Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has enjoyed a mixed time on Merseyside so far
Liverpool exited the FA Cup at the fourth round stage against West Ham on Tuesday night, conceding a goal in added-on time in extra-time to lose 2-1.
The defeat was hard to take for the side from Merseyside, as they produced a decent display and arguably had the better chances in the game, obviously without taking them.
Klopp named an experimental line-up you could call it, with Brazilian defensive midfielder Lucas Leiva playing at centre-back and a number of youngsters also started the game at the Boleyn Ground.
Unfortunately it was not good enough to progress, as Angelo Ogbonna’s header was enough to see West Ham through and see Klopp’s men head out of the cup.
Mixed results since Klopp’s arrival
I am a big fan of Klopp from his time with Dortmund. He is the kind of good nutter that the Premier League needs. Full of character and great quotes, but I think the English game has rather taken him by surprise.
He was always known as a very well organised boss in Germany, somebody who liked to look at every detail of his team’s performance with his trusted backroom staff.
Liverpool’s displays under Klopp so far do not suggest that the Reds are run by a well organised managerial team. In fact the team are arguably not performing any better now than they were under the much maligned Brendan Rodgers.
It is too early to question Klopp’s managerial ability, and I would not as a self-proclaimed diehard fan of Klopp, but something is not working at Liverpool at the moment.
Klopp does not trust his senior players
Liverpool’s players had been under-performing long before Klopp’s arrival at Anfield and are one of the reasons that Rodgers was given the sack. The Northern Irishman was heavily criticised at Liverpool, but he was let down by some highly-rated, yet over-valued players on Merseyside.
It seems that Klopp does not trust some of those players to get the job done, hence the inclusion of so many inexperienced players against West Ham. The German decided to use those youngsters instead of his senior players, in a relatively important game.
The youngsters did not let him down producing decent performances, but it shows that Klopp is not so sure about his senior players. No doubt Klopp is making decisions about the players in his senior squad and is looking to get rid of some of those senior players in the summer.
Klopp will no doubt want to build a team with his own players and not the over-paid and over-rated players brought in by Rodgers. Whether the German is backed in the transfer market in the summer by the Reds owners is unknown.
Liverpool’s team needs a revamp and Klopp is good at getting value for money in the transfer market. He was the one who built a very capable team at Dortmund with a very small budget and in the process woke a sleeping giant.
If Dortmund was a sleeping giant, then Liverpool has been in a coma for the last 20-odd years in the Premier League, because of bad decisions from top to bottom at the club.
Klopp needs time to get things right at Anfield
Jurgen Klopp was never going to be able to turn things around in a few months, despite bold predictions from some rather optimistic fans and pundits that the Reds would finish in the top four this season under the German, which they are now odds of 20/1 to achieve.
Liverpool have been ridiculously inconsistent since Klopp’s appointment and it is clear to see that some of the players have already bought into the German’s ideas and philosophy, but some will never fit in at Klopp’s Liverpool.
The Reds fans seem to like and appreciate Jurgen Klopp, which they should do as he is still a highly-rated boss. I get the feeling that he will get some time from the Anfield faithful to get it right on Merseyside.
The fans may give him their backing, but will the Reds American owners FSG back the German in the same vein as the supporters?
Ironically whether Klopp fails or succeeds will be determined by how well the clubs owners back him this summer as he attempts to bring in the players to fit into his chosen style and formation.
If the Liverpool owners do not back him this summer and let him bring in his players, then the Reds may just slip into another 20 year Premier League coma from which they may never recover.
Will Jurgen Klopp get the support he needs at Anfield to be successful?
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