How Jurgen Klopp Transformed Liverpool from Doubters to Believers

‘I am the normal one’, said Jurgen Klopp in his first Liverpool press conference. The club was 10^th in the table having accumulated just 12 points from the first 8 games when Jurgen Klopp took over from Brendan Rodgers in October 2015. “I'm looking forward to the intensity of football and how the people live football in Liverpool. It’s a special club,”

It had been a difficult few years for Liverpool as a club, since their miraculous Champions League victory the club hadn’t won anything of note, except a League Cup title in 2011-12 season. Off the field, Liverpool FC had to face a turbulent time under the ownership of American businessmen George Gillett and Tom Hicks, where the club was £350 million in debt with losses of £55 million when the accounts were released in May 2010, far away from the glorious days Liverpool fans were accustomed to.

Soon after the club was bought by Fenway Sports Group, who also owned the famous MLB team Boston Red Sox, they appointed Brendan Rodgers as the manager with focus on bringing in young talent and developing a team around them. But except for one unbelievable season when Liverpool almost won the league title thanks to Luis Suarez, the team didn’t perform up to the standard expected. The performance went downwards, and the patience of owners ran out who called Jurgen Klopp to take over from Brendan Rodgers.

Klopp was halfway through his much needed holiday after leaving Dortmund where he won two league titles and reached a Champions League final. But the lure of Anfield was too difficult to resist, so he cut short his vacations and signed the contract.

Even for the fans, it was a tough time. It was pretty evident during the last days of Brendan Rodgers where even with the lead of one goal, sometimes even two the doubts in the mind of fans were obvious. If the team went one goal down, the atmosphere changed completely. They would leave the stadium early knowing the chances of a comeback weren’t high. The Famous Anfield European nights were far away as well, with the club just qualifying for the Champions League only once in the past six years.

“Does anyone in this room think that I can do wonders? I’m a normal guy from the Black Forest who was an average player. It’s surreal. I woke up this morning, and I was the manager of Liverpool FC.” He continued. “I remember my last words when I left Dortmund were that it’s not important what people say when you come in, but what they say when you leave. If we sit here in four years, I think we win a title, and I’m pretty sure. If not, maybe next holiday in Switzerland!”

It was mid-season, and Klopp started managing the team, there were no new signings because the window was closed, so he had to work with the team that was left behind by Brendan Rodgers. It was a tough start with the first three games ending in draw but the signs of things to come were clear with the team beating their opponents by considerable margin (5km on average) in the distance covered per match, which was basis of Jurgen Klopp’s philosophy ‘Gegenpressing’ or in his own words ‘heavy metal football’.

In January 2016 Liverpool reached the final of Football league Cup in which they contested against Manchester City. The game was thrilling throughout and ended 1-1 at full time. Ultimately, Manchester City won it on penalties (1-3).

"You have to feel a defeat. You cannot say 'I don't care, it's not important'. It was important, and we lost, so that feels not too good. You always have to strike back. We can say all of these things, but you know you can fall down and then you have to stand up. That's the truth, but it's completely normal – only silly idiots stay on the floor and wait for the next defeat."

Liverpool ended the season at 8^th Spot, even below the likes of West Ham and Southampton but the positive vibes were still there because Liverpool had reached the Europa League final beating the likes of Manchester United and Dortmund, the latter one a memorable night at Anfield where they made a comeback from 0-2 and then 1-3 to beat Dortmund 4-3 in the second leg to reach the semi-final. The final was their only chance of reaching the Champions Leaguewasbut even after a lead of 1-0 they eventually lost 1-3 to Sevilla.

“It’s not about the size of the squad or how many players we have, it’s about using the time for training to get better, using this experience tonight and I promise everyone, we will use it. We will use it. We will come back stronger 100 per cent.”

SEASON	2015-16
Games	63
Win	26
Loss	14
Draw	23
Goals Scored	98
Goals Conceded	71
Goal Difference	27
Goals Scored Per Match	1.55
WIN	41.27%

The club released as many as 16 players from their squad at the end of 2015-1016 season and brought in the likes of Sadio Mane and Joel Matip who would go on to become an integral part of Klopp’s Liverpool revolution. The season started with a thrilling 3-4 away win at Arsenal but the first couple weeks were inconsistent as Liverpool lost to Burnley 0-2. The team soon gained momentum with 7 wins and 3 draws in their next 10 matches and by the halfway stage were sitting at the second spot with 42 points, just six behind league leaders Chelsea. They also reached the semi-final of league cup but eventually lost to Southampton 0-2 on aggregate over two legs.

