[GOAL 네트워크] ‘Master who changed Liverpool’ Klopp welcomes 200 PL matches

Let’s go back to our memories on May 2, 2010. At the time, Liverpool was led by manager Rafael Benítez and fell to seventh after losing at home (0-2) to Chelsea, who ultimately won the championship. After 200 PL games, Jürgen Klopp took over as Liverpool manager.

Now, in January 2021, coach Klopp is heading to his 200 PL match in Liverpool. The opponent in this monumental match is Angsuk Manchester United (hereinafter United).

Liverpool’s changes have been dramatic since Klopp’s appointment. Liverpool won 94 wins, 48 ​​draws and 58 defeats in 200 PL matches, during the last two matches of Benitez and coaches Roy Hodgson, Kenny Dalglish and Brendon Rogers. Instead, in 199 games led by coach Klopp, he registered 127 wins, 47 draws and 25 losses. Victory increased 33 times, defeat decreased 33 times. He got 98 more points.

Klopp surpasses the wins of most coaches in his first 200 games with 127 wins before even leading 200 games in the PL. The only manager to have won more than Klop in the first 200 matches in tournament history is Mourinho (137 wins), who successively beat Chelsea immediately after taking office.

These achievements are even more dramatic compared to Liverpool’s performance just before Klop. Mourinho inherited Chelsea, who finished second the previous season under Claudio Ranieri, and Alex Ferguson had already joined Manchester United at the time of the 1992/93 PL opening six seasons later. Manchester City (Man City) was also a team that experienced two PL victories in the five seasons leading up to Pep Guardiola’s appointment, and only once fell below second place during that period.

Even Liverpool finished fourth or above eight times in the 10 years before Benitez took office. But Liverpool at the time Klop took office was different. It was only once in the last six years that it ranked fourth or higher. It is a story that the starting point was different compared to other directors.

Before coming to Liverpool, Klopp earned a reputation as a successful coach under difficult conditions. In 2004, he led the lower-league Mainz to the first Bundesliga promotion in club history, and led the golden age by winning two consecutive Bundesliga titles in 2011 and 2012 against Borussia Dortmund, who suffered from an age dark in the late 2000s. These achievements have helped change the fate of Liverpool.

As a director, Klopp’s progress is clear. In his first 200 Bundesliga games (102 Mainz, 98 Dortmund), Klopp recorded 81 wins, 57 draws and 62 losses, and only Dortmund scored 117 wins, 48 ​​draws and 35 losses in the first 200 Bundesliga games. It’s an impressive record, but at Liverpool, he entered the new ranks with 127 wins in 199 PL matches. As Liverpool manager, Klopp has already set the record for most wins in PL.

So what about the players? Three of the five players who made the most PL appearances with Klop (Hoverto Firminu 186, James Milner 151, Jordan Henderson 142) were players who joined Liverpool prior to Klop’s appointment in October 2015 (and 2 others). The name was Giorgiño, 158 matches for Binaldum and Sadio Manet for 143 matches).

First of all, Roberto Firminu was a player who was signed by Brendon Rogers at the time he took office. Captain Henderson and Deputy Captain Milner were drafted during the careers of Kenny Dalglish and Rogers, respectively, who have the most PL appearances under Klopp. Henderson debuted with Sunderland in 2008 and Milner with Leeds United in 2002.

The development of Klopp’s existing players was crucial to Liverpool’s success. Henderson was proudly named Player of the Year by the Association of Journalists (PFW) for the 2019/20 season, and made a name for himself in history as captain of the Liverpool team, which won the first division in 30 years. When Henderson became captain after Stephen Gerrard, few would have expected this success.

Player recruitment was also close to perfect. Key signings such as Sadio Manet and Mohamed Salah took Liverpool to the next level. Since August 2017, when Manet and Salah began to set foot in an attacking triangle with Pirminu, the three players have scored a total of 183 league goals. This is the trio with the most goals in the top five leagues in Europe since the 2017/18 season. Only Barcelona’s Lionel Messi (106 goals), Luis Suárez (62 goals) and Philippe Coutinho (15 goals) scored 183 goals, the same as Liverpool Tripod.

Coutinho left for Barcelona in 2018 and became the most important transfer player since taking over as coach Klop. Coutinho, who ranked fourth in attacking points in the PL under the Klopp regime, helped Liverpool beef up their defense by paying a huge transfer fee. The players signed by Coutinho’s transfer fund were defender Virgil Van Dyke and goalkeeper Alison Becher.

Before Van Dyke joined Liverpool in January 2018, Liverpool scored 110 goals (1.2 runs per game) in 91 Klopp-led PL matches. However, since Van Dyke’s debut, it has dropped from 108 games to 86 runs and 0.8 runs per game.

Alisong joined in the summer of 2018, scoring 57 goals in 81 PL games. This is 0.7 runs per game. Alisong is the lowest score among goalkeepers who have played more than 5000 minutes in PL history (1 goal every 127 minutes).

Two full backs Andrew Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold are also compelling to mention. Robertson was signed by relegation team Hull City, while Alexander-Arnold is from Liverpool youth team. Both players are performing well enough to redefine their role as flank defenders.

In PL, Robertson has 33 assists and Alexander-Arnold has 28 assists. Both have been at the top of the assist record since September 2017, when both players started playing at the same time. Manchester City’s Kevin De Breiner (45 assists) was the only player to register more help than this period. But De Breiner is the midfielder, while Robertson and Alexander-Arnold are defenders.

Looking at these records, we can see that Coach Klopp had a good balance of everything in the air. From the offensive triangle, midfield leadership, creativity of flank defenders and solid defense, Klopp’s Liverpool has it all.

Coach Klopp’s PL match 200 is a perfect match against Manchester United. Manchester United are the only team with more first division titles than Liverpool and the most defeated PL player against Liverpool. In fact, manager Klopp has also been weaker than any other opponent at just 1.22 points per game against Manchester United.

The team that wins Liverpool against Manchester United becomes the leader of PL. In addition to Klop’s 200th game, motivation is higher than ever. The match will take place at Liverpool’s home stadium, Anfield, at 1:30 am on January 18, Korean time. Let’s see if Klopp can win 200 games in this important match.

Translation: Yong-Hoon Lee (Performance statistics)