Once treated as a laughing stock of the ‘Big four’ teams in English Football, Liverpool had the premier league title elude them for close to two decades. The need to hire a tactician who had shown the World his capabilities arose.
Liverpool signed Jurgen Klopp in October 2015. The German picked up a side which was low in confidence with only one trophy in the previous nine years- a league cup in 2011/2012 season. Klopp clearly set his intentions when he declared a rebuilding process in which he succeeded to establish a formidable force that everyone got to recognize as the best.
Klopp soon made his mark; guiding the Kops to the Europa league final and to the champions league final in 2015/2016 and 2016/2017 seasons respectively never mind he lost all the finals but he had turned Liverpool into serious competitors.
The Anfield boss pointed out his desired signings and went on to secure the signatures of Virgil Van Dijk, a commanding figure at the back and a ball playing custodian in Alisson Becker to bring stability to the leaking defence.
Wing backs Robertson and Trent-Alexander Arnold were also brought alongside the trio of Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino and Mo Salah who made Liverpool very formidable.
With such a character of never-say-die and a high pressing game, the side proved too good for their opponents. Triumphs in the Champions League in 2019 and in the Premier League the following year were the ultimate of success in Klopp’s era.
Klopp had built a winning mentality in his team, but the current Liverpool seems a shadow of it’s former self. The unending injury list at Anifield is partly to blame, but perhaps the loss of Mane to Bayern Munich was a blow more big than we could’ve ever imagined.
Now out of the Carabao Cup, the FA Cup and realistically, out of Premier League contention, Liverpool’s only hope of silverware this season is in the Champions League where they face holders Real Madrid in the last 16.
Can Klopp’s men upset the record winners? Better still, can they regain their glory days? The jury is still out there.
