Jurgen Klopp Sack Watch

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If we'd somehow nabbed a third goal against Leipzig and gone through at their expense, would we be playing Liverpool again in Europe? Or is the rule about not being able to draw teams from your country still in place in the RO 16?

Would be very weird having to play them 4 times in quick succession.
 

Klopper76

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Think it's a bit harsh to call him terrible. He should have got the ball away for Rashfords goal but mistakes happen. The real issue today for you lot was Ole exposed the full backs who kept getting caught far too high up the pitch at the same time. That isolated Thiago and the CBs who were then all made to look pretty average.

Definitely think Ole was tactically better than Klopp today as he had a clear game plan which highlighted your weaknesses.
Yeah I thought you shaded it overall. You lost control of the game between us making it 2-2 and you getting your third. That was our period to win the game but didn’t make it count. Thought you were better first half than we were, and saw the game out well.

Williams isn’t ready for a game like that imo. He’s got some good attributes but playing against someone like Rashford was always going to be hard.
 

Klopper76

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If we'd somehow nabbed a third goal against Leipzig and gone through at their expense, would we be playing Liverpool again in Europe? Or is the rule about not being able to draw teams from your country still in place in the RO 16?

Would be very weird having to play them 4 times in quick succession.
No we would’ve been blocked from playing a team from England so would’ve been drawn with someone else.
 

Djemba-Djemba

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This is the run I use to reassure myself when I see some people spouting pro-LVG revisionism. His football was the worst I've seen from anyone, Moyes, Jose, you name it.
You do still get the odd person on here trying to argue LVG was sacked too early and we should have kept him.

It's mental.

We were bad both seasons but that 15/16 campaign in particular the football was disgracefully boring. He should have been sacked at Xmas.
 

2 man midfield

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You do still get the odd person on here trying to argue LVG was sacked too early and we should have kept him.

It's mental.

We were bad both seasons but that 15/16 campaign in particular the football was disgracefully boring. He should have been sacked at Xmas.
I genuinely fell asleep in the stands during our 1-0 loss to Southampton. Never happened before or since.
 

UNITED ACADEMY

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See why he played Henderson there?
Either way wtf was he thinking anyway letting Lovren go without replacement and thought it was good idea to have your 3rd centre back as injury prone Matip without having the 4th one. On top of that, he chose to waste the money on backup left back from Greece who barely even play. Very strange decision. Could have just stick with Milner as left back backup and sign that 4th centre back or find a left foot centre back who can also play as left back.
 

RashyForPM

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This is the run I use to reassure myself when I see some people spouting pro-LVG revisionism. His football was the worst I've seen from anyone, Moyes, Jose, you name it.
The worst bit was when in that Southampton 0-1 game, Blind took a shot from 40 yards out and the Caf exploded because it was a shot on target. It genuinely turned out to be our only one of the game. Still vividly remember that.

The football was truly awful under LvG. We wouldn’t even create chances.
 

Real Name

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We all used to laugh at him but they'd do well with Lovren now, in this situation in which they need to play Williams.
 

Sleigh

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Did he try and say Mane isn't a diver?
Amazing.
That was a superb ref performance on his antics tonight.
Mane is better at diving than Tom Daley.

I’ve had a dislike for him since Leicester’s game when Albrighton barely caught him and he went down and rolled around like someone trying to build a snowman.
 

Classical Mechanic

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Klopp & Liverpool pre-VVD were a Europa team and now without him they're a Europa team again. Klopp is being badly exposed here. Has any so called 'great' manager ever been so reliant on a single player?
 

adexkola

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Klopp & Liverpool pre-VVD were a Europa team and now without him they're a Europa team again. Klopp is being badly exposed here. Has any so called 'great' manager ever been so reliant on a single player?
Bit dramatic much? :lol:

Also, their problems have been scoring, not defending (on average in recent games)
 

Judge Red

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RobinLFC

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Klopp & Liverpool pre-VVD were a Europa team and now without him they're a Europa team again. Klopp is being badly exposed here. Has any so called 'great' manager ever been so reliant on a single player?
We are 6 points off the top of the league and in the CL knockout stage while we're having our worst spell under Klopp in the past five years.

The overreactions of some on here are laughable, yet expected.
 

