Liverpool 2015/16 Part 1&2: A new hope with Klopp

[ins1dious]

To all you L'pool fans Best of luck

 

http://www.wsj.com/articles/how-to-become-soccers-most-coveted-manager-in-seven-easy-steps-1444320036

 

 

 

How Jürgen Klopp Became Soccer’s Most Coveted Manager

ENLARGE

Dortmund's head coach Jürgen Klopp after a Bundesliga soccer match between Borussia Dortmund and Werder Bremen in May. Photo: Associated Press

By

Joshua Robinson

Oct. 8, 2015 12:00 p.m. ET

Liverpool Football Club began its latest love-in on Thursday. Four days after ditching manager Brendan Rodgers following a year of mediocrity, the club has tied the knot with Jürgen Klopp.

Klopp, who will sign a three-year deal at Liverpool, has been one of the most talked-about managers in Europe for at least three seasons. Though he has never coached outside Germany, his work at Borussia Dortmund in the Bundesliga, where he challenged the dominance of Bayern Munich, meant he could write his ticket to almost any club on the continent.

In the end, Liverpool picked him and he picked Liverpool, with all of its history, its devoted followers, and its rather forgettable start to the new season. The Reds have collected just 12 points from eight games.

Last Sunday, the club fired Rodgers hours after a 1-1 draw with crosstown rival Everton. The decision, the team’s owners said in a statement, “provided us with the best opportunity for success on the pitch.”

They soon started making eyes at the modern darling of European soccer, the ungainly, bearded German from Stuttgart, who stepped down at Dortmund at the end of last season to take a sabbatical.

How exactly did Klopp become so sought after? The answer lies in this seven-step plan to becoming everyone’s favorite manager.

1. Be Quotable (But Not Like Jose Mourinho)

Who else would describe his team’s style of play as “heavy metal” or talk about crying with players when they left his club? Which other manager would openly discuss having a hair transplant? Klopp’s press conferences are famous for his honesty. That’s where he generates some of the best copy in soccer—in German, but also in his limited English. He also manages to do it without being obnoxious.

It’s a tough act to pull off. Mourinho, Chelsea’s famously surly coach, might have the sharpest tongue in the game, but his barbs are always at someone’s expense. (Usually Arsenal’s Arsène Wenger.) Take the time Mourinho goaded a reporter by saying: “I can guess that when you were a kid, you played badminton.” That’s not Klopp’s style. His most memorable remarks are usually his colorful analogies, like the time he said a new player fit his team as neatly as a “[backside] on a bucket.”

ENLARGE

Borussia Dortmund's manager Jürgen Klopp laughs at a press conference in Dortmund, Germany. Photo: Associated Press

2. Have a Clear Enemy

The fastest way to earn fans’ sympathy is to have a big, bad nemesis. In Germany, Klopp had the biggest, baddest one around: Bayern Munich, the New York Yankees of the Bundesliga. Klopp once compared the club to a James Bond villain.

Bayern sweeps up the best talent in Germany with the fattest budget—often right from Dortmund. In 2013, playmaker Mario Gotze made the move to Munich. In 2014, Robert Lewandowski, one of Europe’s most lethal strikers, followed. Bayern made Klopp’s life harder still by appointing former Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola.

Yet Klopp was able to build a competitive Borussia Dortmund. He won back-to-back league titles in 2011 and 2012 and came within five minutes of beating Bayern in the 2013 Champions League final.

Overall, in 22 competitive games against Bayern, Klopp’s Dortmund posted eight victories, four draws and 10 losses—which is a record to be admired considering that Bayern basically steamrolls everyone else.

At Liverpool, he’ll have Manchester United just 32 miles away from Anfield. Manchester City is just three miles farther, while crosstown rival Everton is located just across Liverpool’s Stanley Park. Klopp can take his pick of nemeses.

