Liverpool quadruple, Jurgen Klopp U-turn in ‘worst-case scenario’; Xabi Alonso’s ‘first’ signing identified

The Mailbox reckons Liverpool winning the quadruple would tempt Jurgen Klopp to perform a U-turn, while Xabi Alonso’s ‘first’ signing has been picked out.

Send your thoughts on Klopp, Liverpool and anything else in to [email protected]…

Klopp 2.0

Hey all,

I hope everyone is coping with the big news from Friday. I’m a neutral on this journey (NUFC), but it’s made the last few days of dry Jan far harder than expected. I’ve been trying to work out the worst-case scenario from Klopp‘s departure. And I believe I have it.

Liverpool win the quadruple. As “this means more” – it’ll be the best achievement by any club ever. Times ten.
Klopp decides, that due to the support of the club, city, etc he cannot possibly leave, thereby rendering this whole announcement an utter waste of everyone’s time.

I’m old enough to remember (2003-4) when Stevie G nearly left for Chelsea, and the subsequent wankfest that ensued when he stayed. I pray to all the gods that ever existed, that my worst case scenario doesn’t come to fruition. Unbearables 2.0 coming to a screen near you soon.

Simon S, Cheshire

Klopp’s next move

Regarding the possible career paths for Klopp: is it just me or does him taking another club job at some point seem – not right? Like if you don’t have the energy anymore for club football, then how does another club make sense? If you’re burned out, why not take a year or two off and then just return to Liverpool? Surely we’ll have fired the next massive-downgrade guy by then.

Scott, LFC, Toronto

Alonso’s first signing

As an Arsenal fan, this somewhat amusing thought popped in my mind. Klopp leaves, Xabi Alonso comes in as Liverpool’s manager after just winning the Bundesliga with Leverkusen. After looking at his midfield options, with a lot of young options and the always injured Thiago, who does Alonso decide to make his first transfer? None other than the reliable Granit Xhaka, who just helped him win the league. Wonder how that would go down.

Andrew M, AFC, Australia

Pep “next”

Klopp will be a sad loss for the Premier League, and I am 100% certain that he will take Pep Guardiola with him. If not in the summer, then in 18 months.

Pep has just lost his greatest rival and only realistic challenger. Without Klopp, the Premier League will be a foregone conclusion for the next 2 years as Liverpool transition (and worse) and the rest of the pack flatter to deceive.

He’s bagged everything he can at City now, so what fun is there in that? There’s nothing left to win and no challenge. He could rebuild City; KDB is ageing, Haaland has a release clause Real Madrid might meet, Bernardo has been held captive for years… But again, if you can go out on top after all this time, why bother?

And then there’s the 115 charges. At this point, will Pep want to stick around and deal with point deductions or relegations? No chance.

So where to next?

We know Pep needs to take a club who is top of the pile, and has bagloads of cash to keep them there. And to avoid moving backwards, it needs to be a club with a chance of winning the Champions League.

He hasn’t done Italy or France. No club in Italy has enough money. PSG could afford Pep and his wanton spending, but they are a joke club and the lack of completion in the league plays a big part in them falling short in the CL. I doubt he’ll fancy those odds. Barca are too screwed financially for a return and there’s not much point in returning to Bayern.

So international? Possibly. But he’d need to start with the best squad. Spain don’t have that at the moment; France do. Argentina and Brazil could also be interesting. But would Pep really want to enter such a level playing field as international football where you can’t buy your way out of trouble? I can’t see it.

So that leaves one option. He can avoid the Champions League completely, earn a sickening fortune and spend as much money as he wants to win the Asian Champions League with a Saudi club. He’s already shown that he has no problem grubbying his hands with oil money from murky regimes and it’s the only option that realistically protects his managerial reputation within Europe.

You saw it here first.

Seamus

MAILBOX: Klopp is just Mourinho ‘without the success’ and Liverpool should make ‘hilarious’ Emery appointment

Klopp vs Wenger

In Saturday’s Mailbox, Michael Pacholek asserted that Klopp won’t leave a “legacy like Wenger’s”, on the basis that he won only one league title. I think this depends on whether we are talking about the legacy left to the Premier League, or legacy left to their clubs. 