Jonno

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Klopp & Liverpool pre-VVD were a Europa team and now without him they're a Europa team again. Klopp is being badly exposed here. Has any so called 'great' manager ever been so reliant on a single player?
To be fair though, people are quick to forget VVD was in the Liverpool sides that conceded 10 goals v's Villa & Leeds. That's shocking.

He wasn't having a good season. Granted, they're not in a title race without him and dropping out of cups quicker than you can say KloppOut, but they'd hardly be storming clear in the league with him.
 

F1D

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VVD was not playing at his best after the league restart in the summer and that continued into the new season. I think their whole squad got their egos through the roof like Klopp and thought they will walk the league again.
 

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We are 6 points off the top of the league and in the CL knockout stage while we're having our worst spell under Klopp in the past five years.

The overreactions of some on here are laughable, yet expected.
It goes beyond that - the dynamic of the past couple of months is clearly very negative, current form is shit. Are you confident for the league and/or CL, with things as they are?
 

RobinLFC

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It goes beyond that - the dynamic of the past couple of months is clearly very negative, current form is shit. Are you confident for the league and/or CL, with things as they are?
His criticism of Liverpool is warranted, but the association with Van Dijk ("reliant on one player") and Klopp "being exposed" are indeed overreactions to me. There even was talk earlier this season on here that Liverpool looked better defensively without Van Dijk than with him. This season we conceded 2.6 goals on average with him in the team and we've conceded 9 goals in the 14 league games without him, an average of 0.64 goals against (with a makeshift CB pairing). It's one thing to call us out on current form and all that, no problem with that, but to associate it solely to Van Dijk being out and that's why we're shit all of a sudden is just simply not true. We've scored 1 goal in our last 5 league games, that's where the problem currently lies. And yes, maybe partly our attacking changes due to Van Dijk being out, but our current run of form is not all down to missing him.

"Past couple of months" of your post is also up for debate imo. It's only been one month and a half - in November we drew away aginst City, thrashed Atalanta, won easily against Leicester, December we won against Spurs and Wolves at home, ... It's only since the West Brom game on Dec 27th that it's been going downhill rapidly, that's only one month of very poor form.

Obviously I'm not confident for either the league or CL with how we're playing right now. If this keeps up for much longer, especially given our schedule in the league, we'll find ourselves outside the top 4 rather than in a title race. So yeah, definitely not optimistic right now. It's just writing it all down to VVD's injury in the post that I replied to that stood out to me as an obvious reach.
 

Alemar

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We are 6 points off the top of the league and in the CL knockout stage while we're having our worst spell under Klopp in the past five years.

The overreactions of some on here are laughable, yet expected.
Liverpool is disliked here, this is why...
That said, the problem is that oppositions seem to learn how to play against Klopp side - hence it’s not incidental that you are 6 pts off top. It may well be a trajectory - yet to be seen
 

Jonno

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His criticism of Liverpool is warranted, but the association with Van Dijk ("reliant on one player") and Klopp "being exposed" are indeed overreactions to me. There even was talk earlier this season on here that Liverpool looked better defensively without Van Dijk than with him. This season we conceded 2.6 goals on average with him in the team and we've conceded 9 goals in the 14 league games without him, an average of 0.64 goals against (with a makeshift CB pairing). It's one thing to call us out on current form and all that, no problem with that, but to associate it solely to Van Dijk being out and that's why we're shit all of a sudden is just simply not true. We've scored 1 goal in our last 5 league games, that's where the problem currently lies. And yes, maybe partly our attacking changes due to Van Dijk being out, but our current run of form is not all down to missing him.

"Past couple of months" of your post is also up for debate imo. It's only been one month and a half - in November we drew away aginst City, thrashed Atalanta, won easily against Leicester, December we won against Spurs and Wolves at home, ... It's only since the West Brom game on Dec 27th that it's been going downhill rapidly, that's only one month of very poor form.

Obviously I'm not confident for either the league or CL with how we're playing right now. If this keeps up for much longer, especially given our schedule in the league, we'll find ourselves outside the top 4 rather than in a title race. So yeah, definitely not optimistic right now. It's just writing it all down to VVD's injury in the post that I replied to that stood out to me as an obvious reach.
I remember towards the end of last season, you looked off it, understandably as you'd just secured the league so there was a bit of wriggle room. But I compare it to United winning leagues, Arsenal winning leagues, Chelsea, they would maintain form after they had won it. They would insist on trying to win the next one. I saw you get battered off City, lose to Watford, lose to Arsenal, then there was the Villa game, you were fortunate against Sheff United, VVD was playing in all of these games, and then once you lost him, relied heavily on a dodgy Salah penalty vs West Ham, you didn't look great v's Everton when you dropped points, and there's this current run of dreadful form.

