I expect he'll turn out to have feet of clay somehow, because that's how life works when you start hero-worshipping someone, but honestly, I can't remember a more likeable (and simultaneously impressive) manager than Juergen Klopp. I'm starting to wish quite intensely for Liverpool to win the title this season.
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Literally everything about his is carefully manafactured. I wouldn't say fake, because every manager has to create a public facade, but the teeth, the hair, the relentless upbeat positivity, the Cool i'm not the stereotypical German schtick, the continual smiling. I wouldn't be surprised if he went home every night and got into a pod like Darth Vader, took off his Klopp mask and exo-skeleton, to reveal Gerard Houllier, intent on doing everything 100% differently this time around.Comment
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Comparisons with Pochettino have to take into account the fact that Klopp is five years older and (more importantly) has at least eight more seasons of experience with a club that is a realistic title contender.Comment
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The closest thing that pochettino has done to image management or control is pretending that he couldn't speak english for ages. I think what you see is what you get. A really angry man, who thinks that running solves all problems.
They've also gone about things in an entirely different way. pochettino plays a very straight down the line hard working 4-2-3-1 with a target man centre forward. it's hard to say what klopp would do if he had harry kane, but liverpool seem to be more about lots of players running from deep together. Pochettino screams at people if they don't track back. liverpool just let in four goals to Bournemouth. They're very different. Pochettino won't succeed until he makes spurs markedly better on the ball, and klopp won't succeed until he makes liverpool much better at playing without the ball.Comment
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Like Mourinho before his whole-world-is-against-me sourness swallowed his whole personality, Klopp has charisma. It's not a common trait in top football managers, most of them seem to have little worth saying, don't feel inclined to say it in front of their cameras, or can't express it in a second language.
Poccettino, Guardiola, Wenger, Koeman, Ancellotti, Benitez, that bloke at City who was so forgettable that I can't remember his name... they're all cut from the same dull cloth as interviewees, whatever their skills as a coach.
Van Gaal had... not charisma exactly, but a terrible watchability about him, because you never quite knew what he might come out with. I wouldn't have raised an eyebrow if he'd said in a matter-of-fact tone that he'd got Marcos Rojo chained to the radiator in his cellar.
Like fans and the media, it's no surprise that some players will respond positively to Klopp's charisma - it will give them confidence and make them want to improve and do things on the pitch that please him, and get them a hug off a big daft gurning German at full time. A lot of them are simple souls and unable to take in complicated tactical instructions, but it's possible that this extra confidence might make enough of a difference to lift them from being mid-table mediocrities to genuine title challengers. I'm hoping, anyway.
If I had one big doubt about Klopp, it's his ability to win finals - Liverpool were insipid in the second half against Sevilla last season, and never turned up til the 80th minute at Wembley against City. Hopefully he can put that right this season if the two semi-finals go to form and it's Liverpool v Man U for the league cup next spring.Comment
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While I'm mostly in agreement, I can't let this one go. I don't think he's trying to defy stereotyping at all - witness the fondness for heavy metal and the wearing of double denim.The Awesome Berbaslug!!! wrote: ...the Cool i'm not the stereotypical German schtick
Other than his managerial expertise, he's like a hackneyed comedy sketch made flesh.Comment
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I heard on the radio over the weekend that during the team warm-ups Klopp was stood watching the opposition, totally ignoring his own side. In order to intimidate the opposition perhaps?Comment
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I find his persona to be very annoying. This whole man-of-the-terraces shtick is intensely grating (I can see how it might appeal to certain Liverpool fans who feel he is one of them, but to everyone else, its like an extended multi season badge-kissing). If I felt he was sincere I might quite like it, but it feels very fake and very forced. (I speak as someone who has n particular Liverpool-related axe to grind, and of the top 4 apparent contenders this year, I'd regard them as the least worst option, but Klopp...nah.)Comment
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Is it annoying as the love-in between Dortmund and Liverpool fans prior to the Europa League leg Anfield last season? Probably not, and it is not as boring as your usual interviews. Grimsby's new manager, Marcus Bignot, has endeared us in a similar way.ad hoc wrote: I find his persona to be very annoying. This whole man-of-the-terraces shtick is intensely grating (I can see how it might appeal to certain Liverpool fans who feel he is one of them, but to everyone else, its like an extended multi season badge-kissing). If I felt he was sincere I might quite like it, but it feels very fake and very forced. (I speak as someone who has n particular Liverpool-related axe to grind, and of the top 4 apparent contenders this year, I'd regard them as the least worst option, but Klopp...nah.)
I should also hastily add that I would much rather see fans getting on and being allowed to mingle peacefully before a match rather than some of the other idiotic stuff we say...but still that was a bit much last season.Comment
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I'm guessing he's done that for years, he's certainly been doing it since he joined Liverpool.mirko bolesan wrote: I heard on the radio over the weekend that during the team warm-ups Klopp was stood watching the opposition, totally ignoring his own side. In order to intimidate the opposition perhaps?Comment
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I think you are being a tad harsh on Spurs. Last season they played some electrifying football at times. This season, they seem to be doing the classic thing of a team who doesn't play regular Champions League football in doing in one of doing really well in the CL but rubbish in the League (Leicester) or, as in Spurs' case, not great in the CL and ok in the League (they've only lost 2). What the reasons for this are, nobody seems to know as the Europa League seems to do it too.The Awesome Berbaslug!!! wrote: The closest thing that pochettino has done to image management or control is pretending that he couldn't speak english for ages. I think what you see is what you get. A really angry man, who thinks that running solves all problems.