I agree that the legacy Klopp leaves won’t be like Wenger’s, because Klopp is leaving a club at the right time, with a squad on the right track, seemingly on the ascendancy. It is explicitly the reason he felt this summer was the right time to leave. Klopp’s legacy will to a large degree be defined by what the club achieves in the 5-10 years after he leaves. If the club continues to be successful, he will be the man who restored Liverpool to being competitive after spending the period of approx. 1995 to 2015 being distinctly second-rate behind Manchester United and Arsenal, not to mention clubs in Europe.

I suspect Stewie would be able to put it better than I could, but Wenger’s legacy at Arsenal it significantly tainted by him clinging onto the job for 6-7 seasons longer than he should have. I would also argue that Wenger’s tangible legacy at Arsenal – the club building The Emirates and him operating the club on a shoestring budget to allow the costs to be paid off – is very unfortunately undermined by the exponential increases to television revenue, which means that matchday income is no longer nearly as significant as it was in the mid 2000’s. With player transfer valuations as they are,

Wenger leaves a much bigger legacy to the Premier League as a whole than Klopp. But I don’t think that legacy was really tied to the number of league titles he won (3 by the way – I think a lot of people forget he didn’t actually win that many) or the fact that he managed the Invincibles. His legacy is coming into the English league at a time when it was very insular and playing a leading role in bringing it into modern times, in terms of training/diets/signing more foreign players/etc, and providing Ferguson/Utd with a consistent rival. Klopp, meanwhile, entertained people (other than Weldoninhio) and prevented Pep/City from Bayern-esque levels of dominance, but has not fundamentally impacted the Premier League like Wenger did.

Oliver Dziggel, Geneva Switzerland

Not even a Liverpool but felt a need to chime…

In. I think Michael Pacholek, East Brunswick, New Jersey, USA, is conveniently leaving out the Champions League win, which makes his legacy at Liverpool greater than Wengers. I can understand why he forgot to mention it given Arsenal’s lack of pedigree in the competition. Wenger was a great manager, but never achieved elite status, because he didn’t win the top prize. Klopps been great for the premier league and the only thing to have made sure it wasn’t a procession for City every season.

Chris, London

Missing the point

Over the last day, I’ve seen many individuals criticising Klopp’s achievements, “he hasn’t won enough” being their sad refrain. This is missing the point of Klopp, and missing the point of football. It is the view of the armchair fan.

Football is about the exhilaration of live games. It’s week in, week out, enjoying the excitement of watching your team play. Winning trophies is great, and Klopp has won enough, but more importantly, over the last seven years, I’ve watched some of the best, most exciting football I’ve seen in 50 years as a fan.

Case in point, I was devastated in Kiev, but the memory of the Etihad in the 2-1 quarter final win against City, I will cherish forever. Similarly, the following season Liverpool won the CL but the game I will always cherish is the 4-0 over Barcelona (the 3-0 in the Nou Camp was less fun but it was still a good game of football).

I will be forever grateful to Jürgen for giving me those and many other unbelievable memories. It’s been an amazing ride.

Rob (Xabi please)

FEATURE: Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool… The statistics behind a ridiculous Reds reign

Benitez vs Fergie debate

Must admit that was quite the email from Tom, Galway about the Benitez/Fergie fallout in the 08/09 season. Ironically, there were quite a few facts that were incorrect.

Benitez had the rant in January, when Liverpool, not Utd, were top of the league. They had put 6 past Newcastle in their last PL game. Benitez started this moronic rant by literally saying “Ferguson must be nervous as we’re top of the league”… first “subtle” hint that Liverpool were top.

This happened on a Friday. Liverpool played Stoke that weekend and drew 0-0. The next day Utd beat Chelsea and Utd fans were singing “Rafa’s cracking up”.

Up to that point, Liverpool had lost just 1 PL game all season and that was at Spurs. The 7 games post rant Liverpool won just 2 games and took 9 points from 21 available. Took 3 points out of 12 v Stoke, Everton, Wigan and Middlesbrough. They didn’t beat Utd until March, a full 2 months after the rant. By that stage, the league title was over. Liverpool did the double over Utd and still finished 4 points behind them.