Partly due to injuries and a thin squad, and mostly because of the tight schedule and the workload players had to endure, the team faced a massive slump after that. Liverpool could only win 1 of their next 7 matches, gaining a total of 7 points and dropped down to the fifth spot by the end of February. The rest of the season was focused on securing the precious 4^th spot that guaranteed a playoff for Champions League, and Liverpool clicked at the right time. With no European football to play and they had time to prepare for matches and went on another run where they just lost 1 of their last 12 games and marginally pipping Arsenal to the 4^th place with 76 points.

There was criticism on the team throughout the season for not being able to finish off the matches and a defence that leaked goals. Klopp also had to face the heat because most experts believed that his style of play is not suitable for Premier League due to the toll it takes on the players due to the packed fixture list. But overall, Liverpool won 22 and lost just 6 matches throughout the season which was a marked improvement from the previous year where they won only 16 and lost 10 games.

SEASON	2016-17
Games	47
Win	27
Loss	9
Draw	11
Goals Scored	92
Goals Conceded	47
Goal Difference	45
Goals Scored Per Match	1.95
WIN	57.45%

For the 2017-18 season having Champions league to offer meant good quality players were willing to come to Liverpool after a long time. But Klopp had a different view. “If I spoke to a player now and he told me: ‘If you were playing in the Champions League next year then I would be really interested,’ I would put the phone down. That is what I would say to players. It is about pushing the train, not jumping on a running train.” His first signing for the new season was Mohammed Salah, soon Andrew Robertson and Alex Oxlade Chamberlain were added to the squad, and it looked in better shape. To make the defence better, Liverpool tried to sign Virgil Van Dijk but failed in their efforts.

Liverpool started their season with a 3-3 draw against Watford, and even though they won the next two matches comprehensively, the team just did not click. They just won 3 games in the first 9 and were lingering at 9^th place. The pressure mounted on Klopp when they were eliminated from the League Cup by Leicester City, and for the first time during his reign, there were shouts for him to be sacked after they were outclassed entirely 1-4 by Tottenham. Klopp was able to rejuvenate the team in these tough times, and they would go on a run in which they would only lose 2 of their 28 matches with the Fab-Four of Phillipe Coutinho, Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane and Mohammed Salah lighting up the Premier League with their display. Liverpool had to sell Coutinho in the January transfer window, and it was feared that losing their best player of the past few years would make Liverpool weaker. But that turned out to be wrong as Klopp brought in Virgil Van Dijk to strengthen their defence and change their formation to 4-3-3 to unleash the trio of Salah, Mane, Firmino who ended up scoring 91 goals between them.

By March it was apparent that Manchester City would run away with the title, so Liverpool turned their attention towards Champions League where they qualified for the quarter-finals by beating Porto comprehensively by an aggregate of 5-0. They would go onto face Guardiola’s Manchester City who were flying in the league. The first leg took place at Anfield where Klopp’s team outclassed Manchester City 3-0 and would go onto win the away leg 1-2 to qualify for the Champions League semi-final. They faced Roma in the Semi-final and barely hung on to defeat them by a total of 6-7 even though they beat Roma in the first leg by 5-2. The most prestigious match of Club football took place in Kyiv and Liverpool had a good chance of winning it even though they faced Ronaldo’s Real Madrid who had won the tournament the previous two times.

The match started on equal terms, and even though Madrid took the lead, Liverpool fought back to draw level at 1-1. But unfortunately they lost Mohammed Salah to a broken shoulder and their goalkeeper Lauris Karius was hit on the head while making a save and would go onto making some horrible errors as Liverpool lost 1-3 and Klopp would lose his third consecutive final with Liverpool.

“I’m turning 51 next month, or so, I lost games in my life before, I won games in my life before – I know how to deal with that. What you cannot avoid is the feeling you have the night after the game. We all feel really, really bad, and the way home will not be the best trip we ever had in our life, but we have to accept it now. We wanted everything and got nothing, or minus something with the injury of Mo Salah.”

For Klopp, it sure was a sad night after the game, but didn’t blame the players or cried about the errors and was seen with the fans singing;

“We saw the European Cup,

Madrid had all the ******* luck.”

“We swear we’ll keep on being cool,

We’ll bring it back to Liverpool.”

SEASON	2017-18
Games	56
Win	31
Loss	9
Draw	16
Goals Scored	135
Goals Conceded	63
Goal Difference	72
Goals Scored Per Match	2.41
WIN	55.36%

Liverpool now had a good team with only a few missing links and Klopp was quick to react in the transfer market. Within a week of the Champions League defeat, the club announced the transfer of Fabinho and welcomed the already signed Nabi Keita. Later in the transfer market, Klopp completes the last piece of jigsaw when he signed a new goalkeeper Alison to give Liverpool strength at the back.

