Klopp: I feel a burden for the end of season failings

[TLW]

Jurgen Klopp says he feels a burden for the crippling slump in form which has seen Liverpool all but kiss their league title hopes away.

 

The Reds came into the clash with Everton knowing that they needed to build on the momentum of wins against Atalanta and Fulham if they wanted to keep go level on points with Arsenal who had demolished Chelsea the night before.

 

Under the German, his team have by and large risen to the task and played their hearts out from the first minute to the last, earning the name ‘mentality monsters’ for their never say die spirit.

 

So with everything on the line, Liverpool arguably produced the most soul destroying 90 minute display in the Klopp era.

 

The fact it came against Everton was great for the narrative writers who wanted to paint the picture of “little brother costing big brother the league.’

 

But that thought was largely secondary to those who hold this club close to their heart.

 

The key fact that in the heat of the title race battle, these players simply crumbled under the weight of expectations with the man who has help guide them to ultimate glory watching on helplessly.

 

As the weeks have gone on and closer to his departure. Klopp has shown signs of weariness and spoken in terms of a man that is in desperate need of a break from the game.

 

In the lead up to the clash at Goodison, he outlined his virtual disdain for the Derby despite only suffering one defeat to Everton in his Liverpool career.

 

Speaking ahead of the early kickoff against West Ham, Klopp again was more than forthcoming with his feelings over how things have quickly gone pear shaped as The Guardian reported.

 

 

“ I do (feel a burden). “It’s difficult to explain but I hated our game (against Everton). We were not even close to what we want to be. Somehow it happened that we didn’t see the positivity in the situation any more, that we have a good starting point, so let’s go and chase the others. But you can only chase in a positive way.

 

“You saw the game. It wasn’t the first [poor] one but it was the worst one. Crystal Palace wasn’t even close. I see two teams [Arsenal and Manchester City] who play really positive football and go for it. We can do that but we don’t in this moment. Who can I make responsible for that? It’s my job until the last day to make sure the boys feel that.”

 

The manager outlined his horror in what he was witnessing on Wednesday evening, his team virtually unrecognisable in every sense to what he is used too.

 

“The game was just horrible to watch. In Germany when the crowd is not happy with the team and think they are not fighting enough they sing ‘Wir wollen euch kämpfen sehen’ which translates as ‘We want to see you fight’. I was close to singing that! Never has one of my teams heard that ever. Never. I never heard them say my team didn’t fight because my team always went for it. And now, wow, how can that happen?”

 

The way that Klopp spoke in such a frank manner should not surprise anyone who has monitored him closely during his time at the club.

 

Basically he is like a guardian to these players, sure he may read them the riot act behind closed doors when they require it, but when it comes to the outside world, he would most happily take the blame than leave it with them to deal with.

 

It is just another element which what makes him so uniquely special and something so pure and honourable is impossible to replicate, so the squad will have to get used to another form of management when Arne Slot takes the reigns in the summer.

 

While the title dream is over, Klopp in is own way is giving his team another challenge to see whether they can rise to.

 

 

“We made mistakes before in other seasons but you have to fight against that.

 

But much more important is that you create a basis for most of the season until the finishing line is in sight and then you go for it. That should be the most positive thing. And we did that in the past, winning all the games [in the run-in] and now we can’t do it for a variety of reasons. Now we have to find a lineup, a way, to do much better at West Ham."

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[Elite]

It is what it is. He's been one of our best managers and will forever be loved by the fanbase.

[Pete]

He should be cursing our bad luck with injuries and questionable decisions by match officials rather than feeling any burden.   Wonderful manager even better man. 
These 9 years have been amazing and if not for a massive elephant in the room we’d have at least 2 more titles.

[Street Preacher]

17 minutes ago, Pete said:

He should be cursing our bad luck with injuries and questionable decisions by match officials rather than feeling any burden.   Wonderful manager even better man. 
These 9 years have been amazing and if not for a massive elephant in the room we’d have at least 2 more titles.

I think the fact that he hasn't made more of those things in one of the reasons he is successful. He always trys to be positive, even when everything is going to shit. 

 

Two clubs, one fairly(Real Madrid) and one unfairly(Man City)have stopped it from being possibly our greatest era. Unlike rival fans we can obviously see things in that context and that's how we know he has done such a good job. 

[Colonel Bumcunt]

It's not JUST injuries, but it's a factor. 

 

So currently in the PL there are 131 injuries, though this is a bit cute because for example it doesn't list Doak, Bajcetic and Gordon for us.  But let's skim over that for a moment. 

