LIVERPOOL’S MIGHT MACHINE JURGEN KLOPP’S

LIVERPOOL JURGEN KLOPP’S MACHINE

BY HAPPY MASANGO

After a long 30-year wait, Liverpool are once again England’s dominant team. The champions of Europe became the English Premier League champions with a whole 7 games to go! Guided to the summit by their gregarious German manager, Jurgen Klopp, Anfield was turned back into the fortress it once was. We take a look at the makings of Liverpool’s 2019/20 history makers.

“I don’t want to describe myself. Does anyone in this room think I can do wonders. No? I’m a very normal guy, I came from the Black Forest and my mother may be sitting in front of the TV, watching this press conference and has said no word until now. But she is very proud. So I’m the totally normal guy. I’m the normal one, maybe, if you want this,” beamed Jurgen Klopp, in his first press conference as manager of Liverpool FC in October 2015.

When Jurgen Klopp arrived at Liverpool, he took over a team in midtable which had won one of their previous nine matches. A team which had scored just 11 goals in their previous 11 games, while the scars of almost winning the title in 2014 had gone unhealed and key members of that promising yet heartbreaking team, were gone. Club pillar Steven Gerrard had moved to Los Angeles while star player Luis

KLOPP HAD INSTILLED SUCH BELIEF IN HIS SQUAD THAT THEY COULD OVERCOME ANY OBSTACLE

Suarez moved on to Barcelona. However, the charismatic German’s arrival promised change and brought about a new sense of hope at Anfield.

Unpacking Klopp’s Red Machine

While it’s no surprise that Klopp inherited a team far from capable of challenging the league’s best, making key signings were pivotal in turning the tide at Anfield.

Klopp bought 23 players before landing the title for approximately £424,000,000. While many failed to live up to expectations, we take a look at the top 5 defining signings that Klopp made:

5 - Andy Robertson

Despite making a slow start to his Liverpool career, initially being kept out of the starting lineup

by Alberto Moreno, the Scottish modern-day wing-back proved patience is a virtue.

The acquisition of the 26-yearold, and his subsequent development is a perfect example of Klopp’s incredible management abilities. Robertson has been absolutely incredible for Liverpool along with fellow wing-back Trent Alexander-Arnold. The pair have become arguably two of the highest rated wing-backs in world football.

4 - Sadio Mane

The Senegalese wizard is now without doubt, a household name and easily one of the best African players in the world. Ranking Mane’s impact at Liverpool is a weird one: he could easily be seen as Liverpool’s best player this

season, but I’ve chosen to base Liverpool’s success on fixing up their defensive frailties.

Proving that nice guys don’t always come last, Sadio Mane has been nothing short of sensational since his arrival in 2016. His £34million arrival will undoubtedly go down as one of the biggest bargains in Premier League history.

3 - Mohamed Salah

Much like Mane, Salah could easily be viewed as the defining signing in Klopp’s era. Goals, goals and more goals! The Egyptian king has brought the Premier League to a standstill winning back-to-back golden boot titles in 2017/18 and 2018/19.

After being ousted by Chelsea during his first Premier League

stint, Salah’s debut season with Liverpool was a redemption story. The Egyptian broke the record for the most goals scored in a 38-game Premier League season, and has since helped guide Liverpool to the UEFA Champions League title and a league title.

2 - Virgil Van Dijk

The signing of Dutch defender Virgil Van Dijk has been critical to sorting out Klopp’s defensive problems. A breathe of calmness to Liverpool at the back, Van Dijk has become one of the top centre-backs in world football.

Loved on- and off the pitch, van Dijk is part of the brick wall that made Anfield a fortress again. Even though Jordan Henderson is captain, van Dijk’s influence and passion reaches every player on the pitch, and there are few players you would rather have as the last man stopping an attack, with many just not being able to reach the bar he has set.

1 - Alisson Becker

I know what you’re thinking, strange choice to pick a goalkeeper as the key signing right? Let me take you back to Liverpool’s heart-breaking UEFA Champions League final loss against Liverpool in 201. Karius’ disaster class was proof that a world-class goalkeeper is needed to win titles.

Becker’s arrival proved exactly that - a top class goalkeeper wins you titles. It’s fair to say that Alisson has provided Liverpool fans with a safer pair of hands than they could ever have hoped for since the summer of 2018, and the 27-year-old was worth every penny of the £67 million the Reds spent on him.

