Pep and Klopp's strategies

[Ribchester]

Isn't that the case already?

Don’t say that we’ll be on height fixing wrap next

 

[Salford_Blue]

I wouldn’t say it’s Pep and Klopp’s strategies...

If the rumours that were circling around January, and what Jamie Redknapp was saying, were true, Klopp is said to have had a heated boardroom argument with the CEO/owner of Liverpool about their lack of transfer activity.

Liverpool earnt £1.45bn in the last three years alone, yet they’ve invested just £200m back into their squad.

I keep saying this, but instead of moaning about City, Chelsea, Paris, FFP, always playing the victim card and never questioning what’s going on at their own club; Liverpool fans should be screaming from the rooftops “WHERE THE FUCK DOES THE MONEY GO AT LIVERPOOL?!”

I've used this myself a couple of times in arguments.

Quite telling.

 

[vmsuhail]

Riles me how Pep and Klopp are even grouped together when journos discuss managers - Pep is levels above him in so many ways.

2 trophies in 6 years doesn’t make you an elite manager, it could be argued that Liverpool are just a high quality kick and rush team with an outstandingly prolific forward who makes the difference. Meanwhile Pep has changed the way football is played, won squillions of trophies and reinvented players through insightful intensive coaching.

Klopp's stock has come down a lot. There is a Redcafe thread on managers and most of them now rate Pep above Klopp. This was the opposite last season though.

 

[crazyg]

It’s easier for Pep.....he’s got a “bigger” squad than anyone else in Europe. UEFA working desperately on a handicap coefficient... next year no City player can be over 5’ 2”.

Keep Apart Height out of sport.

 

[KS55]

Don’t say that we’ll be on height fixing wrap next

Tebag: "State owned City have 8 players over 7ft tall who cheat by heading the ball".

 

[Brightwell Bros.]

It's entirely possible that they'll be back next season, but currently it does look like they are closer to Blackburn, a team designed from scratch to win the league once, rather than than City or Chelsea, teams put together to have at least a decade of dominance. Be interesting to see whether Klopp has the energy or patience to rebuild in the same way Pep has. As both City and Liverpool have found out in recent seasons, the best way to shut up your critics is on the pitch.

 

[I'm With Stupid]

I have said it before, Liverpool got lucky with Klopp. I believe the yanks at Liverpool aim has always been 'get top 4, get the CL money, anything else is a bonus'. They were fortunate with a talented manager like Klopp to turn their mediocre investments into gold.

They've also been pretty lucky the last two periods that they've seriously been title challengers to basically find a cut-price player who happens to be world class, with Suarez for £23m and then Salah for £36m. It shows good recruitment, but hoping you can find a world class signing for cheap isn't a long-term, repeatable strategy. Regularly signing players that you know are world class takes a level of investment that I'm not sure their owners have the stomach for.

 

[Bayblue]

They've had injuries because klopp ran them into the ground, not because they're unlucky. They've been incredibly lucky not to have them earlier.

And we've not been "blessed" by avoiding injuries. Pep's rotation has managed the players in a hectic season to avoid fatigue and degredation. Our first few games this season pep treated them as a preseason when everyone else was playing normal sides and banging on about arsenal, spurs, and united fighting for the title. Go back and look at the lineups for those first few games - preseason lineups.

Following that, we have rotated heavily in bursts.

I'm sick to my fucking teeth of people calling klopp unlucky and pep lucky due to their injury situations. The injuries or so far lack there of is down to the management styles.

I think two things can be true at the same time:
1. Pep and his coaching team have done brilliantly to adjust to this crazy season with so many games.
2. Liverpool have been unlucky with injuries, especially to their centre backs.
It’s a bit of a stretch to blame Van Dijk’s injury on Klopp’s over use of him - I think a fairer reading is that he was at the wrong end of a mad challenge by Pickford.

 

[Gabriel]

I think two things can be true at the same time:
1. Pep and his coaching team have done brilliantly to adjust to this crazy season with so many games.
2. Liverpool have been unlucky with injuries, especially to their centre backs.
It’s a bit of a stretch to blame Van Dijk’s injury on Klopp’s over use of him - I think a fairer reading is that he was at the wrong end of a mad challenge by Pickford.

That's what I meant by 'blessed'. Managers can set up the teams as best they can but if players fall victim to contact challenges in games, there is little the manager can do. We lost Laporte in a contact situation last season and de Bruyne and Aguero have missed games this season after contact injuries. Our adapted style now means that we retain possession more, concentrate play in tighter areas, and make the ball work harder for us, which reduces physical exertion, but if someone decides to lunge in (Grealish), then there is nothing Guardiola can do to mitigate it. Our longest injury this season has been to Ake and that came in training.

 

[I'm With Stupid]

2. Liverpool have been unlucky with injuries, especially to their centre backs.
It’s a bit of a stretch to blame Van Dijk’s injury on Klopp’s over use of him - I think a fairer reading is that he was at the wrong end of a mad challenge by Pickford.

Well they've been unlucky, but like us last season, they made a deliberate choice not to strengthen that area and regretted it. At the end of last season, they chose to sell Lovren despite only having three centre backs, one of which (Matip) was coming back from a serious, long-term injury. They then spent a good chunk of their transfer budget on yet another central midfielder and another striker. They knew they were taking a risk, and so it turned out.

Also, the injuries are a good excuse for not winning the league again. They're not a good excuse for struggling to get into the Champions League. Especially in a season where absolutely everyone has had shitloads of injuries.