So, 131 divided by 20 clubs = the average number of injured players per club is 6 or 7. 

 

City and Arsenal have 1 injury each....

 

Now, there's a couple of questions that need asking here. 

 

1. Do those two clubs have a medical team with knowledge or skills superior to other PL clubs?  We don't know, but I don't see why they might have more resource than Chelsea, or Newcastle, very rich clubs with unlimited reach.  Even us or Spurs, are we recruiting from a different level of staff? Don't think so? 

 

2. Do they have better facilities, and does this even matter? I mean, it's debatable, but I'm sure that many PL club physio and gym facilities now look largely the same for the top 8 clubs in the PL. Sizes may vary, that's likely the biggest difference. 

 

3. It can't be a number of games issue.   We play roughly the same number of games as they do, and I don't see a need to differentiate between CL and Europa, both are high level and comparably scheduled. 

 

4. Is it a risk appetite threshold when signing players?  IE, do we sign higher-risk players because we see value in taking that risk? I haven't looked into this, but it's worth a look.  You could argue that Arsenal took risks on Partey and Jesus considering their past injuries.  We certainly took risks on Thiago, Jota, Alisson, Konate. 

City took a risk on Haaland. 

I think City definitely are ahead of us and Arsenal in this regard, they pay the premium for players with elite body mechanics. 

 

5. Intensity of gameplans?  I don't have access to data like number of sprints per game, but this would answer that, along with distance covered per 90.  I'll say this though, we're almost in May and Arsenal look much more intense than us. We look cooked, it's a stark difference.  

 

6. How good is drug testing these days?  Dunno, it's a shadowy area. There's nothing transparent about it to the public, we don't even know if drugs test happen, we only know of anecdotal tests being missed for example.  I mean, do they collect samples and bin them?  How rigorous are the checks and balances on this stuff?   We take this on enormous levels of trust, and we really shouldn't, the regulators haven't earned that trust. 

 

7. PGMOL.  It's a cabal, it's full of flawed humans, and they aren't paid as much as footballers.  It's a soft target.  Regulators are always targeted and tested in any profession.  They are capable of making absurd decision and they are protected from direct adversarial questioning of decisions to a quite improbable and odd point.  They have a more protected personal life than a royal child. They don't get papped, they don't get called out by MPs, they don't get dragged in front of interviews, and their in-game chats are protected. You couldn't design a softer target for criminals to target. 

 

[TD_LFC]

Was it the year we won the league where we were exceptionally lucky with injuries and had far fewer than in previous (or future) years?

[SasaS]

Can we just finally admit it is because the manager is leaving and players are no longer giving that extra effort that makes Klopp's teams effective? It's staring us in the face.

[sir roger]

The only thing he should be feeling is our gratitude for an 8 year long wild and beautiful ride.

[Colonel Bumcunt]

5 minutes ago, SasaS said:

Can we just finally admit it is because the manager is leaving and players are no longer giving that extra effort that makes Klopp's teams effective? It's staring us in the face.

You'd surmise that they'd give MORE effort than usual, and he'd demand it. I don't think this is the problem. 

If anything there is more impetus to impress an incoming manager now, the favouritism is ending. 

[Colonel Bumcunt]

9 minutes ago, TD_LFC said:

Was it the year we won the league where we were exceptionally lucky with injuries and had far fewer than in previous (or future) years?

Maybe, but our key players were younger and fitter and perhaps more hungry at that time. We also had naturally fit players in Mane, Salah, Firmino, Milner, Henderson, Wijnaldum, Robbo, Trent, Virgil, exceptional athletes at great ages. 

[Section_31]

2 hours ago, Elite said:

It is what it is. He's been one of our best managers and will forever be loved by the fanbase.

 

He's statue material,  no doubt, I'm starting to see now though more and more that he's been running on empty for some time. The kicking off at people at the drop of a hat, fans, reporters etc. I think him going now is best for all concerned.

[dave u]

Of course he takes responsibility for it going wrong because that's who he is. And when it goes well he says it's not him and it's down to the players.

 

It really upset me watching him yesterday saying it's his fault that the players weren't able to go out and play positive football and that they are feeling pressure instead of seeing it as opportunity. He then said he doesn't know what he did wrong or what he could have done, but that he knows its his fault.

 

It's not on him at all. He can't be on the pitch telling Nunez to put the ball in the corner instead of cowardly blasting it at Pickford. He can't be out there telling Trent "there's Calvert-Lewin running in for a header, you need to step in front of him and not be a lazy shithouse". He can't be out there telling Konate to stop playing like Skrtel on a bad day. I could go on and on but you get my point.

