I hate Liverpool but I can and do rate their players and their manager despite that. Klopp is a top manager the biggest sign of one IMO is if their teams have their own identity in terms of style of play. Salah is world class, Mane and Firmino less so but still very good on their day... however what Pep and City achieved this season is far and away better than what Klopp and Liverpool have.
Lets get it right before we start, a cup competition is not a bigger indication of a teams level than the league(City, Barca, Bayern all won their leagues by a distance showing who the strongest teams are domestically)... you can have a lucky cup run, unlike the league you sometimes get the benefit of avoiding the toughest teams until the latter stages like Liverpool did. If you take out Manchester City(and Roma to lesser extent) who they beat mainly because the ref gave them the first leg their cup run looks like a walk in the park, especially if you put it next to the other finalists path to the final this year(how can argue when you see that?). For the "we beat City though" argument, without going over every decision the first goal was big enough of a kick in the teeth as that's the only way Liverpool can beat City, by getting their noses in front and hitting us on the counter. Time and time again even against weaker teams they struggle when they aren't allowed to rely heavily on the counter... the second leg was already playing into their hands and again the ref made doubly sure of it(they did us proud in that first half and deserved more).
So when you think about it they had an easy run and when they had to play someone decent the ref helped them over the line against City and Roma big time... I really am doubtful Liverpool would have progressed to the final without those decisions and that's being extremely generous about it. This "amazing cup run" argument doesn't hold much water does it when you go over the facts? I mean they should enjoy it and celebrate it but to tell everyone this was one of the best cup runs boasting about the amount of goals scored against cannon fodder is a bit too far.
In the league they are defending their season(4th place!) and their CL cup run legitimacy with the we beat City trophy. Doesn't the fact that we are being used to validate THEIR season tell you something is wrong with some of the assessments on how good their season has been? Even the games they beat us in needed referee mistakes and city mistakes, furthermore all of those were overlooked by the media to give Liverpool maximum credit and take the shine off City but in stark contrast and as predicted after they lost the final they went after the decisions bigtime and the Salah injury to again give Liverpool slack/more credit. The narrative is "Liverpool started that game better and it changed when Salah went off" which to be fair I agree they were the more dominant side in possession and territory(final 3rd possession) but that was as much because Liverpool's plan is to start fast and get their noses in front but they barely tested the keeper in that first 30 mins, one shot right at the keeper by one of their fullbacks was about all I remember getting through their defence(Real are used to playing Barca they weren't fazed experienced showed and they soaked up what they needed to). By contrast most of us were saying City in the first leg at Anfeild dominated the opening stages in similar fashion until a key moment changed it, I watched that first 10 mins again recently and when you consider their plan was to do that to us(as that's the only way Klopp plays), we were besting them, bossing possession in their half etc. It shows how well we started that game and how that offside goal changed the game completely(even then it could have finished 2-2 had they given the correct calls in the second half)... but none of them were having any of that were they? Double standards? You betcha!
Then recently the red top press try and make out Klopp has won a real award nobody has heard of for "best manager in the world" when it's just an opinion poll stated by Bundesliga players. Oh a German manager chosen by German players you say? There's a shock!
So when you add all of the above up as a City fan witnessing this season we've had, how can you not be irritated by the overrating of Klopp? Yes he is good but they are overrating his achievements at Liverpool. In contrast to Pep and the way they try and compare it's not just about this amazing City season, there's more context when you think about the absolutely rapid transformation from the team Pep inherited, the style of play then to now(imposed his style way faster than Klopp did it), the deadwood and the players nearing the end of their careers at the top and how they try and spin it in a negative light. It's annoying that in one sentence people can say "ah but to do that Pep had to spend such amount" and in the next to defend the fact that Klopp has had three seasons and won nothing "Klopp hasn't had money to spend". This season they had Salah and VVD who let me remind you was a record CB fee of £75m but Klopp doesn't have the spending power so it's ok if he wins nothing right? There's over £100m worth of investment on just two players there, before that he had Coutinho he's had good player to work with. They are also being given extra excuses to go out and spend a fortune this summer "because they need to spend and strengthen to compete", which is doubly annoying with how they've been towards Pep who also "needed to replace/rebuild/strengthen an ageing squad" when he arrived.
Klopp's good but he's done no better than Pochettino, in fact if it weren't for their fortunately panned out CL cup campaign Pochettino has achieved better(consistently higher league finishes for the whole of Klopp's tenure at Liverpool) with his own style of attractive football with a young squad spending less than Liverpool last I checked.
