It's not just a sum of trophies and come to a conclusion. Can't be stressed enough how big the PL title was for us, he reached immediate legend status when he did that.
I'm not. Klopp is not "one of" our best managers in recent history, he is our best manager since the 80s. Benitez is a considerable level below that, I don't think you'll find many Liverpool fans who disagree with that view.
In my previous post, I was arguing that Benitez is not and should not be dismissed as "Less than 50% of what Klopp is". Don't confuse that as me saying that he is as successful/as good as Klopp.
But lets not forget....Benitez also reached legendary status when he won your 5th Champions League, he was regarded as the best since the 80's at the time. I'm simply highlighting that Klopp isn't quite as good as a very small population of football believe he is. You've not won 3 premier leagues on the bounce, its not a sustained period. You won a couple of cups and a premier league. You're not the power that a peak United, a peak City, a peak Arsenal, or a peak 80's Liverpool are/were.
None Liverpool fans are seeing a very predictable pattern here. Ive been posting for 12-18 months about how he will run you into the ground, I've mentioned Dortmund. Liverpool fans laughed it off, now some are turning. One of my very good friends at work who has been a season ticket holder at Anfield for 20 years openly discusses that he and his friends who attend games think that the Klopp era is likely over now due to his core of players peaking and burning out.
Yawn. Like people were saying after they won it wit 100 points? Or like how people were talking about Liverpool after last season?
You can have your views about Liverpool, all fair enough. It's just that you shouldn't be surprised that a lot of us will think that they're quite ridiculous, given how black and white they usually are.
After City won it with 100 points, they had a lot of older players to move on, compare that strongest XI to this current one, and it's largely different. Their spine changed. Kompany, Walker, Fernandinho (positionally), Silva, Aguero, that core of winners needed changing. Thats why they were in complete transition.
They also don't appear to run their players into the ground, they play with a completely different style to Liverpool. They play like a breeze, they don't seem to break sweat, they make the ball do the hard work, they press less than they used to, they stroll through defences. Their style is far more sophisticated than Liverpools. They will always have more in the tank than Liverpool, they will easily outlast Liverpools core players this time round.
They've got, in my view the best CB pairing in England, the best midfield/attacking midfield, the best keeper, the best manager. Thats coming from me, a United fan, who strongly dislikes City and everything their modern success is built on.
I certainly didn't back Liverpool to go back to back at the end of the season, I saw the signs once you were clear for the title, I saw the defeat at Watford last season, the defeats against Arsenal at the end of the season, the 7-3 to Villa with no injury crisis, VVD was playing. Liverpool fans dismissing it as "crazy season". It doesn't matter. You still got spanked at Villa Park. They also didn't have their home fans cheering them on. The signs were there that you were over-performing. Now, some 6-9 months later, its in plain sight.