Football News: Jurgen Klopp Covered Players' Flaws At Liverpool FC

Jurgen Klopp was really good at covering players' flaws. Think about the 2-1 Liverpool v Burnley match in 16-17, in which Gini and Emre Can scored. Burnley were dominating the first half and winning every header and duel against our RCB. At half time Klopp made a change and dropped our defense deeper and told Emre, who was our DM to contest every long ball. Then our CBs were in position to deal with second balls instead of taking themselves out of the game.

Similar thing was happening in the Ipswich game last season. Quansah was getting dominated and was unable to win his duels. Arne Slot switched him at half time with Konate and because we had a better player now, we won using the same tactics.

Klopp sadly didn't have a better player so had to make do with what he had. He had to hide the flaws of his players because he had no option. That's been his style of management his whole life and how he has been able to make average teams better. And the reason why his players don't look that good after leaving.

Mane loses his explosiveness due to Covid so moved him to false 9. Hendo is not press resistant so let Fabinho and Gini handle bringing the ball out of the back. Trent's poor defensive work rate, Fabinho's poor lateral movement, Gini's slowness on the ball, Robbo's composure, everything was covered by other players.

Thiago is another big example. Only big flaw in his game is that he was too committed to tackles and would take himself out. That's a disaster as a DM as you constantly leave your CBs exposed. So Thiago started as a DM in 2020-21, but after a while Gini was moved back as a DM due to this.

21-22 season is another example; on paper it would seem like Fabinho-Hendo-Thiago would've been our best midfield but it wasn't working and we were dropping a lot of points. Both Hendo and Thiago would commit, leaving Fabinho alone. The balance with Fabinho-Keita-Thiago was better and it showed in the second half of the season when we picked up our form.

Therefore, a lot of Klopp's players look better than they actually are. Add to that the supreme belief he adds to his players gives them a lot of confidence. No other manager is making Natt Phillips or Rhys Williams as good as they looked. League cup final 23-24 doesn't happen with any other manager.

Regarding Quansah, he too was made to look better than he is. But there's no noticeable quality about him that stands out, which can be polished. He is very reactive in every situation which doesn't translate to a top level centre back. The club is right to sell him. The club is in a different situation now compared to when Klopp started and need to upgrade wherever possible.

Slot is a very detailed oriented manager, so he needs intelligent players to carry out his tactics. Also, we don't want seasons like 20-21 and 22-23 to happen. The club should be looking at the Premier League title and Champions League challenge every season. And consistency can only be achieved when we have top quality players and back ups in all positions.

Written by Vango June 20 2025 08:09:50