Steven Gerrard copied Jurgen Klopp to make Liverpool’s job inevitable

When Steven Gerrard left his job as Liverpool’s Under-18 coach in the summer of 2018 to join the Rangers, many saw the move as a risk.

Two and a half years later, with a contract extension signed to 2024 on the same day that Jurgen Klopp extended his contract to the same year in Liverpool, Gerrard’s decision has been 100% justified.

His Rangers team is performing at an incredibly high level so far this season, having now taken a 19-point lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership, although they have played three more games than second-ranked Celtic.

Although they defeated their closest and bitter rivals 1-0 on Saturday, maintaining their unbeaten streak at home and the 100 percent record at home.

In 22 league games so far this season, Rangers have scored 57 goals and conceded just five, keeping 18 clean sheets, leaving just one goal for Ibrox to date.

With a team that has not won the title since 2011, Gerrard has taken elements of the style of Rafa Benítez and José Mourinho, two coaches he admired, and combined them with the exciting offensive football of Klopp.

In a special podcast from Blood Red’s Steven Gerrard, tactics writer David Hughes explained how closely Gerrard’s Rangers are aligned with Klopp’s Liverpool.

Goalkeeper and defense

Even with a goalkeeper 10 years older than Alisson Becker in Allan McGregor, Gerrard has his team playing from behind in the same way Liverpool do, while as a winger, the similarities to Klopp’s side are even clearer.

Right-back James Tavernier is Gerrard’s Trent Alexander-Arnold, having scored 17 times and assisted 14 in 32 appearances this season. Borna Barisic, Andy Robertson of the Rangers, has two goals and 10 assists in 29 games.

David Hughes (DH): “Their expected goals against are around double the amount they have conceded (five), but they are still better than Celtic, who are in second place.

“McGregor is in goal for the Rangers and he’s adapted very well to Gerrard’s game because he’s 38 now and he’s been in the game for a long time.

** Listen to the latest full podcast from Blood Red’s Steven Gerrard by clicking HERE

“Sometimes I look at Adrian at Liverpool and I think he has a hard time playing the way Liverpool likes to play because when he started as a goalkeeper he would have focused less on using his feet.

“But McGregor averages about 20 passes per 90 minutes for the Rangers and that’s pretty identical to what Alisson does.

“Both Rangers full-backs, Tavernier and Barisic, are capable of overlapping and overlapping runs in attacking moves and are way up the field.

“In terms of the biggest assists expected on the Rangers team this season, it’s Tavernier and Barisic. In Liverpool, it will be the same with Alexander-Arnold and Robertson.

“The full-backs are the creative center of this Liverpool team, which is very similar to Liverpool.”

Midfield

Similar to Liverpool, Gerrard’s Rangers midfield is about maintaining form and controlling games, leaving the emphasis on creativity to the wingers.

DH: “Gerrard, like Klopp, does switch between a 4-3-3 or a 4-2-3-1 depending on the opposition, but at 4-3-3, the midfield sacrifices like current Liverpool. of the field.

“We know that Gini Wijnaldum can be more offensive as he is for the Dutch national team, but he plays a role for the good of the team, and we see him with Scott Arfield and Steven Davies.

“They offer protection and balance in the team when the wings advance.”

Attack

Roberto Firmino’s role is the most difficult to replicate, but Gerrard has even done his best with Kemar Roofe, while there are versions of Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah on both sides.

DH: “We know that Firmino is a unique player and it would be hard for me to think of a carbon copy in the Premier League. Some people have spoken of Alexandre Lacazette as that type of Arsenal player with Mikel Arteta, but that has not been the case .

“The Rangers’ number nine position is sometimes a more traditional number nine, where Firmino is almost a hybrid number 10, but there has been evidence that Kemar Roofe plays that kind of position.

“Once again, it’s about trying to replicate Liverpool’s best qualities and trying to get similar versions at Rangers, because it’s a successful way to build a team.

“Ryan Kent too: Liverpool use reverse wingers and Kent plays a lot on the left, but he’s actually right-handed. That tells me his role is to score rather than create.”

“It’s the same in Liverpool. Why does Salah play on the right? Because he’s left-handed and it’s about that goal threat to intervene.

“Kent doesn’t have the same quality and that’s why it didn’t work in Liverpool, but in Scotland, he represents that profile, again, replicating the Liverpool profile, but at Rangers.”

When the time comes for Klopp to move on, Liverpool will need a manager who can step in and take on the same group of players, with a similar philosophy and a track record of winning titles to move seamlessly from one era to the next.

If Gerrard wins the title in Scotland this season, that would start to tick the trophy box, and his team has yet to collect the silverware to date.

There would still be a significant jump to Liverpool, but the way his Rangers team is playing suggests that Gerrard could be the obvious choice to succeed Klopp as things stand.