It is a year since Juergen Klopp breezed into English soccer as the new manager of Liverpool and the bespectacled, fun-loving German has established himself as the most charismatic coach in the Premier League.
He is proving to be the shrewdest, too.
In a summer transfer window of record spending by English top-flight clubs that topped ￡1 billion (US$1.2 billion) for the first time, Liverpool returned a profit — reportedly between ￡10 million and ￡15 million pounds — as Klopp juggled his squad with mostly lower-profile recruits.
Photo: Reuters
Fears that Liverpool would be left behind by their big-spending rivals have proved unfounded: The strategy has worked out just fine.
Klopp’s team have had the toughest schedule of anyone in the league after seven games, but were fourth in the standings, two points off first-place Manchester City, going into this weekend’s games. The Reds have taken a total of seven points from away games against Arsenal, Tottenham and Chelsea, thrashed champions Leicester City 4-1 and are the joint leading scorers with 18 goals.
That start to the season compares favorably to that of Manchester United, who visit Anfield tomorrow for what traditionally is the biggest game on the English calendar between the two most decorated teams in the country.
United had the second-biggest net spend (an estimated US$170 million) of any English club in the transfer window under new coach Jose Mourinho, taking a Galactico-style approach to signings by bringing in Paul Pogba for a world-record fee and superstar striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
United were three points behind Liverpool in seventh place, despite having had easier-looking fixtures.
Klopp spoke on Friday of the “world-class players” who Mourinho has brought in, but without a sense of jealousy.
Quite simply, he is happy with what he has got.
“It’s not a competition. It’s not that you win the league before the season,” Klopp said at Liverpool’s Melwood training ground. “You have a team without spending money and you have a team with spending a lot of money. Everybody has their own possibilities, their own ideas.”
“We did what we did because we thought it’s the right thing, for us,” he said.
Tomorrow marks a year since Klopp took charge of his first Liverpool match — a 0-0 draw against Tottenham Hotspur — and he has quickly stamped his mark on the team.
Liverpool have a defined style of play, the high-energy counterpressing game long favored by Klopp and carried over from his time in Germany.
He spoke effusively of the performance of his “wild boys” after Liverpool beat Hull City 5-1 in their previous match at Anfield, led by the energetic and nimble forward trio of Roberto Firmino, Philippe Coutinho and Sadio Mane.
It is in this regard that Liverpool are way ahead of United, who are still searching for an identity in the early months of Mourinho’s reign.
Chelsea demolished the team that succeeded them as Premier League winners when champions Leicester succumbed tamely 3-0 at Stamford Bridge yesterday.
Goals from the Premier League’s leading marksman, Diego Costa, as well as Eden Hazard and Victor Moses ensured Leicester boss Claudio Ranieri’s visit to his old club was a far cry from five months ago when the Foxes received a guard of honour for their title triumph.
Additional reporting by Reuters
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