 

These players have been like scared little rabbits ever since they lost at Old Trafford in the cup. If they feel pressure instead of opportunity, that's on them, not on Klopp. I admire him for taking it on himself, and I'd expect nothing else as that's who he is, but he can let the players off the hook if he likes. I can't though.

 

Scared little fucking rabbits.

[Elite]

Just now, Section_31 said:

 

He's statue material,  no doubt, I'm starting to see now though more and more that he's been running on empty for some time. The kicking off at people at the drop of a hat, fans, reporters etc. I think him going now is best for all concerned.

Yeah, he definitely needs a break from it all. Maybe, he'll just manage Germany. He looks fucked.

[Section_31]

3 minutes ago, Elite said:

Yeah, he definitely needs a break from it all. Maybe, he'll just manage Germany. He looks fucked.

 

Someone was saying the Germany manager has been given a 12 month contract extension, sounds like a done deal I reckon. I'll deffo be getting a vintage west Germany shirt next year with Johann Sebastian Kuntz on it.

[SasaS]

31 minutes ago, Colonel Bumcunt said:

You'd surmise that they'd give MORE effort than usual, and he'd demand it. I don't think this is the problem. 

If anything there is more impetus to impress an incoming manager now, the favouritism is ending. 

 

No you wouldn't because that never ever happens. It's not a deliberate thing, it's something which creeps into every team when the boss is as good as gone. Klopp is actually telling us that.

 

And one other thing. Just because the fans adore him, it doesn't mean that (all) players do as well.

[Barrington Womble]

I hope he's said that and more to the players. They should be embarrassed by their efforts on Wednesday night. The drop off may well be in part due to klopp losing some intensity as the job nears the end. But you'd think the players, if for nothing other than selfish reasons, would be fighting tooth and nail for a chance to win the title and maintain some credit in the bank with the fans with a big derby win. Since the game on Wednesday you see loads of threads about this player being shit and that player. But fuck me. I'd have sold every last one of them on Thursday morning and honestly I don't feel much different now. There's losing and there's losing like that, bullied by one of the worst Everton teams in history. They need to start to put that right today and finish the season with some massive performances. 

[Barrington Womble]

6 minutes ago, Section_31 said:

 

Someone was saying the Germany manager has been given a 12 month contract extension, sounds like a done deal I reckon. I'll deffo be getting a vintage west Germany shirt next year with Johann Sebastian Kuntz on it.

I think he's signed to go through to the world cup. 

 

Nagelsmann extends Germany contract until 2026 - https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/68854834

 

[TD_LFC]

30 minutes ago, Colonel Bumcunt said:

Maybe, but our key players were younger and fitter and perhaps more hungry at that time.

 I think prior to that season (if it is the one I'm thinking of) our injuries were pretty bad as usual so not sure it was an age thing.

[Kevin D]

Wouldn’t happen under Slot.

[Mathewbet1]

I cant tell you how much I love Klopp, a true legend and an inspiration in all walks of life not just football. Ultimately he got the team to the end of the season run in in pole position, the starter gun went and it all went a bit pear shaped, due to various reasons, but he could not have done much more , the chance was there and the players wilted when the pressure was on. He also said the players would learn from this experience. 

[SlugTrail]

1 hour ago, TD_LFC said:

Was it the year we won the league where we were exceptionally lucky with injuries and had far fewer than in previous (or future) years?

Back then we used to beat teams early by blitzing them in the first 20 mins and we could stroll through the rest of the match. Now we are having to comeback from a goal down and fight for the whole 90 as teams always think they have a shot with us. Over the season it takes its toll. City and Arse beat them early and control the game. 

[El Rojo]

Wrong thread.

[Special K]

The man has given us the greatest team I've ever seen, delivered the European Cup, league and everything else,1000+ goals and united the fan base.

 

The man is a legend and needs a statue and a stand named after him.

 

Nothing else needs to be said

[an tha]

Somebody posted this in a whatsapp group i am in today - I am not really a fan of this sort of thing, comes across a bit desperate to me, but it did highlight just how close we came to not just greatness, but virtually unseen greatness under Klopp...

 

"A little statistic to get some perspective. In 487 games for Klopp changing 4 results would mean 3 leagues and 3 CL’s. All ifs and buts but also very fine lines"

[Dicko]

He's the only one who can hold his head up alongside the kids Macallister, Endo & Gomez.

The rest of them and the crying shower of fucking shit that is the modern Liverpool fanbase can hang their heads in shame.

 

No doubt the cunts will want us to be taken over by an oil rich nation as well.