So if expectations are to not flop in CL, why does that not extend to Conte who finished bottom in a much easier group than ours? We did just as well if not better in our own domestic cups. And with regards to their squad, it shows how poor their league is, you can look at the rest of the players in their league and the managers too - the quality is poor. Again not to dismiss him beating Juve to it and they're a relatively strong team still(albeit with an unknown manager)
In every cup we got knocked out of we lost to the winners. If we are going to act like that is all important too, why does that not extend to Klopp? Ole has done better than him in pretty much every domestic cup run since being in charge.
All teams struggle to break down deep lying defences, why do you think the managers deploy them? More often than not we get the job done.
We exceeded expectation in the league. Don't pretend otherwise just to suit your agenda. Most people thought we'd struggle for top 4 before the season. We beat better teams in Europe than most the teams actually in Europe (CL or Europa) but again only the one game matters. Black & White.
Ever since Ole joined our weaknesses have been clear. He wasn't supported in addressing any of them last summer and we still need the same players. CB, CM, RW. Klopp & Pep were both given all the support they needed to fill those voids, they done so and only then achieved what they were expected to.
Why does it not matter for Inter and Conte? Because they won the league! Like I said, if you fail in one competition, you have to go above in another.
I don't think we exceeded expectations? Last year we were 3rd with only half a year of Bruno and no Pogba for 3/4 of it. This year the expectation was to improve on it, the summer window was a disaster til the end but after it was done I expected top 4 without much hassle (mainly a points improvement) and a decent showing in the cups, and hopefully a trophy. We pretty much met expectations in the league, (2nd or 3rd is the same if you don't challenge for the league but aren't in a top 4 fight either), but we flopped in the cups. Yeah we had some good results but got knocked out of the group because we bottled it against Istanbul, so of course that's a huge failure?
Yes all teams struggle more to break down deep defences. But when comparing clubs with similar levels of squads, similar wage and spending levels, then we are far worse at it in comparison to where we should be and it's been a common issue with us (more than normal). We don't sustain pressure. We don't really apply pressure but more just play it safe and hope for something to fall our way, rather than putting opponents under sustained pressure.
Why does Klopp not get criticism? Probably because he was runner up in the CL 3 years ago, got 97 points and won the CL 2 years ago, then won the league a year ago? Simple answer...
Yes, I agree we need to strengthen to properly challenge for the league. But that's not the reason we flopped in the CL and failed to win any other cup. We just get it wrong on the day or don't have the right mentality in those games, for whatever the reason. It's been too many occurances over the past 3 years where we lose to lesser teams. It's one thing getting knocked out to a better team like City (and even then, we have a good league record against them, but get hammered in the cups), it's another to get knocked out as favourites or at worst level, and it's happened 5 times under Ole's tenure so far (not counting getting knocked out of the group phase).