I honestly think its two things, firstly, you've just lost the intense adrenaline that drove you to win the league. Not every team can go back to back, its not easy. A club like Liverpool seemed so focused on winning the league, you've forgotten to focus on the next one, and we're half way through the season. When Liverpool don't have that mad-dog aggressive pressing football, there's no real plan other than pepper the box. I also think there's an element of Klopp-fatigue. Playing this way for 3 years will take its toll on players. Pressing and running harder than other teams to overwhelm opponents. It's not a sustainable style of play. Secondly, teams have seen how to defend against it, and it doesn't require much talent, you've seen an awful WBA, an awful Newcastle hold you to draws. Burnley repeated the blueprint and got the win, I also felt United were unlucky not to take all 3 points at Anfield.

I think this is the beginning of the end of this current Klopp team at Liverpool, just my opinion. It could well be a long tough fight for top 4 this season, and then your core peak of players turn another year older, and you don't really seem in a financial position to go and invest £100-£200m in replacements. The big money that might have been on the table for Salah will lessen over time, with the current pandemic.
 

RobinLFC

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I remember towards the end of last season, you looked off it, understandably as you'd just secured the league so there was a bit of wriggle room. But I compare it to United winning leagues, Arsenal winning leagues, Chelsea, they would maintain form after they had won it. They would insist on trying to win the next one. I saw you get battered off City, lose to Watford, lose to Arsenal, then there was the Villa game, you were fortunate against Sheff United, VVD was playing in all of these games, and then once you lost him, relied heavily on a dodgy Salah penalty vs West Ham, you didn't look great v's Everton when you dropped points, and there's this current run of dreadful form.

I honestly think its two things, firstly, you've just lost the intense adrenaline that drove you to win the league. Not every team can go back to back, its not easy. A club like Liverpool seemed so focused on winning the league, you've forgotten to focus on the next one, and we're half way through the season. When Liverpool don't have that mad-dog aggressive pressing football, there's no real plan other than pepper the box. Secondly, teams have seen how to defend against it, and it doesn't require much talent, you've seen an awful WBA, an awful Newcastle hold you to draws. Burnley repeated the blueprint and got the win, I also felt United were unlucky not to take all 3 points at Anfield.

I think this is the beginning of the end of this current Klopp team at Liverpool, just my opinion. It could well be a long tough fight for top 4 this season, and then your core peak of players turn another year older, and you don't really seem in a financial position to go and invest £100-£200m in replacements.
All fair points.

I honestly think its two things, firstly, you've just lost the intense adrenaline that drove you to win the league. Not every team can go back to back, its not easy. A club like Liverpool seemed so focused on winning the league, you've forgotten to focus on the next one, and we're half way through the season.
It's very hard to go back-to-back yeah, but basically we've been very, very concentrated on the league not just for the season we won it, but also the year before where it was such an intense battle with City right until the death. So imo it's not just the title winning season but even the season before which have both been mentally draining for the players. They look "off" right now though yeah so definitely a real possibility that their drive has faltered a bit.

Secondly, teams have seen how to defend against it, and it doesn't require much talent, you've seen an awful WBA, an awful Newcastle hold you to draws. Burnley repeated the blueprint and got the win, I also felt United were unlucky not to take all 3 points at Anfield.
Again I agree that most teams have figured out the way which can be effective to take points off of us, but if we are up to our own standards that way of defending doesn't get you very far normally. It's just because we've sucked the last month that it seems to be working. Also, you could argue that we were unlucky to concede very late against WBA (although we really had it coming) and we also dominated against Burnley with a chance that could've seen us up 1-0 (Origi). Again, ifs and buts, and it's an awful run of results, but not all doom and gloom either imo. Like I said, if we are playing as good as I know we can, we'll win more games than not even when teams know how to defend against it.

I think this is the beginning of the end of this current Klopp team at Liverpool, just my opinion. It could well be a long tough fight for top 4 this season, and then your core peak of players turn another year older, and you don't really seem in a financial position to go and invest £100-£200m in replacements.
Especially the lat point is very true. We need smart investments and we need them rather sooner than later. Beginning of the end is too early to call, still think (or am hopeful) that Klopp can turn this around for another run, if not this season then next season, but we'll see.
 

