The year 2020 will always be remembered for the Coronavirus pandemic. It has completely changed our lives and will most likely shape the World in the future. But if you are talking about English football, the year will be known for Liverpool.
And only man is responsible for this historic day, Jurgen Klopp. When Klopp took over reigns of Liverpool 5 years ago, not many would have bet on this day to come early. Liverpool had finished 8th in the league, lacked a strong core in the team and were not likely to go too big in the transfer markets.
But fast forward to 2020, they have sealed the title win with 7 games to go, have lost just one game and are well on their way to reach the 100-point mark on the table.
So what did Klopp manage to achieve in these 5 years, that led to this transformation? He made the team his own. In no time, had he managed the win the belief of his players and the fans and the board did the right thing, they let Klopp do what he wants.
Throughout the season the entire team has played exactly the way Klopp wanted them to and that is the reason why no injury or setback affected their morale. Klopp demands a lot of energy from his players and they stepped up every game, sometimes destroying their opponent and sometime managing to get through in games where they sat behind.
One could argue the fact that Manchester City did not live up to their expectations, but Liverpool’s records speak volumes. They have won the league with 7 games spare beating United in 2001 and City in 2017-18, who did it with 5 games to spare. They have won 23 consecutive games at home, and if they win all their remaining games, they will finish the season at 107 points, the highest ever in an English league.
Liverpool will be dominating the league for the coming years too. Klopp has built something that won’t be easy to overcome. They have a perfect mix on young players and those in their prime, play as a team and most importantly, as I have said several times in my article, they are a manager’s team. The biggest advantage of that is that you will see big players leave, without affecting the team as a whole. Liverpool lost Coutinho to Barcelona two years ago and they did not have to replace him to reach here today.
To add more perspective to this, Liverpool had a very good team in 2014 and had to go through a heartbreak when they collapsed at the end and lost the title to Manchester City. But that team was largely built around Suarez so much so that when he left, they had to witness mediocre seasons following that.
This team is different from that and is likely to dominate in a similar manner even though he loses one or two players in the coming season. Sir Alex Ferguson had a team who changed several times during his long career, but that hardly impacted the success he witnessed. That is a manager’s team.
But nonetheless even if Liverpool fail to retain the league next season or the one that follows that season, Klopp will go down in history as the man who brought glory back to Anfield.