3. Have a Distinct Look

Klopp has frequently been described as a “hipster” manager, though he’s never actually been spotted making artisanal pickles or riding around the Ruhr valley on a fixie. It’s more accurate to say he’s got a beard and dark-rimmed glasses.

Even that’s enough to set him apart from the parade of pudgy old men who prowl the sidelines of most major soccer clubs. Klopp, in other words, is the Joe Maddon of European soccer.

Plus, the 48-year-old Klopp rarely wears a suit. He’s more of a track-pants-and-hoodie man, straight from the team store. The outfit he wore on the sideline against Arsenal in last season’s Champions League, for instance, will set you back a modest $142.

4. Don’t Be Afraid to Freak Out

ENLARGE

Dortmund's head coach Jürgen Klopp shouts to his team during the German Bundesliga soccer match between Borussia Dortmund and TSG Hoffenheim last December. Photo: Associated Press

Fans love seeing a manager’s human side. And when Klopp freaks out, he really freaks out. At times, he can get so incensed by a referee’s decision that he looks unhinged. Unhinged enough to go viral.

5. Invest in Young Players

Shepherding young talent through a club’s youth academy and into the starting lineup is always a risk. When they don’t pan out, the fans turn on you, demanding to know why you didn’t spend money on experience. If they do turn into world-beaters, richer clubs soon start sniffing around.

That never stopped Klopp. In the 2012 German Cup final, perhaps the defining match of his tenure at Dortmund, seven of the 11 starters that destroyed Bayern Munich 5-2 were 24 years old or younger. That bunch included future German national team regular Mats Hummels, Japanese playmaker Shinji Kagawa, and Poland’s Lewandowski. The Dortmund faithful adore Klopp for promoting them to the first team.

6. Indulge Your Club With a Little PDA

Dortmund’s motto is “Echte Liebe,” a German phrase that means true, authentic love. Klopp was all about it during his seven years at the helm. He wept on a regular basis. He thanked the fans in the Yellow Wall stand—Dortmund’s answer to Liverpool’s famous Kop—after big wins. And when it came time for him to leave, the Yellow Wall thanked him back with a gigantic display that read “Danke Jürgen.”

ENLARGE

Dortmund's teammates celebrate with their head coach Jürgen Klopp, top, after winning the German Championships in 2011. Photo: Associated Press

7. Win Early

Klopp built up a lot of goodwill from 2010 to 2013, winning two Bundesliga titles and a German cup, on top of leading Dortmund to the Champions League final. So much goodwill, in fact, that the fans didn’t have many complaints when Dortmund finished 19 points adrift of Bayern in 2014. They didn’t even call for his head last season when the injury-addled club flirted with relegation last season before rallying for a seventh-place finish.

The cult of Klopp was worth a rough season or two. At least, that’s how Dortmund felt. Liverpool, in the rush-to-judgment Premier League, will probably make up its mind much sooner.

Write to Joshua Robinson at [email protected]

 

 

 

Edited October 9, 2015 by ins1dious

[Mrmilktooth]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=125&v=2uXVLyRgLqY

 

 

have a good laugh... hahaha

[Vegas]

i hope klopp can show the world our transfer committee are not wasting money :)

[Scion]

yes, it's time to revive Liverpool's youth academy

 

which last time produced so many fine players, Steve McManaman, Robbie Fowler, Jamie Carragher, Michael Owen, Steven Gerrard, etc

 

i think in current squad, only Jon Flanagan is promoted from the youth team?

 

i remember a few years back Liverpool got a tall powerful young striker called Neil Mellor, promoted from the youth team and scored a brilliant last minute winner against Arsenal, but after that he faded away and got shipped out

[Vegas]

yes, it's time to revive Liverpool's youth academy

 

which last time produced so many fine players, Steve McManaman, Robbie Fowler, Jamie Carragher, Michael Owen, Steven Gerrard, etc

 

i think in current squad, only Jon Flanagan is promoted from the youth team?