They've also gone about things in an entirely different way. pochettino plays a very straight down the line hard working 4-2-3-1 with a target man centre forward. it's hard to say what klopp would do if he had harry kane, but liverpool seem to be more about lots of players running from deep together. Pochettino screams at people if they don't track back. liverpool just let in four goals to Bournemouth. They're very different. Pochettino won't succeed until he makes spurs markedly better on the ball, and klopp won't succeed until he makes liverpool much better at playing without the ball.
As mentioned earlier, Pochettino has been at Espanyol, Southampton and Spurs. Rather than spending loads of money (unlike Liverpool, especially prior to Klopp's arrival but those players are still around) he has promoted some young players and got them playing an efficient style which sometimes can be very attractive. It's his first season managing in Champion's League football, it's a learning curve for him and, arguably, Spurs too. It's the first season have had to fight on a two fronts and have been considered genuine title contenders domestically. This adds pressure to a young squad in front of a notoriously impatient Spurs crowd delirious with expectancy.
As many pointed out when Leicester won the title last season, they wanted Leicester to do it because they felt Spurs would get a second bite at the cherry in the next five years. Time will tell but I think Poch and his young squad will come good yet.Comment
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Klopp is as German as it gets. All that jumping around and fletching of teeth and shouting like your friend's angry dad and being close to tears before celebrating last minute equalisers against mid-table teams like he has won the World Cup... I think German coaches get taught all that at coaching school.
Klopp annoys me, but I like him. He is, all external evidence to the contrary, a thoughtful guy. He's also very straight-forward (another German quality), which makes his interviews so good.
I became a Klopp fan when I saw him doing punditry on German TV during the 2006 World Cup. He was absolutely brilliant at it.
Now, of course, I want him to suffer nothing but defeats, and relegation.Comment
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There is a half hour clip of him on Sky Sports where is brilliant, despite Carragher clearly wanting to have his babies the whole time.G-Man wrote: I became a Klopp fan when I saw him doing punditry on German TV during the 2006 World Cup. He was absolutely brilliant at it.
Charisma nails it. I like him. He's fun and interesting. He takes the game seriously when it should be and (appears not to) when it shouldn't. Compared to the glowering Mourinho or the tetchy Wenger, he's just.. fun. Its a break from the relentless seriousness that is the PL circus.Comment
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Klopp, with an adoring Liverpool fan:
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For all that, I find him way more likeable than most Premier League managers. Though he was a bit of a twat after the Bournemouth game – "Boo hoo. The other team tried to beat us, and exploit our weaknesses, that's way out of order". Smallest violin in the world drivel, that.Comment
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Really? I thought he praised Bournemouth and said that if he wasn't manager of the losing side he'd have been really happy for them?E10 Rifle wrote: For all that, I find him way more likeable than most Premier League managers. Though he was a bit of a twat after the Bournemouth game – "Boo hoo. The other team tried to beat us, and exploit our weaknesses, that's way out of order". Smallest violin in the world drivel, that.Comment
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Bournemouth apparently "targeting" the opposition goalkeeper, "One of the worst things I've ever seen in my life"
Sheltered old life, then.Comment
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That's slightly misleading I think, E10. What he's objecting to is the public disclosure after the match by some Bournemouth players that they had been targetting the goalie (which seems to have an element of public humiliation), not the targetting itself. Klopp is quite right to stick up for a player who is getting shit from all quarters (including the contemptible and risible Neville brothers).Comment
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Either way, the comment previously quoted by E10 was a bit OTT. He has made a few daft comments like complaining about mid-week games in the domestic cups etc. which do lack about of respect for the other football clubs, especially in lower divisions, which are arguably more integral to the game in England.Evariste Euler Gauss wrote: That's slightly misleading I think, E10. What he's objecting to is the public disclosure after the match by some Bournemouth players that they had been targetting the goalie (which seems to have an element of public humiliation), not the targetting itself. Klopp is quite right to stick up for a player who is getting shit from all quarters (including the contemptible and risible Neville brothers).
Overall though, I agree with the general consensus on this thread that Klopp has been a breath of fresh air with his attitude in general. You could even go as far as saying that he is probably even not as funny or as interesting as he could be because he's doing all this in his second language.Comment
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yeah, I thought that the point of the BDG cartoon last week was that Klopp was so extraordinarily calm and generous after the result, which was just him skilfully deflecting from his team letting in 4 goals to bournemouth.Comment
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In one interview that I heard he was asked about who he might buy in January and he suggested that his job was to make his existing players better, rather than just buy new ones.
It was so deliciously off message in this premier league where the answer always lies in a " swoop " or "wheeler deal" like a giant game of fantasy footballComment
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"celebrating last minute equalisers against mid-table teams like he has won the World Cup"
Yes. He didn't endear himself to west Brom fans last year after doing that. He then went onto the pitch after the game to instigate a dortmund-style celebration where the players all join hands and acknowledge the crowd. Plus he refused to shake tony pulis' hand after the game (and tony pulis, as is demonstrated weekly on match of the day, is bezzie mates with all other managers in the premier league).
It all seemed a bit unseemly for a mere salvaged point at home to West brom.Comment
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Klopp: "That the guy who won the game – I don’t know who it was – thinks he needs to say something like this after the game. I am really looking forward to playing Bournemouth again because of this."
If your problem is that somebody publicly disrespected your player, then you better not yield your perceived moral highground by reciprocating the disrespect.
This made me think of the time Nasser Hussein tried his hand at mindgames by claiming that he couldn't remember the name of South Africa's young captain. Two tests on, and the unable captain had scored two double centuries and Nasser was out of a job.
I hope Steve Cook scores a hat-trick in the return game.Comment
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