Klopp Kopped.

[sybian]

Any posters in the Old Blind School pub on Sat night ? It was reported that Klopp and his wife were partaking in a few ales and having a chat with all and sundry, just wanted to know if anyone met him and what they thought of him.

[deiseach]

I'm hiding in this thread forever. And maybe one of those with the pelicans. Don't anyone let nasty reality get in!

[Mick R]

You may need to take a few months off after this shooting spree.

 

Indeed, I feel a lie down coming on.

[Boss]

[TheHowieLama]

We get him.

[Russ Atmosphere]

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/oct/12/jurgen-klopp-first-training-session-liverpool-tottenham-hotspur

 

Jürgen Klopp has held his first training session as Liverpool manager, the German leading a group that featured nine first-team players including Philippe Coutinho, James Milner and Daniel Sturridge at the club’s Melwood base on Monday afternoon.

 

Before the session, which began at 2.30pm, Klopp gathered the players and spoke with them for around five minutes. The 48-year-old then oversaw a period scheduled to last up to 75 minutes and for which Klopp was assisted by Peter Krawietz and Pep Lijnders, two of his coaches. Zeljko Buvac, Klopp’s No2, is yet to join him at the club.

 

Dejan Lovren, Kolo Touré, Lucas Leiva, Mamadou Sakho, Alberto Moreno and João Teixeira were the other squad members under the new manager’s supervision. Most of the first-team players are not yet back from international duty.

 

Klopp, the first German to manage Liverpool, has his first match in charge when the club travel on Saturday to Tottenham Hotspur for the early kick-off.

[G Richards]

I agree that Klopp will get a long honeymoon period, as he is so well regarded and our team is not very well regarded by a lot of fans. With that said, it will be interesting to see how this season goes. 

 

We hate the word, but I'll use it as a shortcut and say 'par' for us in most estimations would be 5th. Maybe top four with a fair wind, maybe lower than 5th if things fall apart. 

 

That's what most of us thought - before Klopp arrived. 

 

Now all bets are off. Who knows what will happen? Maybe we will finish 6th but Klopp will do lots of work getting his system across, so we will have some short term pain for long term gain? Or maybe Klopp will have them all believing in themselves, and with clear instruction from a man who the players will surely love to play for, maybe we could even challenge for the title right away? 

 

Can't wait to see it unfold. The excitement about football is back. 

[Oh Buoy]

"Fucking cunts have dragged me out for tea again." 

[Adebisi]

No reason we can't get 4th. We should have got it last season and we rarely played with a proper striker. Better manager/players, more confidence, lots of tricky/hard away games will be out of the way soon with most of the top teams having to come to us in the second part of the season..

Maybe I'm expecting too much and I won't be whining if we finish 5th or 6th, but 4th is there for the taking.

[Nightcat]

No reason we can't get 4th.

 

 

I could give you 100 reasons, but I'm really bored right now.

 

Bottom line for me is that Klopp has signed up for one of the most difficult jobs in the football world. The team and the club overall is in a total mess.

 

I wouldn't go as far as to say that he is our last hope of closing the ever increasing gap with the Top 4 (as this was shaped by Oligarchs' and Dictators' invasion in the PL), but he is certainly FSG's last chance. 

[Hades]

I don't think we'll get 4th but I'd rather qualify for the Champions League by winning the Europa anyway. 

[Adebisi]

I could give you 100 reasons, but I'm really bored right now.

 

Bottom line for me is that Klopp has signed up for one of the most difficult jobs in the football world. The team and the club overall is in a total mess.

 

I wouldn't go as far as to say that he is our last hope of closing the ever increasing gap with the Top 4 (as this was shaped by Oligarchs' and Dictators' invasion in the PL), but he is certainly FSG's last chance. 

I don't think you could give me 10. But as you're bored and I'm equally bored of reading how shit we are, we can just agree to disagree.

 

I'm baffled by these 'We're complete shit, it's gonna take Klopp at least 2 transfer windows to get us playing half decent' posts. We're really not in that bad of a shape. A lot relies on Sturridge staying fit and Klopp sorting the defence, but I'll be disappointed if we don't get 4th. If Chelsea don't sort themselves out, our competition for 4th is looking like Spurs and possibly Southampton and we're better than them.

 

I'm behind him wherever we finish and he needs time but no reason we can't get it in my book.

[Guest Numero Veinticinco]

We're not even shit. Fucking hell, we are a pessimistic bunch.

[Nightcat]

I've been observing this hypothesis, "IF Sturridge stays fit...,"  being disproved, since we signed him. He is a World Class striker for me, but I would not rely on his fitness to predict our League finish.

