A RESULT, and night, that surely makes some decisions on where priorities lie for the rest of the season. I have no appetite for a battle for eighth. The players look like they feel the same.
A Bill Shankly quote we have used often this season is that a football team needs three men to play a piano and eight men to carry it.
Leicester City had three men up front who looked likely to score a goal and eight men happy to help them.
Liverpool had strikers scared to play the notes and defenders trying to smash the piano with a hammer.
The Reds had lots of nice midfield play and loads of possession. Leicester City scored twice, forced two great saves from Simon Mignolet and should have had a penalty. Real heavy metal football versus lads passing a guitar among themselves until Alberto Moreno drops it in the bath.
Liverpool opted not to buy a striker in the transfer window. They haven’t scored in the last three games.
They’ll be hoping those coming back, come back hard and come back quick. In the meantime we’re stuck with this lot. Who I’ll rate for your pleasure.
Simon Mignolet: 7.5
Two terrific saves and nothing he can do with the goals. Must wish he could just have a good game and Liverpool win.
Nathaniel Clyne: 5
Real shame he followed up a good performance with a shaky one. The way they set up and play can make a fool of you, but sometimes he did it all by himself.
Alberto Moreno: 4
This is why ticket prices make you want to jump in the Mersey. You give them all your money so frauds who can’t kick a ball can waste it on some left back who’s got brilliant interception stats but dreadful throwing the ball to them stats. There are about seven left backs at the academy I would trust more than him. I wouldn’t back him to spell his own name.
Dejan Lovren: 5
Looked very shaky early on when we hadn’t realised Vardy might beat him in a race. Looked a bit better when we decided to form something resembling a back four.
Mamadou Sakho: 5
Covered Lovren really well until Lovren started to play better, and then decided it was his turn to forget how to defend. Dreadful for the second, and should have given away a penalty when his sit down slide tackle failed to work again. Some nice passes though.
Lucas Leiva: 5
Feels like this isn’t really working any more. We’ll always have Villa away last year and fronting the Stoke end last week, mate.
Jordan Henderson: 5
Still not sure what is going on. Having an injury that has to get worse before it gets better, and pain is a a good thing and it’ll all be fine honest sounds like a massive blag to me.
Emre Can: 6
Actually thought he was doing alright. Mad end-to-end games suit him.
James Milner: 6
Thought he did alright, too. Our best passer of the ball until Joe Allen came on. And then again when Joe Allen kicked it out for a throw.
Adam Lallana: 5
Insert every Lallana comment from previous ratings apart from Norwich away
Roberto Firmino: 5
Just packs in when it’s not going for him. Which isn’t ideal. We were all fed up, mate, but you were getting paid.
SUBS
Christian Benteke: 5
He didn’t do anything, did he? Oh, did a nice turn and then didn’t pass. That was it.
Joe Allen: 6
Give me hope, Joe Allen. Give me hope, Joe Allen. Give me hope, Joe Allen, ‘fore the morning comes.
Joao Teixeira: n/a
“Two minutes left, mate. Grab a hat trick.”
Klopp’s choices are beginning to upset me. Playing injured players and bloody Moreno.
Am feeling the same way! Surely brad smith has earnt a call up? also quite concerned by the fact Moreno cant seem to cross a ball but is constantly trusted with set pieces? Which when you cant score a goal is surely an opportunity we should be making the most of!
I do still trust in klopp though.. surely he has a plan here…. somewhere..
haha . Excellent John. I was depressed, literally, after such soft match by the team. But this whole article.made me rrally laugh. …and you left the best for last ~ Joe Allen…haha. (you are generous with Can though)…
Superb stuff as always, John. The opening, Moreno and Firmino is all bang on in particular.
Too soft on Sakho though. His passing was far from “nice” tonight – he repeatedly played it to a midfielder who had one of their’s right up his arse. Once it led to Mahrez’s wonder-shot (and Mignolet’s wonder-save), and once it led to a dangerous free-kick on the edge of our box. That’s just the first half; there were probably other occasions I’ve forgotten.