 

i remember a few years back Liverpool got a tall powerful young striker called Neil Mellor, promoted from the youth team and scored a brilliant last minute winner against Arsenal, but after that he faded away and got shipped out

 

mellor not fast enough... and injury prone...

 

even God does not seem fast enough to play in today's BPL

[Vegas]

who got jersey lobang?

 

i gonna buy away and 3rd kit :)

 

print jurgen and klopp respectively

[Shorty]

replica or original? there's a seller at HWZ selling original at cheaper than shop price.

[ins1dious]

yes, it's time to revive Liverpool's youth academy

 

which last time produced so many fine players, Steve McManaman, Robbie Fowler, Jamie Carragher, Michael Owen, Steven Gerrard, etc

 

i think in current squad, only Jon Flanagan is promoted from the youth team?

 

i remember a few years back Liverpool got a tall powerful young striker called Neil Mellor, promoted from the youth team and scored a brilliant last minute winner against Arsenal, but after that he faded away and got shipped out

 

I have poor luck. I am like an anti-rabbits foot... so with Klopp joining L'pool and all the enthusiasm that raises... I think it's only fair that I switch allegiance to Merseyside and give the poor Gunners a chance to win something this year.

 

What do you reckon? Should I get a jersey as well?

[Extinguisher]

"We have speed and technical ability. The first game is Tottenham and we have to make a team for this game. I'm not a dreamer, I don't want Cristiano Ronaldo, I want these guys.

 

"Now we start work."

 

Well said!

[Somewhat1975]

First interview from Jurgen Klopp

 

http://dai.ly/x391ub0

[Count-Bracula]

I want to sign up to watch EPL this time. What is the damage? Mio TV?

[Count-Bracula]

There's rumour saying SG wants to come back. Could it be true? Uncle will be a stumbling block I would say.

[Atrecord]

"We have speed and technical ability. The first game is Tottenham and we have to make a team for this game. I'm not a dreamer, I don't want Cristiano Ronaldo, I want these guys.

 

"Now we start work."

 

Well said!

 

WHL is it? it was good hunting ground for us recently.

13-14: 0-5

14-15: 0-3

15-16: can at least win 0-1?

There's rumour saying SG wants to come back. Could it be true? Uncle will be a stumbling block I would say.

 

He looked up to McAllister when first starting out.

Suggests he joins McA as ambassador plus maybe pick up his badges to prepare for management one day.

 

If he's playing, i will be worried about playing all the crystal palaces, west hams, southamptons, etc. that have players who will again be running all around him...

[Othello]

There's rumour saying SG wants to come back. Could it be true? Uncle will be a stumbling block I would say.

 

Good horse do not eat return head grass As a player, definite NO NO.

[Spring]

There's rumour saying SG wants to come back. Could it be true? Uncle will be a stumbling block I would say.

 

Actually, it depends what his role it is. For playing, of course it would be a step back but for being an assistant or a backroom role, it could be a plus.

 

Many a time, foreign Managers coming into EPL underestimate the culture etc of an English club as it is very different from other leagues. To be fair, each league has it's own uniqueness. Anyway, to assimilate the new Mgr, normally a player or staff who has been associated with the club for a long time is the best to give advice etc and they don't come any better than SG, so IMO he's welcome back for that kind of role, Fowler has also expressed interest so both good fits I feel.

[Ktglfc]

Steady lah :))

 

[Vegas]

replica or original? there's a seller at HWZ selling original at cheaper than shop price.

 

original lah, must help to pay for klopp signing on fee

[Icedbs]

Here in peace...

 

Congrats on getting Klopp! Always like him when he was at BVB and kinda mixed feelings right now. Anyway, all the best to him and pang chance abit when against Man Utd.

 

Bro, LvG is great coach and Man U has certainly improved in quite a few ways.

 

Now that pool has Klopp, I think the real winner is BP and the fans. It makes the league more exciting and more things between fans to talk about.

 

May the best man win!