Why Did We Even Want Klopp in the First Place?

[Aidan O' Neill]

He goes in a weird roundabout way to hype Klopp's Dortmund signings. It's a very poorly written article which takes an age to make a point that almost anyone who knows a bit about football could make.

 

[manwithnoname]

I bet he loved the Carroll-Downing "partnership" idea.

Oh yeah. After that prick Barney Ronay famously called him "Stanley Devastating" in some load of bollocks in The Guardian, our Tommo had this to say:

"A certain player happens to have completed more successful crosses in the past three seasons than anyone else in the Premier League; he is the top-flight’s 5th-most successful chance-creator over the past seven seasons, and the only one of that top five to not be in a Champions League side over the duration (the other four being the world-famous quartet of Fabregas, Gerrard, Lampard and Giggs).

His club’s Player of the Year, he is someone who has regularly registered in excess of ten assists a season throughout his career, with as many as 14 in 2006/07, and is capable of getting double-figures in goals (he did so in 2007/08, and was just one shy of last season). All this, and on average fit to play in all but three games a season over the past five years. (Stats courtesy of Opta Joe.)

But Stewart Downing is ‘rubbish’, a ‘waste of space’. He’s apparently not fit to wear the shirt. Despite that previous paragraph, which proves to the contrary, he’s ‘crap’.

There’s no doubt that Downing is guilty by association; I know I held that view for a few years, too. But it’s important to not get mired in such beliefs, and to allow the evidenceto gradually seep in, until your opinion is more in line with the current facts.

With Andy Carroll in the side, delivery for him to attack is vital, although it doesn’t mean that Liverpool will be looking to just find his head for 90 minutes; the Reds played cultured football under Dalglish last season, and the Manchester City game remains the example of a (nearly-) fit Carroll at his best, and the team playing with variety.

While Downing can get to the byline, and while he can beat a man, he’s someone who will often cross from deeper positions without even taking on his opponent, in the style of David Beckham; just curl it around the defender and into the danger zone. I was informed that Andy Carroll scored just one goal for Newcastle from someone getting the byline to cross; most of his headed goals were from set-pieces or balls delivered from precisely the kind of area from which Raul Meireles supplied the successful cross for the third goal against City.

But Downing is versatile too. His familiarity with centre midfield means that if he drifts infield, Luis Suarez can pull out wide, where he likes to receive the ball and attack inwards.

A tougher thing for fans (or statisticians) to measure, but which Liverpool’s scouts look into, is the player’s mentality. For example, Downing is not as exciting as Charles N’Zogbia with the ball at his feet, but he’s proven to be more reliable over the years, and less temperamental. I like both as players, but one has a reputation for dressing room unrest, and the other is more likely to be a true team player (and team spirit is vital to this regime). Downing came through some trials as a youngster (getting booed by England fans simply when warming up), and now appears to have the psychological makeup needed to succeed at a big club."

 

[manwithnoname]

At least that one did have a semblance of a point: what a player looks like and how he plays is irrelevant vs being consistently effective.

Sadly, Downing wasn't.

 

[Raz]

It isn't the most ridiculously inept question ever, it is a fair question.

We could have signed up another manager that have different strenghts and ideas. Klopp is a top class manager but he also have his weaknesses and strenghts. We needed someone that can build the whole organisation and have done that, not just a manager. We needed someone that can work together with the committee and not a yes manager. We needed someone with guts and balls.

Could a manager like Mourinho do the job Klopp is doing? Probably not because he has never done it. He is only a manager, not a manager and DoF. He can't build up a good youth system.

In a few years time we will most probably have a top class organisation, youth system and top class first team. How many managers out there would be able to do that job?

Haha it actual sounds like you are fucking arguing with yourself when I read your posts.

 

[Judge Jules]

100% typical of Tomkins. There are some good points in there, but most readers have lost the will to live before he gets to the end of the first one. He'll never use one word if he can think of a couple of dozen with which to say the same thing.

 

[cloggypop]

Approximately half of the internet is The Tomkins Times.

 

[Oncy]

I thought he was dying?
Maybe that was just a lovely daydream I had.

 

[cloggypop]

I thought he was dying?
Maybe that was just a lovely daydream I had.

You know it'll take ages. Completely long winded.

 

[manwithnoname]

I thought he was dying?
Maybe that was just a lovely daydream I had.

He has M.E.

He's mentioned it a couple of times

Which led to my famous and brilliant joke about him, that his biggest problem was that it's all "M.E! M.E! M.E!"