He’s a talented player who would probably thrive in a less dynamic league. But, in this league, the high-tempo one we are looking to win in the next few years, he’s frequently exposed in the air, and to a lesser extent on the ground, too. If he’s the future of our defence as some fans seem to genuinely believe then we may as well pack it all in.
who says Henderson is carrying an injury. He’s been here for 4 years and this is as good as he’ll ever be. Get rid.
We are just a poor quality side at best, now playing with little confidence. No pace + no quality = the shite we see game in and game out.
Fuck this lot and give some kids a chance.
‘I wouldn’t back him to spell his own name’
Quite right too. His name is Albert.
I’ve been banging on about Moreno’s lack of positional sense & foul throws for a year. Everyone else is finally catching on that running a lot & kung fu tackles doesn’t make you a good player. I’ve defended Sakho a lot in the past but he’s been poor recently. How many goals have we conceded down the left hand side? Must be the majority.
i love it when some tithead states the bleeding obvious then claims that ‘everyone else is finally catching on’ do one Einstein.
Anyone else getting sick and tired of all this?
Yes
Last year was bad but we had pace in the form of the greedy one and so we go and sell the greedy one and replace him with two forwards that have no pace and then loan out the only other forward Markovic that had pace because he was ‘never going to get a game’ unless of course you need somebody that can run. Under FSG Liverpool have made some unbelieving decisions on recruitment but buying Markovic and then loaning him out without the possibility of bringing him back is up there.
Mamadou Sakho I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down
Also, maybe the ‘talented’ Can and Moreno with their enormous ‘potential resale value’ improve exponentially like real life is a game of Fifa and end up making FSG all kinds of the moneyball USD when Bayern and Real are obviously both biting our hands of for them a couple of years down the line, but right now I’m watching Liverpool and could do with seeing people who have some semblance of understanding on how to play football. The pair of them need dropping for Joeallen and Brad Smith before I go spare.
Having had a bad knee injury before myself I will swear down to you and all others that Sakho isn’t really fit. He’s still injured and looks like he’s playing through it, probably because A) we haven’t got anyone else and B) the Euros are this summer and he wants to go. The French coach said that because he wasn’t playing before he couldn’t be selected and if I was him I’d be terrified of being out of the side for any major length of time.
You can see in the way he’s running, jumping and especially turning now. Those sit-down tackles are a sign of someone who doesn’t trust their knees and can’t move freely. Watch Sakho before the injury then watch after, it’s night and day. Same with Hendo. They’re still not fit, and in my opinion shouldn’t be playing. Thing is, we’ve seen how good Sakho can be, the rest of our CBs are really bloody terrible. Bin them all off and play Illori with Sakho for now. Then buy in some new ones in summer.
League is now a write off, let’s push for some cups instead.
Yeah, all that makes sense to me. Thing is if your playing your captain centre mid and on his day best centre back half fit, you may as well start rushing Sturridge back and hoping one of these half chances we’re blazing over gets finished.
Maybe people like me (and seemingly klopp) who can’t stand watching Benteke need to bite the bullet and just play a recognised striker who has a record of finding the back of the net. This Firmino false 9 tactic worked a treat at man city but if we’re as ineffective as we have been recently we’ll get embarrassed in the final.
Last night I was completely baffled and out of idea’s what’s going on with Sakho. This explains everything. Thinking about his play it makes absolute sense to me. I think you’re 100% correct. Nice one!
A good point, Chris; then we need to fire the medical staff for not picking this out and for Hendo’s fitness; (still have not fully recovered yet; and trying my best to find the scapegoat : -)
defo mate. it feels therapeutic firing people :)
The more I see of Klopp, the more I’m leaning towards believing he no longer has the answers.
He’s not got this bunch of lads playing any better than Rodgers really. A transfer window has gone by, without him showing any real initiative. No loans, or anything. Could he not get hold of a few Germans for 5 months that would be an improvement on what we are seeing every week?
We are so easy to play against. Sit-back and counter-attack. We won’t score and if you don’t get a breakaway goal there will always be corners and free-kicks where we can give the game away to you.