 

Chelsea will buy whatever is necessary for them to qualify to next season's CL. The Sexist cunts of the bridge of shame with the SEXIST new world order whore, will not follow our example and accept their downfall with stoicism*. That is because their club's shares are owned by a megalomaniac oligarch who pours his stolen blood money in chelsea.

 

Edit: 

*Stoicism - The word "stoic" commonly refers to someone indifferent to pain, pleasure, grief, or joy. The modern usage as "person who represses feelings or endures patiently" was first cited in 1579 as a noun, and 1596 as an adjective. 

[ZonkoVille77]

You're a mad cunt Nightcat.

[stringvest]

I don't think we'll get 4th but I'd rather qualify for the Champions League by winning the Europa anyway.

I'm not sure we'll do either but I would be happy if we get to see the identity and character on the team returning. Progress may not be immediate and may not be spectacular and it is best if we prepare ourselves for that

[Anubis]

Werner and Henry aren't all that without their makeup.

[stringvest]

I've been observing this hypothesis, "IF Sturridge stays fit...," being disproved, since we signed him. He is a World Class striker for me, but I would not rely on his fitness to predict our League finish.

 

Chelsea will buy whatever is necessary for them to qualify to next season's CL. The Sexist cunts of the bridge of shame with the SEXIST new world order whore, will not follow our example and accept their downfall with stoicism*. That is because their club's shares are owned by a megalomaniac oligarch who pours his stolen blood money in chelsea.

 

Edit:

*Stoicism - The word "stoic" commonly refers to someone indifferent to pain, pleasure, grief, or joy. The modern usage as "person who represses feelings or endures patiently" was first cited in 1579 as a noun, and 1596 as an adjective.

It may be the sign of an elevated intellect wherever you are Nightcat, but the word stoicism is in common use in the UK. What next? Doppelgänger?

 

[stringvest]

Good to see Durango managing to sit on a chair without breaking it

[Anubis]

It may be the sign of an elevated intellect wherever you are Nightcat...

Bit harsh on Glasgow....

[Section_31]

That picture reminds me of this class anecdote by Bert Trautman. He said when he was in the German army he was running away from some yanks he was convinced were going to kill him on sight, so he jumped over a hedge and landed in a group of Britsh soldiers, and one of them just said: "hello Fritz, fancy a cup of tea?"

[Trumo]

Tony Evans of all people with a valid point, that Liverpool fans are too quick to put managers on a pedestal.

 

http://www.espnfc.co.uk/club/liverpool/364/blog/post/2658910/jurgen-klopp-faces-tough-liverpool-expectations

 

Klopp faces burden of expectations that has doomed Liverpool managers

 

They tracked his plane across Europe with the frenzied anticipation of children following Santa's progress across the globe on December 24. Indeed, Jurgen Klopp's arrival at Anfield felt like Christmas to many Liverpool fans. The club reinforced the sense of occasion by issuing a line of merchandise devoted to the German within 24 hours of his appointment as manager.

 

Before Klopp has been introduced to the players, before he has selected a team, before he has won a single game in the Premier League, the 48-year-old has been granted iconic status.

 

Realism? Circumspection? There have been few signs of either. Merely excitement. Nowhere else in football is there such a craving, such a desire to elevate the man who picks the side to such lofty heights. If English football is enthralled with the cult of the manager, Anfield is the high altar of the sect.

 

"A good manager can improve a team by five, maybe 10 percent," a long-time Anfield observer said. "Why do we seem to think it can be 300 percent?"

 

It all goes back to Bill Shankly, of course. The Scot transformed a provincial backwater into a European powerhouse, and in the process seemed to take on messianic qualities. His statue stands outside the Kop like an Old Testament prophet, arms outstretched, demanding belief, fortitude and adoration. Klopp is the sort of character who might imagine earning similar status. He may, however, find it instructive to look at the fate of Liverpool managers in the post-Shankly era. Only Bob Paisley, more than 30 years ago, left the position happily, on his own terms and free of chaos.

 

Joe Fagan retired 30 years ago at the age of 65, exhausted by his two-year tenure, and he suffered a gruesome sendoff at Heysel. Kenny Dalglish, his successor, had his first term as manager overshadowed by tragedy, too, and walked away from the job in 1991, when the burden of Hillsborough became too much even for someone as strong as the Scot.

 

These soured exits may have been attributable to catastrophe, but the Liverpool job has chewed up and spat out everyone who's taken up the mantle since. Graeme Souness had been one of the greatest players in the club's history, but he left with his reputation in tatters after three years at the helm at Anfield. Roy Evans, the last of the bootroom boys, was humiliated by the appointment of Gerard Houllier as joint manager in 1998, so he resigned.

 

Houllier won a cup treble in 2001 but suffered heart problems and almost died during a game against Leeds United later that year. He returned with talk of being "10 games from greatness." Two matches against Bayer Leverkusen were enough to end that dream, and the Frenchman's stint in charge ended in 2004 amid disappointment and rancour.

