Jurgen Klopp Must Change Things at Liverpool, But Sacking Him is Not the Answer
It was another frustrating day for Liverpool at St James' Park on Sunday as the Reds played out another draw in which Jurgen Klopp's men wasted numerous chances and conceded a cheap goal at the back.
Following the result, which leaves the Reds with one win in seven and in seventh place many Reds fans are calling for Klopp to be given his P45 after two years in charge at Anfield.
The idea of the German getting the sack is quite outrageous. It's certainly been an eventful couple of years on Merseyside for him. When he joined, the Reds were tenth and from there Klopp went on to reform the squad and led them to two cup finals and back into the top four, all within 18 months.
Liverpool haven't had an amazing start to the season in truth, but there are only seven points off top spot and many people are seeming to forget that it's only October. They've only lost once in the league so far and going forward are quite formidable.
Admittedly, he made a huge mistake not boosting his side's defense and it has again proven to be the team's Achilles' heel, but an important thing is that they do score a lot of goals and they're not losing games.
The amount of progress Klopp has made in such a quick period of time is nothing short of phenomenal and with the right backing the Reds could be in a great place to end their league title drought soon.
The 50-year-old made his name turning Borussia Dortmund into one of the most exciting teams in Europe, taking them to two league titles in 2011 and 2012, and then the Champions League final in 2013.
But Reds fans should take into consideration that after his appointment in 2008, the club finished 6th and 5th in his first couple of seasons, winning no silverware as the club failed to qualify for the Champions League both times.
In that time he built a superb talented young team which would go on to conquer Germany and Europe in the 2010's and put Klopp in the limelight as one of Europe's best coaches.
The squad he has at Anfield is very similar to the one had at Dortmund, a mix of talented youngsters and experience as he had brought many of the tactics he used in Germany to turn Liverpool back into a force within English football and on the European stage.
He's already shown he's willing to cut the dead wood, offloading flops such as Christian Benteke, Lucas Leiva, and Kolo Toure and made very effective moves for the likes of Sadio Mane, Mo Salah and Georgino Wijnaldum, all of which have proved crucial to the Reds success under Klopp.
The main thing is he deserves time. Liverpool are clearly a force and as time has gone on the Reds have got better under him and are getting closer to the sides around them. Their squad is only getting stronger and if he can make the right defensive move, most likely for Southampton's Virgil van Dijk, things will improve at the back as well.
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While Reds fans are entitled to be frustrated that their team don't have more points than they do so far this season, what sense would getting rid of Klopp do now? He's drastically improved the team and brought the best out of his squad, taking them from a stale, mid table shell of a team they had become under Brendan Rodgers to genuine challengers.
He's certainly overseen some of the club's best transfer business in recent years, and that success has shown on the pitch. Let's not forget Rodgers blew the £75m he received for Suarez on the likes of Mario Balotelli, Rickie Lambert, and Lazar Markovic, all of which proved to be seriously underwhelming.
And looking around the managerial market, who else is there who could do better? Most of Europe's best managers are in solid jobs, maybe with the exception of Carlo Ancelotti who was recently sacked by Bayern Munich.
But Klopp has steadily built a courageous, exciting team which have blown teams away in the last few seasons. The current run of results is nothing more than a bad run. Every manager has them, even the best of them. But once again, the Reds aren't losing, they're proving hard to beat and scoring lots of goals. Why Reds fans think they are doing badly is a bit of a mystery..
How a manager who has lost just one league game so far and is not losing games can be under pressure in early October is quite outrageous, and the German deserves more time to bring trophies to Anfield, just like he did at Dortmund.
Patience is certainly a virtue here, and Klopp needs the right support from both the board and fans and from there the club will see the reward.