The only reason we aren’t already talking about Klopp losing his job is because his reputation is too big. It has nothing to do with what we have seen so far from him, which has been very, very ordinary.
He looks like a man who has simply gotten used to losing football matches.
Apart from the Rodgers comment, I agree with everything else (unfortunately). I think BR had completely lost it and by the end was trying to invent some super-duper-clever system of playing. Klopp is at least playing a recognizable game.
The inconsistency is one thing but Klopp’s inability to figure out how to make a functioning team out of this squad is really disappointing. The injuries are not helping for sure but we’re laughable right now. I haven’t felt this fed up for quite a while. It’s getting to Hodgson proportions …
This is a squad where there’s no single established wide man or any pace up forward, 3 of 4 strikers injured and the one available is one who is either out of form or isn’t very good or both. A midfield that’s brittle due to the previous manager constantly ignoring it for 4 years, and a defense that has a keeper and a left back who’ve been liabilities for ages
And he got these guys in a cup final, I’d say he’s getting a lot out of broken tools
Really? The guy is doing what he can with a more than average squad. It is unfair of us to judge based on this squad. Let’s we what the summer brings. Chillax this was always going to be a crappy season
Oh, FFS!
Maybe the reason why people aren’t talking about Klopp using his job is that people aren’t bloody kneejerk insane drama queens?
No, the reason we’re not talking about his losing his job is that he’s only been doing if a few months, they’re not his players and he’s boss. Shanks wouldn’t have survived his first season with attitudes like this.
Spot on. And totally agree with the ‘drama queens’ comment above, as well. How about a bit of patience, everyone? Can’t bear listening to national radio phone-ins anymore: there’s always a so-called Liverpool fan sounding like a 12-year-old Man City fan who discovered football in 2011, aged 7. If we’re not winning a trophy or obviously on course the CL, it’s toys-out-of-the-pram time. Shankly wouldn’t have lasted two years in this climate.
i appear to have stumbled on a Chelsea site??
Me too. It’s bewildering. But perhaps some people on here will have left by next season and be ‘supporting’ other clubs, if we don’t finish in the top four (our divine right) and spend 200 million in the summer (while keeping ticket prices reasonable).
Would not be possible to disagree more. Take a look at that team last night. Look at what he had to choose from. There was absolutely no balance whatsoever to it. Nothing to exploit and nobody to rely on to pull something from the hat. Look at the performances Klopp has got from us when he has had something even resembling a squad: Chelsea away, City away, Southampton away. He has also got us in a final which is more than Rodgers ever did.
Klopp is the first Liverpool manager in a very long time to come into the club and find not one single player you could define as top notch available to him from the off.
I think part of the problem can be seen *precisely* by looking at the team last night. Can is exhausted and hasn’t justified his place for a long time. Moreno and him are in a competition for world’s most headless chicken.
If it looked like pinball in the midfield where we couldn’t gain control, then perhaps the manager should have put the Welsh Allen there. If Benteke is going to come on, then Smith should defo be there. At the very least, Flanagan. Moreno needs to sort himself, and Klopp needs to recognize that.
I’m not one to claim Klopp needs to go (I argued for both Rafa and Rodgers to stay longer), but enough time has passed that we should have seen some sort of direction. But honestly, I can’t see anymore direction than I did after the Everton game. We still haven’t seen Klopp string together an unbeaten streak of more than 2 in a row, let alone more than 2 wins.
Persists with Lucas, who is the definition of diminishing returns. I would start looking to next season, and I can’t see Lucas as more than a Kolo Toure figure.
haha brilliant john
I was trying to decide which Liverpool team is worse, this one and the one that got Hodgson fired and after today the answer is clear.
This is the worst Liverpool I have ever seen in my 30 years of supporting Liverpool Football Club.
Brendan must be sitting with that smug smile on his face saying “you fired me when I was 12 games unbeaten”, if it was not for his smug smile, I would agree with him.
Hi Mel
That’s true but I don’t think it tells the whole story.
I didn’t have a problem with Brendan’s coaching, his playing people in unusual positions, his interviews, his teeth, personal life or Being Liverpool. He’s clearly a talented coach. My problem with him was his track record in the transfer window.
