I have been thoroughly impressed. His interviews are a huge departure from "character-ful" Rodgers. His results show performances with steady growth, points with slight improvement, and individual performances which began to demonstrate the true qualities of the squad he has inherited.
And so I wonder just how much BR lost in himself in the job. There were a collective of good young players who really improved under BR. Henderson who nearly left when he first arrived, is one of a list of players, wanted or disposable at points, who really played and worked hard and improved. Maybe he was given too much credit for how much they improved under him but the biggest issue with players he had improved was consistency. For those that didn't suffer from inconsistencies, have they truly had a lot of great moments for us?
So rather than comparing, here's some areas I'd like to raise amongst other fans like myself...
His emotions on the touchline actually contribute to any fan watching with him. I always come back to Houllier's response when Gary Mac scored in the derby in the final minute, and his mouth-opened disbelief at the goal is in fact almost more memorable to me than the goal itself. I find myself really enjoying every moment in the game. In the bad moments, you see Klopp try and work his magic either remonstrating or reassuring players, in the good moments, muted happiness, and in the great moments, great celebrations. He lives and breathes football. It is almost revelatory when we've spent the last fifteen years witnessing mostly muted business-like "managers", rather than training field "coaches". I can't remember the last time I saw a Liverpool manager who has just conceded turn to his players and tell them to keep their chin up.
I feel like I've spoken so much about Klopp's ideas that I can't actually remember if I have already spoken about his comments about "the simple game." He spoke about how giving the players too much to think about can cause them to be less effectual in the game. In my naivety defending BR, I lost sight of why we should have such a brittle approach to the game. "Every individual mistake" might cost us a goal... Why should we have ever settled for that. That is the reason, for the most part, why I believe his machine-like tactics don't work on the very best players. I don't believe that belittles his approach at all, after all, the "team game" provides with most of your points in the season, but for Liverpool, we have signed a lot of talent who appear to have struggled fitting into BR's mechanics. I don't believe under Klopp that will ever really be the case.
Talking about Firmino, he just said, he can play in any of the attacking positions, and having played him as a number 10 in the week, played him as a false nine yesterday. Lucas, who appeared to have been caged as a DM, has found himself having far more efforts on goal, and his incisive passing has helped us in both recent PL games. Lovren, Skrtel, Sakho, Toure... whoever has played, has made a mistake, and they've covered. They've been alert to danger and shown they are not the players BR's tactic appeared to make of them.
Optimism isn't the word anymore, it is belief. I love that having been asked about a title challenge, he responded "Are you crazy?" There is no need to talk any talk anymore, and maybe there never has been. Mind games like Mourinho's? Who needs them? Unlike those broken records, ours appear to be back running smoothly. It's a good time to be a Liverpool fan.
