Is Jurgen Klopp the man to bring Liverpool their first Premier League title?

26 October 2016 09:28

Since the German took over the Anfield club no side has scored more goals than Liverpool's 75. Man City have scored 73 and North London rivals Spurs and Arsenal have netted 71. He has brought an attacking flair to the Reds which creates an atmosphere that they will score any second. Liverpool last won the English title in 1989-90 season under the management of Kop idol Kenny Dalglish, who delivered the double in 1985-86. They have still had memorable seasons over the years despite not winning the league.

Rafa Benitez delivered the clubs fifth Champions League title in 2005 with victory over Italian giants AC Milan. The Spaniard took Liverpool close to the league title in the 2008–09 season when they achieved 86 points, its highest Premier League points total, and finished as runners up to Alex Ferguson's Manchester United.

Frenchman Gerard Houllier won the treble on FA cup, League cup and UEFA cup in a memorable season in 2000-01. Yet they finished 11 points behind Champions Manchester United in the league. however, a young Michael Owen picked up the Ballon d'Or that year to finish an impressive season for the Reds.

Brendan Rogers took Liverpool closest to winning the title than any other manager since Kenny Dalglish scoring 101 goals in the process with a forward line consisting of Luis Suarez, Sturridge and Sterling. In April 2014 Liverpool were five points clear at the top of the table with three games to go, but the famous slip by legend Steven Gerrard gifted Demba Ba a goal for Chelsea and the Reds title dream crumbled. Liverpool had put together 11 straight league wins from February to April but finished the season 2 points behind eventual champions Manchester City.

But under Jurgen Klopp there is a confidence, a belief the team can beat anyone, playing a style that wear teams down with attack after attack. They play a pressing game to win the ball back and then go directly towards the goal and look to score. klopp perfected this style with his former club Borussia Dortmund.

Dortmund had endured their worst Bundesliga season in 20 years when Klopp arrived from Mainz in 2008. Klopp took the club on a new journey with his charisma and his personality and by 2011 they were champions of Germany, retaining the title the following year and adding the German cup to make it a double. In 2013 they were runner's up to Bayern Munich in the Champions league final, losing 2-1 at Wembley.

The same magic seems to be working at Anfield with the club joint top after 9 games with mega bucks Manchester City and Arsenal. So far their league winning credentials are looking good, they have won away at Chelsea 2-1 and at Arsenal 4-3 as well as a hard fought 1-1 draw away against Spurs, who are still unbeaten in the league, and who they beat tonight 2-1 in the League cup to reach the quarter-finals and extend their own unbeaten run to 10 matches.

And yet Klopp says his side are not yet 100%. Sure there are some defensive frailties, especially at set pieces, which need sorting out but they have the hunger to win every and the player fitness levels appear to have doubled under him. They certainly look like they do a lot more running than Brendan Roger's side did with its passing game tactics. However, Klopp says he can only see his free flowing team getting better as the season progresses.

Despite his successes there are those that knock Klopp and his style of running a club. Dutch fitness guru Raymond Verheijen claims that Klopp is squeezing his players like lemons. Playing the high tempo style like he did a Dortmund pushes the players too much and causes collateral damage in the form of injuries. He noted that after the success of 2012 and 2013 Dortmund's injury record was unbelievable due to the players being squeezed so much and the club was almost relegated. Verheijen believes the Reds may be able to keep the high tempo up for a couple of years and may be even win some trophies but ultimately squeezing the players like lemons will end with injuries and the players and the team will break down.

The high tempo pressing game is an approach that puts considerable strain on players and at smaller clubs with not such a big squad this would be suicidal, but with a bit of rotation added with money to bring in new blood and players like Sturridge on the bench at present, it seems Liverpool may just be able to cope with this strain and are surely one of the contenders for the long awaited Premier league trophy.

Source: DSG