I’ve no idea whether he, the transfer committee or the owners money-ball policy was to blame (probably a combination of all three) but, given the outgoing cash, to end up with this unbalanced squad, devoid of pace up front or genuine class is an absolute disgrace.
So, if he’s feeling smug, he shouldn’t be.
Moreno is the only player in that team with pace. I thought they did OK in creating space on the left for AM to work in. Unfortunately, he makes bad decisions and can’t put any lift or shape on a cross.. The one time you want him to hit it hard and low across the goalmouth, he blasts it wide of the near post.
We need some speed. Smith and Ojo to be promoted please.
What the fuck was Migs doing off his line. He had plenty of time to realise Vardy had one option.
Goalkeepers don’t stand literally on their line when through balls are played, in case the judgement is to rush out for a one on one. If the striker runs through on goal and the keeper is too late to come out, you’re left asking why he’s left his line so late to narrow the angle.
We all love Sakho as a person, he’s awesome BUT is am so glad you guys give him an honest rating. There is a narrative that he’s our best defender. That is nonsense. Although he had a bad game tonight (straight back from injury) but, West Ham at home apart, Lovren has easily been our best CB this season. The echo was honest and gave Sakho a 4, whereas This is Anfield, as ever gave him the highest mark. Love the guy but he is simply not good enough, for every good performance there are 3 or 4 atrocious ones. Moreno needs to go, just not good enough. Also, how can Allen not get a league start when Can, Henderson and Milner continue to be atrocious?
Only 3 weeks or so ago we dominated Leicester, they are doing well within their system but we should still have enough to beat them.
Question, when was the last time our first choice 11 played well? Arsenal (just the attack) but as a team, for 90 mins in the league, Man City away? The summer can’t come soon enough. Klopp needs an extended period on the training ground. I like Can, but he and Moreno are just brain dead. There is no way on earth that Can should be picked ahead of Allen. Hendo’ I’m giving a bit of a pass due to his injury.
You know things are dire when we are pinning our hopes of revival on Joe Allen (wee Joe).
I hope FSG has targets and about £500 M ready to go in the summer, about 3/4 of this team needs to go.
FSG want to flip the club. They’re doing everything to increase its book value, not its standing. We’ll sell our best player (or two – as we’ve no out and out stars left) in the summer to cover transfers. The TV income will make up the rest.
If the corps don’t lap up the new stand, Annie Rd development won’t even start.
FSG have written this season off. They don’t care we finish providing it’s not in the bottom three. They still have the mindset you can hit the reset switch at the end of the season. And no doubt fapping off to the spreadsheet showing all that new TV money and a mid-table squad.
Will Klopp stick around if there is no Euro next season? We need to finish 6th if we can’t beat City in the LC final. It’s hard to move up the table when you can’t score in the league and leak two.
The results wouldn’t be so bad if the players made it look interesting. This turgid dross of late is as bad as anything Kenny/Woy and Rodgers served up.
Perhaps it’s time to drop the garbage and throw the kids on the park.
Didn’t know what our plan was to score.
Hate it when 4 central mids play.
Hate it with no pace up top
No release ball (cause no pace)
Bobby F needs proper help up top, but doesn’t do himself any favours
Moreno needs counselling
Sakho needs to stop trying to prove he’s a good CB and just be one
Lucas I have commented before has lost it, and 2 good games every 6 isn’t what we need
Can needs a rest and some counselling
Milner tries hard but isn’t up to it
We should have players that make Lallana a sub only
They had Morgan & Huth at CB. Enough said.
3/4 out 3/4 in over the summer – not wholesale.
This.
Spot on.