Liverpool started the season as favourites with Manchester City and won their first six matches to stay on top. The new additions and settled team were showing they are in top gear. They didn’t lose a single game from August to December and would sit on top the table with 54 points in 20 matches having a lead of 7 points over Manchester City. They lost their crucial fixture against them to narrow the gap to 4 points and then both the teams switched positions at the top of the table throughout the next couple of months. Liverpool’s start in the Champions League was not as good, and they lost all their away group matches and barely held on to qualify for the next round thanks to their goalkeeper Alison who made incredible saves during their last group match against Napoli.

It was in March when Liverpool drew against Everton that Manchester City topped the table with just 1 point difference and 9 games remaining. Both the teams would go on an unbeaten run with Liverpool losing the league by a single point (They totalled 97 points vs Manchester City’s 98) even though they just lost 1 game out of 38 in the league. The weekly disappointment of staying one point behind City, even after winning the matches and eventually losing the league did not come in their way of Champions League journey though.

 They beat the mighty Bayern Munich 0-0 and 1-3 over two legs in the round of 16. The quarter-final was a straightforward affair vs Porto, and they won by a total of 6-1 in the two matches. They were drawn against Barcelona in the semi-final and going into the first match, Liverpool were considered favourites by most people. They played really well and dominated the game, but just like it’s the case most times, Lionel Messi made the difference with two superb goals as Barcelona lead 3-0 going into the second leg at Anfield. No English team had ever come back from 3 nill down to win a European match in the second leg. Adding to the fact that if Barcelona scored even 1 goal, Liverpool would have to score 5.

Things got even worse for Liverpool because Mohammed Salah and Roberto Firmino, the heart of Liverpool team were not available through Injury. Klopp’s message to his team was simple. He later confessed: "I told the boys before it was impossible, but because it’s you, boys, we have a chance” In an Anfield miracle they would go onto win the match 4-0 leaving Barcelona and everyone else shell-shocked. He said after the game; “Winning is already difficult, but winning and keeping a clean sheet, that is absolutely incredible. Here's something everyone inside Anfield knows, including our opponents. This Liverpool never stops. This Liverpool never shut down. This Liverpool gives it all at all times. The boys are mentality giants."

While the praise was for everyone in the team, everyone knew that it was Klopp who transformed Liverpool from fragile losers to a mentality giant. They played the final against Tottenham Hotspur, and although the match was not as entertaining as the semi-final, Liverpool won 2-0 and went onto lift the European Cup for the 6^th time, most by any English team.

The song Jurgen Klopp sang with Liverpool supporters on a sad night in Kyiv was now modified.

“We’re sending greetings from Madrid

Tonight we made it number six

We brought it back to Liverpool,

Because we promised we would do.”

Klopp had been true to his word, after all. He did bring it back to Liverpool, and they did win a title in 4 years’ time as he said in his first press conference.

SEASON	2018-19
Games	53
Win	38
Loss	7
Draw	6
Goals Scored	115
Goals Conceded	28
Goal Difference	77
Goals Scored Per Match	2.17
WIN	71.70%

Liverpool have started the new season with a statement of intent adding the UEFA Super Cup to the list of trophies and winning their first 8 matches and sit top of the table with 24 points and a lead of 7 points vs Manchester City. When he lost his first match vs Crystal Palace back in 2015, the crowd left early as was the norm because the fans had no confidence in the team. He said: “After the goal on 82 minutes, with 12 minutes to go, I saw many people leaving the stadium. I felt pretty alone at this moment. We decide when it is over.” It has been a patient wait for him. You’ll Never Walk Alone” Liverpool fans sing, and he sure isn’t alone anymore.

“Let’s talk about six baby!” He said: “Now we have won something and we will carry on because we want to win more things 100%. For me, I am really happy, I have a lot of silver medals, and now I have a golden one, and that’s cool”

SEASON (As of 18th October 2019)	2019-20
Games	13
Win	10
Loss	1
Draw	2
Goals Scored	29
Goals Conceded	14
Goal Difference	15
Goals Scored Per Match	1.94
WIN	76.92%

The season is still new, and there is a long way to go, but there is no doubt that Jurgen Klopp has made Liverpool one of the best teams in the world and his passion, commitment and body language mirrors in the way the team plays.

This week marks Jurgen Klopp’s 4 years at the helm of Liverpool, and they are on cusp of great things, a Premier League title is in sight for them, its been a long wait and if Liverpool are able to win it...If... That will be a just reflection of where Jurgen Klopp has taken this team and the fans, just as he said, from doubters to believers.