KLOPP INSTILLED A MENTALITY INTO HIS PLAYERS THAT DEFEAT DID NOT MEAN THE END OF THE ROAD FOR THIS SQUAD.

Klopp’s defining moments

Europa League final loss against Sevilla (2016)

Defeat in Basel proved to Reds players the bigger picture was more important, and instilled a belief among them that Klopp would ensure they would go on to better things. Defeat to the Spanish side was tough to take at the time, but perhaps also proved to be a blessing in disguise for the Merseysiders, who were then able to focus on domestic matters the following season. They finished fourth and qualified for the Champions League for just the second time in seven years. Victory would have meant a return to the Champions League in Klopp’s first full season in charge.

Champions League final loss against Real Madrid (2018)

Defeat to Real Madrid in 2018 was Klopp’s third final loss as Liverpool manager, and sixth final defeat in a row as a manager. Again, Klopp instilled a mentality into his players that defeat did not mean the end of the road for this squad. The loss would see the rebirth of his machine following a difficult end to the season and they would bounce back to win the Champions League a year later.

Running the long race with Man City (2018/19)

In Pep Guardiola’s mind, it was over. As he trudged from the field

at St. James’s Park in late January 2019, flanked by his coaching staff, Guardiola, the Manchester City manager, was convinced defeat at the hands of Newcastle United had stripped the Premier League title from his grasp.

The next night, he was sure first-place Liverpool would beat Leicester City and restore its seven-point advantage at the top of the table. In the tunnel that night, advantage seemed unassailable. History however has it recorded differently.

Liverpool were reeled in during 2019 in a six-game stretch between January and March in which Jürgen Klopp’s side dropped eight points. That came after a 2-1 defeat by City in the first game of the new year, Liverpool’s only loss of the season. A win would have given them a 10-point lead at the top. However Manchester City’s relentlessness saw Guardiola’s men conjure up a title-winning 100 points by the end of the season to break Anfield hearts.

Those crazy nights at Anfield

Klopp had instilled such belief in his squad that they could overcome any obstacle, even after a 3-0 defeat in the first leg away against a Messi-inspired Barcelona FC. That incredible victory hasn’t been the only memorable occasion Anfield has enjoyed under Klopp. There’s been a 5-4 aggregate win over Borussia Dortmund after needing three goals to progress with 25 minutes remaining; a 3-0 win over Manchester City in the Champions League; then blitzing to a 5-0 lead against Roma in the semi-final.

These nights showcased Klopp’s Liverpool around Europe and put the club back on the world stage. The victory against Barcelona ultimately catapulted Liverpool to Champions League glory in 2019 which later transcended into league triumph in 2020.

THE SHEER NUMBER OF RECORDS THEY CAN BEAT IS EVIDENCE OF THEIR BRILLIANCE.

Records broken

Fewest games needed to win the title: 31 What has been remarkable about Liverpool is just how quickly they have won the title. There are still seven games left to play! Manchester United won the Premier League title in 2000/01 with five games left, having needed 33 games to break the record. Thanks to Chelsea, the Reds have beaten that record by two games.

Latest title win: June 25 Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic delaying the Premier League by three months, Liverpool have won the title in late June. No Premier League club has obviously ever won it that late in the year and this record will probably never be broken.

Fastest to beat every single opponent: 31 games Liverpool 2019/20 are a phenomenal side. This much is obvious. The sheer number of records they can beat is evidence of their brilliance. But none of the records express Liverpool’s dominance over the rest of the Premier League as much as this one.

Most consecutive home wins: 20 Every title-winning side is built upon its home fortress and Anfield has been just that over the past couple of years. Manchester City initially set this record back in 2012, but Liverpool equalled it with a 4-0 against Southampton at the start of February and then made it their own later in the month; overcoming David Moyes’ West Ham 3-2. 23 and counting. The records keep on tumbling for Klopp.

After a 30-year-long wait, Jurgen Klopp has delivered the league title to Anfield and in some fine fashion it must be stated. He will undoubtedly go down as one of the greatest Liverpool managers to date while his team will definitely be up there with the all-time greatest teams the club has produced. Ù