They are top wit Morgan & Huth at CB
They are top with Morgan & Huth at CB
They are top with Morgan & Huth at CB
They are top with Morgan & Huth at CB
They are top with Morgan & Huth at CB
They are top with Morgan & Huth at CB
They are top with Morgan & Huth at CB
They are top with Morgan & Huth at CB
They are top with Morgan & Huth at CB
They are top with Morgan & Huth at CB
They are top with Morgan & Huth at CB
They are top with Morgan & Huth at CB
They are top with Morgan & Huth at CB
They are top with Morgan & Huth at CB
They are top with Morgan & Huth at CB
They are top with Morgan & Huth at CB
They are top with Morgan & Huth at CB
They are top with Morgan & Huth at CB
They are top with Morgan & Huth at CB
They are top with Morgan & Huth at CB
They are top with Morgan & Huth at CB
They are top with Morgan & Huth at CB
They are top with Morgan & Huth at CB
They are top with Morgan & Huth at CB
They are top with Morgan & Huth at CB
They are top with Morgan & Huth at CB
They are top with Morgan & Huth at CB
The more I say it, the less it makes sense. Am I in a dream!!!
We played like the home team with loads of the ball though which is playing right into their hands. They’ve been clearing it to vardy over the top to great success like that presumably for most of this season.
We needed to let them have it and see how the likes of Huth and Morgan get on trying to play the type of balls Sakho can on his better days.
We must have signed over 50 midfielders in the last few years, yet Lucas continues to play every week. I watched him last night for the second goal, and he was jogging back as Vardy broke free and scored. Time for some new blood in the team..
There is way too much negativity on here. Yes, Spudo you did stumble on a Chelski site.
For those of you ragging on the manager: Fucks sake guys. Get some perspective. If things weren’t majorly wrong with this lot then he wouldn’t have got the job in the first place. Last night was poor. We looked tired and jaded (and injured) but you’ve seen what can be achieved going forward with the City, Chelsea results and we’re in a final which counts for something surely.
This squad needs a major charisma and energy transplant in the summer.
Klopp will sort it. If anything needs changing it’s the utter mugs who’ve presided over our transfer policy. Nothing wrong with a transfer committee per se but there sure as hell is something wrong with ours.
Exactly. Perspective.
yep. Spot on.
You are saying that Klopp will simply sort it, because you cannot bear to believe anything else. It is just blind hope. So far, he’s having no obvious impact. We still can’t score and still can’t defend. Players look no more up for the fight than under the previous manager, either.
The lack of even loan signings, in January, makes it look like even Klopp has given up on this season. He’s trying the same thing, week after week, in the hope that somehow things will start to work.
I want to see some smart ideas from him. He’s meant to be a lot brighter than the other managers in this league. Right now, it appears that they figured out how to deal with his tactics after just a few weeks and he has no more answers.
Everyone is talking about how Klopp might leave us, unless we start playing better. This is a farcical notion. Klopp’s hanging on to top-level management by his fingertips, after dreadful results in both the last campaign and this one as well.
If he parts company with the club, it will be because he has been sacked and his next job won’t be with Barca, Madrid, or Bayern. It will be with a club smaller than us or Dortmund.
A team like Stoke, or maybe a reunion with Mainz. That’s the direction he’s heading, with the results he’s been getting in the last season and a half.
No more up for the fight than under Rodgers? Did you watch the start of this season. Yes we have put some inept performances in under Klopp but there have also been games where we have fought back until the end as well. Not as often as we would like, but a hell of a lot more than under Rodgers in the last season and a bit.
You may believe that. If you do, fair enough as you’re entitled to your opinion etc, but try to be credible.
Saying the squad are not up for the fight is just baseless and said without due consideration because it sounds impactful. Klopp has already achieved things within four months that Rodgers simply never did. Namely: wins – and easy ones – away at Chelsea and City and a cup final.
The players are up for the fight but they just aren’t good enough to produce with the regularity we require.
Try looking at the positives for a change.
We’re just four players away from this team being a very good one.
Klopp has a record of finding players that have character, leadership and quality.
There are plenty of good players in this squad that will suit the way we like to play. (A lot of them aren’t playing but will be back soon / next season.) Gomez, Ings, Coutinho, Sturridge, Flanagan…of those currently playing, Henderson (fully fit), Sakho (fully fit), Clyne, Lucas, would be in any team of mine. Allen too.
Plenty of utterly mediocrity too, granted. But we need
1 Great ‘keeper
2 Hyppia / Carragher type centre half
IF we get 1, and 2 the entire defence feels a hell of a lot different.