The first 20 games Liverpool were top of the league. The 7 games post rant Liverpool had their worst run of the season. The last 11 games Liverpool won 10 and drew 1. I think it’s fair to say Ferguson won those mind games.

Gussy, Ireland

More Klopp hot takes

A bit late to the party, but I had to chime in with my thoughts on Klopp’s departure. When I first saw the news, it came as a complete and utter shock, as it did to everyone. It’s not an exaggeration to say that I’m sadder at Klopp’s departure than at that of any other player or manager since I’ve been a Liverpool fan.

So what is Klopp’s legacy? Well the ignorant will say (and they already have) that he underachieved. Only (only?) 1 Champions League and only (only?) once Premier League. As a first point of note, it’s worth pointing out that there are 3 managers who have won the Premier League and Champions League with an English club. Pep, Fergie and Klopp. That’s it. He’s in pretty good company. Especially when you consider that he completed the set with an FA cup and league cup also.

Should he have won more? Well ‘should’ implies that he somehow underperformed. That the titles were there for the taking and he just couldn’t do it. But that isn’t what happened. Liverpool just happened to peak at the exact same time as possibly the greatest team in Premier League history. To finish with more than 90 points and not win the league, is desperately unlucky. To finish with 97 and not win it is absurd. That’s not to say they deserved those titles, they didn’t. But it is unlucky. In the same was that Leicesters miracle happened because they peaked at the exact time so many other teams were in transition. That doesn’t mean they didn’t deserve it, just that there was an element of fortune.

Klopp’s legacy is perhaps one of ‘what if?’. In an alternate reality, Mo Salah doesn’t get injured, Courtois doesn’t play a blinder, City draw 2 games instead of winning them. Suddenly we’re talking about 3 Premier League titlesm 3 Champions Leagues, not to mention a historic quadruple. Football is a game of fine margins.

But that didn’t happen, and he will be judged on what did. In which case his achievements will still be utterly incredible. The funniest takes in all this are people like Weldoninhio. ” Four actual trophies with the Liverpool teams he’s had…” implying that Klopp was somehow gifted a team of world class players, rather than creating this team from scratch.

Just to recap on some of his achievements: Took a left back from relegated hull and an academy graduate and turned them into the highest assisting fullbacks in Premier League history. Took Jordan Henderson, who all non-Liverpool fans seem to say is rubbish and made him a Premier League and Champions League winning captain. Took Georginio Wijnaldum from relegated Newcastle and made him a core part of the same team. He would then leave for PSG and completely flop. Took Sadio Mane from Southampton and made him one of the best attackers in world football. He would then go to Bayern Munich and flop.

There is a pattern there. Klopp signed players who were not superstars, made them part of a world class team and then when they left, his influence on them really showed. He made pretty much every player he coached better. A team that was more than the sum of its parts.

His lasting legacy though, is just that he made Liverpool brilliant. I’ve been a fan of LFC since 1996. For 2 years, we were never ever considered the best side in the Premier League and very rarely even in the top 2 or 3. Klopp made us a team that was genuinely amongst the top 2 teams in the world. He brought drama, intensity, passion and most importantly fun. And that’s the real legacy. For 8 years its been fun. Through the ups and downs, the highs and the lows, its still been a joyous experience. And whoever takes over, that will be very hard to replicate.

Mike, LFC, Dubai

Father Ted

Sir,

Remember when Father Ted kicked Bishop Brennan up the arse, then decided to just pretend it never happened and deny it had happened?

That’s how I’m coping with the Klopp news.

There was no Friday social media release, there was no press conference in the afternoon.

Everything is fine. It’s all going to be just fine. It’s all fine.

This is probably not healthy, but it’s working for me at the moment. Give it a try, fellow LFC fans.

Andrew H, Swansea

Gerrard to Liverpool

Could Liverpool please appoint Gerrard and could he take Michael Beale on as his ‘trusted deputy’? Please,please please

Yours a Mackem -Sunderland til I die

Andrew Bailey