The reality is that not winning anything for what will be 7 years by the end of this year removes Klopp from any discussion of elite managers.
And you’d also do well to remember that in the 7 seasons since he last won a trophy his league placings read like this:
2nd
2nd
7th
8th
4th
4th 2nd (at present)
And his National Cup record (FA and German Cup) record reads:
R16
RU
RU
4R
4R
4R
3R
I have no doubt Klopp has done a fantastic job at moving Liverpool forward but the reality is it’s difficult to truly consider a man an elite manager when he’s unfortunately got nothing to show for it in what is edging ever closer to an entire decade. Especially when those quick to proclaim Mourinho is finished would do well to remember he’s been considerably more successful over the last 7 years in that he’s got a domestic title, a domestic trophy and a European trophy to show for work.
Would you take Jose over Klopp at Arsenal given the choice ? I only asking as you’ve worded that narrative like you think in recent times it’s a close run thing or Jose is superior.
This is discounting that Klopp is a manager of a regular club not funded by oil owners.
Regularly winning trophies is a luxury for managers of clubs with unlimited resources. No regular club out there wins trophies in consistent manner, let alone a single manager.
Pochettino, Diego Someone, Klopp have all proven that they are elite managers who can get the best out of their limited resources, but the football on a whole sadly remains money inclined, which is also a factor as to why many don’t rate Mourinho anymore.
If he’d joined Bayern he would have gotten 1 or 2 by now. But what job is more impressive? Taking the challenge at Liverpool and to these current heights or 2 League titles with Bayern?
Absolutely not. I’d take Klopp and I’m happy to admit I’ve been wrong on Klopp over the last couple of seasons. I just think it’s slightly too much to call a manager without a trophy in 7 years elite just because he’s managed to transform a team into a team capable of challenging for the title.
Reason I will because under normal circumstances ( not competing with the best team in English football history) he’d have transformed Liverpool from bang average to walking the title comfortably in under 4 years.
Also they’ve made a CL final and SF in the last couple seasons. So whilst he might not have trophies to show for it, he’s transformed Liverpool from not being a top 5 team in England to a legit top 5 team in the world in under 4 years.
I regard that as elite, but I agree some silverware would be nice for him.
If you picked out Poch why didn’t you pick out Klopp as well? Poch is thriving with minimal spend, there’s a reason the guy is linked with Barca, Madrid and Man Utd.
In regards to the original question, the answer lies with what happens with the management. The club culture starts at the top. Kroenke has put new people in place so we will see what kind of atmosphere they bring to the club. If they make the right moves and can change the culture into a winning mentality, we could be back in a couple seasons. City and Lolpool aren’t gonna have seasons like this again. I’m not concerned about our rivals. I’m more concerned about how the new management solves the issues we have as a club.
Sadly I think by the time the club has put together a half decent team the key parts of the current team will be either too old or not good enough anymore. This could easily become a longer cycle of having a few good players but not enough of them, equally to what kept happening the last 10 or so years.
Not sure Poch is quite at that level just yet, but he deserves consideration… to me, Klopp has now proven his mettle, along with Simeone (obviously), who I wanted for AFC.
Its too bad we didn’t jettison big Weng earlier and get Klopp or Pep - could have happened.
I think you’ll find out this summer how soon Arsenal can challenge again. If Arsenal fails to win the Europa league, will Stan/the Board invest in some proven talent to get back into the CL? Or, is new investment depending upon player sale proceeds (ouch)?
If the club line of “sustaining model” is trotted out, then the club won’t be challenging any time soon. If this is the route that they are going to go forward with, I’d really like to see the club signing more younger players instead of old stop gaps (which isn’t working).
Going to go puke now as I think about the 70 million (!) wasted on Xhaka and Mustafi.
This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. We need to get rid of a ton of players. The question is do we have a competent talent evaluator to buy us the right players.