Keeper dominates area up to the penalty spot, defenders know what’s happening with every cross / dead ball delivery, there is aggressive leadership and decisiveness. Result: we concede half the amount of goals next season. HALF. That’s a massive amount of goals and already adds 13-18 points to the tally.
Then we need
3 Boss CM with athleticism, aggression and quality dead ball delivery;
4 Boss striker with pace, movement, and belief. (Sturridge without the glass legs.) Allied to Ings, Origi, Bobby F and Ojo, we will score stack loads.
Judge JK on his summer signings and the halfway stage of next season. Until then – get behind the team and if you’re determined to be negative, focus your energy on the reason why we are in this mire – namely chronically pisspoor management of human and financial resources at boardroom level.
What a shock having dig at Lucas you either don’t understand what your watching or your turning into that ginger idiot on talksport and just saying stupid thing for the sake of it . Henderson Can and Milner were awful last nite and are becoming a real problem no assists no goals cant take a set piece there the players on big money not doing what there paid for watch the game again and youl find Lucas did his job 90% of time the other 3 barley 50% I know w’ve got issues all over pitch so stop being lazy
Hear, hear!
It is beyond absurd to give Lucas a ‘5’ and type those moronic comments, (“Feels like this isn’t really working any more. We’ll always have Villa away last year and fronting the Stoke end last week, mate.”) and then proceed to give Can a ‘6’ (one wonders if John was inebriated during and/or after the match) and add these comments “Actually thought he was doing alright. Mad end-to-end games suit him.” and Milner a ‘6’ with these comments “Thought he did alright, too. Our best passer of the ball until Joe Allen came on. And then again when Joe Allen kicked it out for a throw.”.
Get yourself the fourfourtwo (or the like) app on your smart phone, and check the stats (since your memory of the game is obviously faulty) before you make statements that go beyond opinion, John. It will save you the embarrassment. “Game of opinions” does not justify making batshit crazy statements of fact.
As for people on here having a go at Klopp, his player selections and managerial acumen, it’s like librarians having a go at critiquing neuro-surgeons. Leave it, geniuses!
Wanted to sleep on it(or attempt to sleep) before coming undone and ranting in frustration at what I saw yesterday.
Firstly, Klopp chose us just as much as we chose him. He turned down Real and Utd to come here. He’s not shite. He is, I think, discovering just how deep the rot is regarding the players at the club from the first team down. Sometimes you have to shore up the foundation, a foundation he did not lay.
Second, we’ve sacked a manager already this season and now there is nowhere else for these players to hide. I could go on and on about who did or didn’t do what out there yesterday but the true culprit is the people at the top.
I can only conclude that the stats obsessed approach to player acquisitions is nothing more than a house of cards. By our own standards every season, with the exception of one, under this strategy has been a failure. Doing the same thing and expecting different results?
Lastly, and this is where my rant gets fun… If ticket prices are going up and we are paying more to watch overpaid mediocrity then can we please strike a kit deal with an established and reputable company(will we wear Macron next)? We are Liverpool after all and if we’re going to lose I want to look classy doing it.
Anyone even remotely leaning towards Klopp losing his job is an absolute moron who has no place anywhere near football.
I genuinely do not believe anyone with credibility truly believes this. You’ll always get wannabe contrarians who want to be the first to criticise something that is overwhelmingly popular, in this case Klopp, because they think it positions them as some kind of fountain of insight i.e. ‘oh, perhaps he has noticed something we haven’t? Etc etc…….
Only a fool could draw any conclusions as to Klopp’s managerial capabilties based on this bucket of gruel he has inherited. The work he has done already – wins at City and Chelsea + the cup final – is actually distorting people’s understanding of just how ball-achingly limited the squad is.
Yes let’s sack a proven top class manager who is struggling to stamp his image and ideas on a pretty poor collection of players after only a few months. Great ‘thinking’. I despair for some people who claim to be Liverpool supporters and post such unremitting sh*te.
