02 Feb 2016 23:09:29
I watch all of Klopp's interviews and this was the most telling
The smiles and grinning is definitely reducing
The pressure is beginning to tell
He can't seem to understand why we are not scoring
The normal excuse of wrong decision making is wearing thin and become too simplistic
Question is why are the players constantly making the wrong decisions?
People can't always make the right decision in football in that split second
It is so easy to say afterwards - you made the wrong decision pass instead of shoot and vice a versa.

{Ed002's Note - He is a very good coach Leam but not the superhero the fans generally think he is. He has had success in the past (and to be clear that was four or five years ago) and has the capability to improve a struggling Liverpool side but he needs to be adaptable - the kopflose huhn style has been found out again (very quickly) as it is not fundamentally different to the Rodgers style. He was previously accused of intimidating players and if they are making wrong decisions that accusation will return. Maybe he is finding out more about himself and is getting over the gung-ho hugging the players deal.}

1.) 03 Feb 2016
03 Feb 2016 00:12:21
I couldn't agree more Ed002
I think he needs to go back to drawing board for this Liverpool
Even his successor at Dortmund has reinvented the team and their style

Honeymoon period and funny interviews are nearing the end for Klopp as reality kicks in.

2.) 03 Feb 2016
03 Feb 2016 00:41:30
He isn't a superhero but at least he is real, a proper football guy who loves everything about it. No more snake oil salesman antics and squad politics like the last regime. He may well still be learning but that's fine, from day one he tried to dumb down expectation.

To be perfectly honest there have been many games where we have played well, i don't think its a matter of being found out, if anything the style is the only thing that is working.

But how can you expect him to do anything with the most incompetent squad on the planet. He gives these players chance after chance to prove their value this year, which no doubt he has been encouraged to do because we are skint, and they let him down every single time.

Mignolet, moreno, clyne, what are we meant to do when this lot are conceding goals by the bucketload every week just through sheet incompetence.

Going forward, benteke, milner and lallana are nowhere near good enough and quite frankly are a disgrace at leading by example for the younger players, they don't want to win they just want to get by and watch someone else do the more skillful stuff. Benteke in particular is our only striker and is missing so many sitters every game. I know its hypothetical football fan nonsense (if we just scored more goals than the other team every game we would win the league) but the sheer volume of mistakes at the back, and chances created but not being taken up front is simply unacceptable for professional footballers of any level and is staggering.

It really should be better and i think klopp is suffering from a squad that really is all over the place, despite having everything being given to them on a plate.

{Ed002's Note - (a) The system was found out in Germany and is generally a pretty naive approach to the game. (b) His remit was to come in and work with the players at the club within the extant operational framework. He will be able to adapt the squad going forward as any other manager would. The club are not going to have yet another massive rebuild and a couple more years of transition. (c) You have made a lot of comments about players that reflects adversely on his ability to coach - who would you like to see replace Klopp?}

3.) 03 Feb 2016
03 Feb 2016 01:12:38
I'm not sure I'm disagreeing with either your or ed02s opinion but the troubles liverpool has had since finishing second in my mind relate to talent evaluation and less to do with tactics and managers. No matter what the sport, premier league, nhl, nba, baseball rugby etc the number one skill necessary for success is the ability to spot talent and build a team of talented players who can meet the needs necessary to succeed in the sport. Teams around the world who are succesful do it many different ways. Some sports have drafts others free agency others transfer windows and academies. No matter how each sport assembles talent the ones who constantly succeed are always able to identify talent and then sign that talent to long term contracts

I guess my point is that we can say it was Rodgers fault or Klopps or the transfer committees but at the end of the day the talent assembled just isn't that good and the inability to spot enough talent and or keep it when they have found it (Suarez/ Alonso/ Torres) has killed this team. Whether you want to spend small amounts of money and find bargains (Coutinho) or spend large amounts (Benteke) you have to have the ability to be right more than you are wrong in your evaluation of how good the player will be. Liverpool have been woeful in this department. The few times they have been right they have been unable to keep the player long enough for it to really matter

I think John Henry has hired a very good football mind in Klopp. While he won't be perfect all the time no one can complain that we don't have a good experienced manager. Now somehow FSG need to solve two problems. One how do they improve their ability to evaluate talent and second can they keep hold of the players that they need to keep when they are right.

