Jurgen Klopp has been in the coaching game for 20 years. Two decades ago, he was plucked from the pitch and planted on the sideline at Mainz – the beginning of a managerial journey that took him to Borussia Dortmund and then Liverpool in October 2015.
Klopp has had much success in his career to date – Bundesliga titles with Dortmund and, of course, the Champions League and Premier League at Liverpool. But with the club currently 4/1 with the best au online casinos to even finish in the top four this season, Klopp has a massive task to rebuild a side to push for more honours in the future.
This is not something Klopp has had much success with in his career to date, so will be an interesting challenge. He won back-to-back titles with Dortmund but then failed to build on that success, with Bayern returning to dominate.
Klopp then moved on to Liverpool and now has to react to the fact that his team were the best but are now being overtaken by a revitalised Manchester City team.
The decisions Klopp makes in the coming months and the signings the club make are crucial. The evolution from the Champions League winning side and the Premier League winning side has to start now otherwise the club runs the risk of not just seeing City overtake them but Manchester United and Chelsea. The online casino games top odds suggest that United are a better bet to challenge City next season than Liverpool.
Equally, we stress evolution and not revolution here – Liverpool do not need to bring in seven new players in one hit but identifying three that can push them to the top again next season and then another three the next season would be what the club needs to start looking towards a potential dynasty.
But where does Klopp start? Only he knows which players have the same hunger as they did before they won the title. He will know which ones might be considering pastures new and challenges elsewhere – for example, Gini Wijnaldum is known to be delaying signing a new deal and there is no guarantee Mo Salah will be with the club next season. That’s two headline replacements that need to be considered straight away.
In defence, you can presume that Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson can survive and thrive for another season – but you’d hope Liverpool go and sign a top, top defender to be there for Virgil van Dijk’s return next season.
This is a crucial moment for Klopp – we have seen that he is capable of building sides who can win their first silverware together. But is he capable of getting the same group to win again and again and then start the transition into the next squad?
In fairness, it is not an easy thing to do – Pep Guardiola tends to move on before he has to rebuild, Jose is rarely at a club long enough to see the next good team come together. In fact, it’s probably only Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger in my memory that have overseen two or more successful teams during their tenure.
The time is now for Klopp.
