Football: Liverpool’s Klopp Threatened by False Hopes

In his first eight months as Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp managed to push the Merseysiders to two finals. In the year since that opening burst, everyone has had high expectations of the German in the Premier League and Liverpool did indeed show great promise at the start of the season.

Heading into 2017, Klopp’s men had lost just two games and seemed to have set themselves up nicely for the remainder of the season. Klopp had overcome some serious problems with team selection in the first half of the season, as the arrival of seven players in the transfer window had simply left him with too many options.

The transfer fee paid for Sadio Mane in particular had raised eyebrows, adding to the pressure on his new signings. A nightmare decision in the signing of Loris Karius heaped further pressure on the German manager’s shoulders and it wasn’t the first time he had shown a little too much faith in an unknown player. During his Borussia Dortmund days he was often criticised for signing little-known players.

But after its astonishing start to the season Liverpool dropped six points behind first place and the high expectations set at the start of the campaign were suddenly taking a dark turn. In a four-week horror spell, Liverpool dropped out of the top four in the league and were knocked out of both the FA Cup and the EFL Cup.

Sadio Mane’s injury coincided with Liverpool’s awful run of form, adding more misery for the ex-Dortmund manager who has been accused of relying on one player in the past. Liverpool’s title hopes were all but over in January when they gained just three points from four games and the same old problems appeared.

The ex-Mainz boss was forced to ease up on his talk of a title challenge. He had come close to promising a league victory in the first half of the campaign and the false hope given to fans came crashing down as it does so often on Merseyside. The old problems of recent seasons returned to the surface, with a lack of defensive discipline working alongside a manager unable to control the expectations of fans.

Most would argue that it ended up as a relatively successful campaign for the Reds, given the fact that their top-four finish required beating off competition from Manchester United and Arsenal. Klopp’s team was not beaten by any of the other top six sides but some fans were still left disappointed with fourth because of the premature talk about a title bid.

Klopp has a big challenge in managing the future expectations of the fans as realistically Liverpool does not yet have a squad powerful enough to compete. He no doubt believes that all he needs is a squad full of players who are willing to run themselves into the ground but I would say that in the Premier League you do need a handful of world-class players. And the Merseyside club simply does not have those stars.

The constant murmur of a title challenge has cost several managers their jobs at Anfield and the same fate could await Klopp if he continues to entertain the suggestion that a Premier League trophy could be heading to Liverpool in the next couple of years.

 

by Nubaid Haroon  YouTube: https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCtMg-fWm7awR41vM1GhVOkA  Twitter: twitter.com/rambofyi

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