{Ed002's Note - I would not be one of those standing and saying that the players en masse are anything but a good bunch. Don't blame them - there will always be one or two that slip out to be replaced each transfer window - but you are looking at a good leading side in European football. Perhaps not the elite but a good side that few would look forward to facing. FSG are the owners - they do not evaluate talent.}

4.) 03 Feb 2016
03 Feb 2016 01:30:26
Didn't mean to imply that FSG are evauating talent but they are the ones who ultimately evaluate the people who do evaluate the talent. I don't really know them sues behinds her scenes as well as the eds but looking at it from the outside the whole transfer process from scouting to determining what the needs of the teams are to the negotiating side seem dysfunctional.

Also ed02 I'm not saying that the side is terrible but it's not a top European side. Just in the EPL I would easily take Spurs Arsenal and City's first team squads over ours. So at best I would say our collected talentbis third in the league

I will cut them some slack though. We won't really know how good the squad is until they have Ings Sturridge or Origi healthy consistently.

{Ed002's Note - FSG are a group of investors who, for the moment, own Liverpool football club. The club has it's own board and operates autonomously on a day-to-day basis and FSG do not appoint scouts etc.. It is more than results that earn recognition in Europe - perhaps that is one failing the owners have.}

5.) 03 Feb 2016
03 Feb 2016 01:47:30
My last post and I'll leave you alone for the night. Your last response about results not being the only thing that earns recognition. Implication being th club or the owners is poorly thought of? If so can you elaborate why?

{Ed002's Note - Without going in to specifics they are far from integrated with many of the major European sides that work together over issues with the game as they see it.}

6.) 03 Feb 2016
03 Feb 2016 04:49:22
I don't get this what is this honeymoon period, everyone keeps going on about. from day 1 Klopp has known it isn't going to be easy, he has said he didn't have a pre season or good training sessions with the team and they are just preparing for games and haven't really got to train. he has had injury issues and is definitely holding back in terms of team selection. He is mostly still assessing and that frustrates him. the final third decision problems don't help him either. yes its his responsibility and he hasn't had the best season but he never had a honey moon period and he never thought it was going to be a cake ride. he is trying to encourage players and some of our play is also good, its just in patches though. and then game after game after game. once he puts his stamp on the dressing room and trains with them for a two three weeks i think we will all see the difference. for the time being it continues to drag on where Rodgers left us. or may be honey moon period means something else and i totally ranted out for no reason :P.

7.) 03 Feb 2016
03 Feb 2016 05:48:52
I think Klopp is a good manager and he will clinch the title for us in the future and I don't think the honeymoon period is over. We have so many important games to play this season and I am sure we will be rewarded with a title, be it the League cup, the FA CUP or Europa League. However, concerning the game against Leicester, the difference was clearly that the Leicester players was more talented than our players. We would have definitely won the game if we had a Suarez or even a Vardy in our team.

8.) 03 Feb 2016
03 Feb 2016 07:49:04
Honeymoon period is where everyone glosses over the faults

A more experienced manager would have come and the first thing he would have done is close up shop at the back
Which was our biggest problem under Rodgers

Then slowly start to play expansive football

Klopp was desperate to make his mark with his 100 miles an hour football which he has done and everyone now gets it
So now as a coach he should be able to work out how to stop leaking 2 / 3 or even 4 goals at every away game regardless of the personnel available
They are virtually all full internationals with a lot of experience
He is not playing with 15 year olds.

{Ed001's Note - but he is playing with a goalkeeper that is worse than a 15 year old and two full backs that would struggle to get into an U18 team. It is not as simple as just saying that, if we had a decent keeper, then the first goal would never have happened, as Vardy only shot because he saw Migs hopelessly out of position as normal. No manager can fix these players, we need to change the vast majority of our squad.}

9.) 03 Feb 2016
03 Feb 2016 03:51:30
So they are not in with the current 'in crowd' would that be an accurate assessment? I suspect that the "issues" facing "major European sides" would be to maintain their position as "major European sides" or am I being cynically naive?

{Ed002's Note - I think not being part of the "in crowd" is a very good assessment John. The other sides see issues related to such things as UEFA, television money, FFP, different rules for third party ownership in different countries, the pan-European breakaway (and now a counter offer of an alternate solution being proposed by UEFA) etc..}