"Liverpool have gone from being the not most attractive girl in the village to a supermodel. We are one of the five or six best clubs in Europe again,” - this was a statement made by Jurgen Klopp after his team turned the tides in their favour in the second leg of the Champions League semi-final against Barcelona in May earlier this year.
Klopp came to Anfield in 2015 after the egress of Brendan Rodgers from his managerial duties at Liverpool. The German manager had already built a solid reputation with his remarkable triumphs with Borussia Dortmund in Germany, which included two Bundesliga titles, a German Super Cup and a runners-up medal in the Champions League 2012-13 season. All of this in the presence of a sturdy German giant - Bayern Munich.
His first stint with the Reds was fruitful as in the 2015-16 season Klopp took Liverpool to the Football League Cup and Europa League finals. The German’s style of play was to retrieve the ball as soon as it’s lost to the opposition rather than falling back, often referred to as ‘Gegenpressing’.
To complement his tactics and revamp the squad, Klopp brought Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah to the club in 2016 and 2017 respectively. With Roberto Firmino and Philippe Coutinho already available at the time of his arrival, Klopp intended to utilize the strength and pace of these players to outrun the rivals.
Mane and Salah were deployed upfront with Firmino playing in a False nine role and Coutinho taking up his position at the midfield. The media termed them as the ‘Fab Four’ who scored a plethora of goals in their first season in 2017 together.
Although the group was broken since Coutinho went to Barcelona in January 2018, the attacking trio of Salah, Mane and Firmino continued to wreak havoc. The Egyptian adjusted well to the Klopp system and netted a record 32 goals in a 38-game Premier League season and was awarded the PFA Player of the Year award.
With 32 goals, Magnificent Mohamed Salah wins the 2017/18 @premierleague Golden Boot 👑 pic.twitter.com/hZ6KaU1yVJ
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) May 13, 2018
However, Liverpool’s most accomplished performance came against their new nemesis Manchester City in the Champions League quarter-finals in 2018 when they defeated Pep Guardiola’s team 5-1 over two legs. This hammering sent the shivers down the continent of Europe that the Reds have peaked and are ready for battle.
Despite scoring a plethora of goals, the Reds were criticized for failing to keep a clean sheet and conceding goals. To improve the defensive woes, the services of Virgil Van Dijk were secured for a then-record fee of £75 million in the winter transfer window of 2018. Van Dijk became the centre of defence for the Merseysiders with his ability to win one on one duels and his ability to score from set-pieces.
The 2017-18 season also witnessed the emergence of Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andrew Robertson as two young full-backs who were able to make lung-bursting runs and trackback when required.
It took almost three seasons for Klopp to re-build his squad in order to taste European glory. Often recognized and praised by fellow managers for his high pressing and an even higher intensity of his game on the pitch, Klopp racked up 97 points in the 2018-19 Premier League season, only falling one point short of champions Manchester City.
But the German manager dusted away the disappointment and lifted his first Champions League trophy with the Reds in 2019. This was only followed by a subliminal performance in the UEFA Super Cup which Liverpool lifted for a record fourth time.
The past four seasons under Klopp have revitalized Liverpool completely with Reds now fighting for every silverware available this season. The German manager has done an awful lot for the fans at Anfield and has restored the glory days that were once a part of their history.
Feature image courtesy: AFP / Paul Ellis
