Jurgen Klopp has had a season unlike any other. And not just because his Liverpool team continues to play in troublingly inconsistent fashion.
Klopp is currently in his eighth different season as manager at Anfield, whereas his prior managerial stints at Mainz and Borussia Dortmund all expired when he reached the conclusion of his seventh season in command.
And after spending such a long period on the hot seat, Klopp is currently engaged in a work that he may not have needed or had time for in his previous positions.
Building a second consistently successful team.
In actuality, Klopp is among some exclusive company. By definition, being in such a position entails using conventional silverware first and then having a contract long enough to allow for both short- and long-term planning. Few managers have access to such a luxury, which is why Klopp and Pep Guardiola are currently the longest-tenured Premier League managers.
Teams always change, frequently over the course of a season even when no new players are added. Players mature, deteriorate physically, peak, and eventually grow too old. It requires regular balance. However, the amount of improvement necessary is frequently reflected in the rate of change.
Think about this. Only one player in Liverpool’s starting lineup when they won the Champions League in 2019 had also played in the team’s defeat in the Europa League final three years prior. However, eight of the 11 players from the Champions League championship game against Tottenham Hotspur last year lined up for Real Madrid’s loss. The core didn’t require much modification.
But nothing lasts forever, and what Klopp referred to as a “transformation” toward the end of the previous campaign has already begun to happen. Cody Gakpo is the most recent of six first-team acquisitions who are 25 or younger.
But history suggests it is far from straightforward. Kenny Dalglish inherited a team that, with a minor tweak, won the double in his first season as player-manager in 1986. Arguably the first team he built was the one that stormed to the title in 1988 and again in 1990, but he had departed the following year before Graeme Souness attempted, and failed, to usher in a successful new era.
Rafael Benitez ran into trouble when he started to build a post-Xabi Alonso side, while Gerard Houllier made too many missteps after the high of the cup treble in 2001 and finishing second in the Premier League the following season.
Even the two Anfield managerial greats, Bill Shankly and Bob Paisley, didn’t find it easy. Shankly famously went seven years without a trophy between 1966 and 1973, while Paisley had 18 months of wayward form when finishing fifth in 1981 – after six years of being in the top two – and then slumping to 12th by Boxing Day the following season. Then it clicked and Liverpool won the title, plus it helped they won the League Cup and a third European Cup in the meantime.
Brian Clough spent 18 years at Nottingham Forest, although only his first evolution—which resulted in elevation to the top division, followed by the league and two European Cups—consistently competed for the top honors.
In more recent examples, Arsene Wenger took four years between his title wins in 1998 and 2002 and, in the latter years of his reign, heavily relied on the FA Cup, while Alex Ferguson built multiple teams during his lengthy tenure at Manchester United but had fallow periods with drop-offs in terms of silverware. The two successful Chelsea tenures of Jose Mourinho were separated by almost six years.
What’s interesting about both Shankly and Paisley’s rebuild attempts is their initial plans didn’t work, even if the latter quickly rectified the matter. These rebuilds are never seamless.
“The difference between 2018 and now is that I anticipate our return; in 2018, I only wished for it “Klopp made this statement during the Champions League final in May of last year. “We plan to return because these boys have a terrific attitude and are quite competitive.
For Klopp, it hasn’t quite occurred that way yet. But even while it might not be what the Liverpool manager had in mind, that doesn’t mean it won’t.