Redcy

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All fair points.


It's very hard to go back-to-back yeah, but basically we've been very, very concentrated on the league not just for the season we won it, but also the year before where it was such an intense battle with City right until the death. So imo it's not just the title winning season but even the season before which have both been mentally draining for the players. They look "off" right now though yeah so definitely a real possibility that their drive has faltered a bit.


Again I agree that most teams have figured out the way which can be effective to take points off of us, but if we are up to our own standards that way of defending doesn't get you very far normally. It's just because we've sucked the last month that it seems to be working. Also, you could argue that we were unlucky to concede very late against WBA (although we really had it coming) and we also dominated against Burnley with a chance that could've seen us up 1-0 (Origi). Again, ifs and buts, and it's an awful run of results, but not all doom and gloom either imo. Like I said, if we are playing as good as I know we can, we'll win more games than not even when teams know how to defend against it.


Especially the lat point is very true. We need smart investments and we need them rather sooner than later. Beginning of the end is too early to call, still think (or am hopeful) that Klopp can turn this around for another run, if not this season then next season, but we'll see.
I dont think its the end of Liverpool even this year, but the question is what can Klopp do? Obviously Ferguson became the master of team rebuilding, finding cheap options when appropriate and trying to find the right people if he spent big, has Klopp got that in his locker? So far we haven't necessarily seen it , but is that because he was hindered?
 

Klopper76

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I agree with @RobinLFC that until the West Brom game at Christmas we were fine and everyone was talking us up as champions elect. Now we've had a few bad results and the narrative has changed. People are rewriting the season. Before we failed to beat West Brom we comfortably beat Leicester and Wolves at home, put 7 past Palace, beat Chelsea and got a point at City, beat Spurs and Arsenal, qualified from out CL group.

We always throw the cups out the window. This is no different from any other season under Klopp in that regard. Our problems are to do with the front three and goal scoring, but I think that fixes itself when Jota comes back in a week or two. If we beat Spurs on Thursday (very doable imo) then this 'crisis' is forgotten. Even if we lose on Thursday I'm still confident we'll end up in the top four.

Not really sure on Van Dijk. Feels to me like he wasn't playing well prior to his injury but his absence has had a spill over effect on the midfield because Fabinho has had to go back to CB. We've then lost our only good option for playing the holding midfield role and have had to fit others in like Thiago & Henderson, neither of which are suited to it imo (for different reasons). The full backs dropping off in terms of attacking prowess has hurt us a bit but we've had games like Newcastle where we've had the chances and simply not put them away.

I think Klopp has enough credit in the bank to be trusted with pulling us out of this run of form.
 

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Hate to say it but the past two performances have been the most Ive been impressed by Liverpool for bloody ages. Their team is ravaged with injuries, been playing terribly lately, and made pretty light work of two away trips I really was hopefully they'd drop points in.

Feel dirty posting that, but I'll be fair sometimes.
 

stevoc

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I agree with @RobinLFC that until the West Brom game at Christmas we were fine and everyone was talking us up as champions elect. Now we've had a few bad results and the narrative has changed. People are rewriting the season. Before we failed to beat West Brom we comfortably beat Leicester and Wolves at home, put 7 past Palace, beat Chelsea and got a point at City, beat Spurs and Arsenal, qualified from out CL group.

We always throw the cups out the window. This is no different from any other season under Klopp in that regard. Our problems are to do with the front three and goal scoring, but I think that fixes itself when Jota comes back in a week or two. If we beat Spurs on Thursday (very doable imo) then this 'crisis' is forgotten. Even if we lose on Thursday I'm still confident we'll end up in the top four.

Not really sure on Van Dijk. Feels to me like he wasn't playing well prior to his injury but his absence has had a spill over effect on the midfield because Fabinho has had to go back to CB. We've then lost our only good option for playing the holding midfield role and have had to fit others in like Thiago & Henderson, neither of which are suited to it imo (for different reasons). The full backs dropping off in terms of attacking prowess has hurt us a bit but we've had games like Newcastle where we've had the chances and simply not put them away.

I think Klopp has enough credit in the bank to be trusted with pulling us out of this run of form.
Correct me if i'm wrong but before the win at Spurs the other night hadn't Liverpool only won like 5-6 of their last 17 games in all competitions?