I was at the game last night and had a good look at Klopp’s body language. He veered from fuc*ing angry to perplexed at what he was seeing. This guy knows that he has a mid table side which will blow hot and cold like mid table sides do, and he might just get them above mid table and could even win a trophy, but until he gets players in who are able to do what he wants then that’s the best he can do.
Next season will see what sort of talent he has to offer with a squad that will at least contain a core of players he trusts. Until then shut up, lock your self in your van and let the rest of us support the very best manager we could have hoped for 3 months ago.
THIS.
The same thing has been said with every Liverpool manager, except for Hodgson. Anyone who even floated the idea that they might be in a spot of bother, if they weren’t going to start winning a few games pretty soon, was treated like a traitor on the scaffold at Tyburn.
They all ended up getting the boot, perhaps all of them too soon, but one by one they were asked to clear their desks.
As John Gibbons pointed out in LIVERPOOL AND THE NUMBERS GAME: THE LEAGUE V CUPS DILEMMA (2nd Feb), the board gets in a bit of a tizz when empty seats start appearing at home league games.
That’s what did for Kenny, after our league position rendered the remainder of our campaign meaningless. Empty seats for a Chelsea game, with Kenny in charge! Nobody would haave thought that possible, just months before.
I’ve read a lot of predictable bluster on this thread, but little in the way of logical reasoning.
Why are things going to improve?
Which players are going to play better?
What improvements have we seen, since Spurs away?
Why should Klopp’s dreadful run (a season and a half) end now? Why not ten games ago, or in ten games time? Or, perhaps, a bit longer?
Why (if sacking him is a bad idea and I agree that it would be) do you trust the board to make the right decision with Klopp, when almost every other decision has been a bad one?
You talk of bluster, but the tone of your post perfectly encapsulates the propensity of the modern football fan to engage in short-termism, totally devoid of context. We know all the statistics but have no idea how to properly interpret them.
As for the questions posed:
Q: Why are things going to improve?
A: Because Jurgen Klopp is a high-calibre football manager. He has proven track record of being good a football management. He has beaten the likes of Pep Guardiola, Jose Mourinho, Louis van Gaal and Arsene Wenger to name a few. He knows our problems, you can see that by his absolutely spot on analysis of what we’re doing wrong. What he can’t do is get on the field and do it for a bunch of inept players. What he needs are players able to implement his instructions. That’s what he’ll get. He has already guided these to away wins at Stamford Bridge and the Etihad, places where the only thing we normally get is the coach home. He’s also taken us to a final with a chance of actually winning something shiny at the earliest opportunity he had.
Q: Which players are going to play better?
A: Vague question but there are players in the squad who will play better when surrounded by better quality. Henderson is one of those, as we saw in 2013/14. Clyne I believe is another. Can has enormous potential but serious work is needed on his decision making. Origi has a high ceiling and is just the kind of player Klopp excels with. See Southampton away for an example. Gomez has composure way beyond his years and is another who could step up under Klopp’s guidance.
To play for Klopp you need energy, intelligence and the ability to think quickly. How many of our squad do you see with those attributes? Not enough is my answer.
Q: What improvements have we seen, since Spurs away?
A: Well that game in itself was an improvement. We ran more than them for one and were the only team to have done so by that point. Lack of composure and forward threat was evident but then what’s new there? Since then, as I have said, we have gained some cracking results which I surely don’t need to list again but can add the Leicester home win to (one of only two sides to beat them this season). We’re in the League Cup final also. In four months that ain’t too bad considering.
Q: Why should Klopp’s dreadful run (a season and a half) end now? Why not ten games ago, or in ten games time? Or, perhaps, a bit longer?
A: What does this even mean? His cycle ended at Dortmund after all his amazing achievements there. Many of his best players – Kagawa, Sahin, Gotze, Lewandowski – were systematically picked off by the likes of Utd and Bayern. Not many teams could cope with that. After this he came to us and inherited a shambles. Again, look at the context.
Q: Why (if sacking him is a bad idea and I agree that it would be) do you trust the board to make the right decision with Klopp, when almost every other decision has been a bad one?
A: I don’t really comprehend this one. The ‘right decision’ in what regard?
And this.