleven – even as a central defender, while Klopp recently declined reports regarding Daniel Sturridge’s exit.
It is less than five months till the opening of the summer transfer market and everyone in Merseyside is looking forward to it. The imminent clearance of the squad, along with the new transfer policy that gives Klopp the last word in potential signings and departures, as well as the increase of TV rights, gives Liverpool the opportunity to build from scratch a new squad – attached to their new manager’s philosophy.
And here comes Klopp’s greatest issue since his acquaintance with English football. During numerous interviews the German criticized English football’s heavy schedule, highlighting the importance of giving a period of rest to the players. No matter how right his statement is, the structure might not change in the near future, which means he has to adapt his philosophy on the English football culture.
With Liverpool seemingly losing the race to the top four, which would give them the opportunity to compete in Champions League next year, the club’s prior target is to find its way into Europa League.
But would a position in Europa League’s intensive race benefit Liverpool?
“As a club, we want to be in there. We really enjoyed the European football this season (in the Europa League) after it had been missing for a year and I know the supporters love the travel.
“But you could argue that a season free of European football would give us a greater chance of finishing in a much higher position in the league.
It would help us compete for the top four, which is a really difficult task with the teams up there and the finances involved.”
Rodgers’ prophetic resolution, months before the beginning of Liverpool’s best Premier League season in years, could likely be an intriguing cue on Klopp’s hands.
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