 

Rafa Benitez came next and brought the Champions League to Anfield. When the club was sold three years after he arrived, he found himself embroiled in an exhausting civil war that ground him down. When he was sacked in 2010, he was a shadow of the manager he'd been when he arrived on Merseyside.

 

Houllier and Benitez brought trophies and glory to Anfield. By the time they were sacked, some sections of the support were treating them as if they'd overseen relegation.

 

Roy Hodgson was in charge when Fenway Sports Group (FSG) bought Liverpool. He did not last long. He was fired the next January, bewildered and confused. He had been given an impossible job. Next came Dalglish again. He won the League Cup, but FSG wanted more. Brendan Rodgers replaced him three years ago. The Northern Irishman's image was shinier than any trophy. Now it has been tarnished.

 

Over the past few weeks, Liverpool fans have been deleting the Photoshopped images of Shankly bestowing his approval on Rodgers that rattled around the internet just 18 months ago. Banners featuring the recently sacked manager's face have been folded up and stored away. The Rodgers "Boss" T-shirts that were once so visible around Anfield are now being used for cleaning windows and cars. Klopp will hope that the merchandise bearing his image will not become so embarrassing so quickly.

 

The desire for a saviour is powerful and dangerous. The flip side of so much hope being invested in Klopp is that it gives the new manager little room to manoeuvre. Unrealistic belief fosters overreaction when the desired standards are not reached. And the intense anger -- at least on social media -- of Liverpool fans is breathtakingly quick to flare up and brutal in its fury.

 

Klopp is the best appointment Liverpool could have made. That is a significant step forward from 2012 when they engaged Rodgers. Those expecting the next Shankly, however, need to back off and give the new man some breathing space to develop a way forward. Instant success is unlikely.

 

They should also remember how Shankly left Liverpool: in an unexplained and premature resignation that he lived to regret. He felt estranged from the club and more welcome at Everton.

 

It is not the burden of history that weighs down the new manager, it is the burden of expectation. If Klopp wants to emulate Paisley and leave on his own terms with his legacy intact, he will need to meet some unrealistic demands very quickly.

 

The German is not a miracle worker. He will have to develop a style of play to suit a squad that has a number of obvious flaws. Even extracting 10 percent more from this group may not be enough to fulfill the expectations of the fans who tracked his plane across Europe.

 

Klopp will have his feet on the ground. Many Liverpool supporters are still on a flight of fancy. There is plenty of turbulence ahead. A trip to White Hart Lane to play Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday could bring a bumpy landing. That is fine, as long as everyone involved realises that success may be attainable in the long haul.

[Guest Numero Veinticinco]

Good to see Durango managing to sit on a chair without breaking it

Ye strapon ye.

[Ginny]

That picture reminds me of this class anecdote by Bert Trautman. He said when he was in the German army he was running away from some yanks he was convinced were going to kill him on sight, so he jumped over a hedge and landed in a group of Britsh soldiers, and one of them just said: "hello Fritz, fancy a cup of tea?"

Trautman who trained John J Rambo?

 

He's trained to eat things that'll make a billy goat puke

[Nelly-Szoboszlai]

Bollocks that, from Evans. If anything, I've seen a lot of our fans calling for patience and a chance for Klopp to mould the team to his way of playing and to bring his own players in.

 

Also, giddiness is not unique to Liverpool fans. It's indulged in by all fans, getting excited by a new manager or signing. Like Everton with Martinez, like United fans when they went on a week off mad transfer splurging and brought in Falcao and Di Maria. Like they have been recently with Martial. Like Chelsea fans were when they appointed Mourinho the first time round.

 

Klopp is viewed as one of the top 10 coaches in the game. He was linked to Real Madrid, Bayern, City and United and Arsenal. To be fair, we've had the peak of that challenging season under Rodgers. That aside, we've had a fairly shitty past 5 to 6 years.

 

So, of course our fans are going to be giddy and excited about us managing to attract a coach of Klopp's status and calibre. That excitement might bring about a bit of unrealistic expectation, maybe even a bit of delusion. But, holy shit, isn't that what football is about? Being excited? Anticipation that we might have a good manager secured? Relief that what was becoming a dark and seemingly unresolvable dip in form might come to an end?

 

If football fans are going to be pilloried for acting in such a way, then what's the point? Let's just jib it off altogether and follow a sport with less emotional attachment and excitement? Maybe snooker? Or angling?

 

I'm not a fan of Evans, to be honest. I think he comes across as a bit of a try hard superfan and that this is reflected in his piece. As well as it being a marker put down so he can have his little "I told you so" gloat if Klopp does fail to satisfy.