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Since the turn of the decade, there have been few managers who have distinguished themselves as well as Jurgen Klopp. The German’s tactical nous coupled with his supreme man management skills has helped him scale seemingly insurmountable peaks.
In Germany, Klopp broke the Bayern Munich monopoly by winning two successive league titles with Borussia Dortmund in 2010-11 and 2011-12. Additionally, he also took his unfancied side to the Champions League final in 2013.
His propensity to go toe to toe with Europe’s best did not go unnoticed and soon, he found himself unveiled as the manager of Liverpool.
The Reds have endured a tough time domestically since the 1990s with them not being able to add to their 18 top-flight triumphs. Thus, the German was looked upon as a potential harbinger of the good, old days and establishing Liverpool as a genuine superpower in the English Premier League.
Though Klopp has managed to cast Liverpool among the country and Europe’s elite, he has failed to lay his hands on a trophy yet.
Through his journey, he has encountered several stumbling blocks but has cleared them with flying colours more often than not. However, there remain certain instances where the German ran out of ideas and came up with some unbelievable excuses for his inability to win.
Thus, courtesy the lens of this article, we would go down memory lane and live some of the incredible reasons Klopp has blamed in the past.
#5 Dry Grass
The EPL is one of the most aesthetically pleasing competitions across the globe and boasts of exceptional playing conditions. The grounds are immaculately maintained with several scientific methods devised to keep them in order.
Hence, one would assume that neither the players nor the managers would complain about the conditions on offer. Yet, Jurgen Klopp contrived to do the above and infamously held the dry nature of grass accountable once.
The game in question was against Southampton at Anfield in 2017. The match ended 0-0 and the result dented Liverpool in their quest for a top-four finish. But, rather than taking the blame for a shoddy display, Klopp decided to pin it on the poor nature of the grass.
The German said that despite their best efforts to keep the pitch slick, the prevailing winds dried the grass which in turn made it hard for Liverpool to execute their passing game.
Over the years, Klopp has masterminded some truly remarkable performances, be it with Liverpool or Dortmund.
Yet, on that night in May, 2017, the German came up with a ridiculous reason for failing to win. And one gets the feeling that he wouldn’t be playing that post-match press conference on rewind too often.
#4 Snow
In one of Klopp’s more recent trysts with astonishing excuses, he claimed that there was too much snow at Anfield in the game against Leicester.
The 1-1 draw to the Foxes portrayed the first signs of the pressure the Reds are feeling currently as that stalemate was succeeded by draws to West Ham, Manchester United and Everton.
Though there was a decent amount of snow on the pitch, the home side was not exactly setting the world on fire. The Reds’ play was lethargic and they looked bereft of ideas. Thus, making a case that a perfect pitch could well have played into Leicester’s hands.
When asked after the game, Klopp casually replied that the supposed disturbance on the pitch disabled his side from playing free-flowing football and led to another toothless display.
Hence, the German had again managed to pull out another amusing reason out of the bag. And Klopp’s rather frosty relationship with the English snow had taken a turn for the worse.
#3 Wind
Ever since Jurgen Klopp has graced the Premier League, three things have become synonymous with him: an attacking brand of football, a vibrating personality which culminates in hugs with players and him blaming the wind. While the first couple of aspects can be discussed at length sometime in the future, the last needs instant addressing.
Way back in 2015, Klopp had remarked that the wind in England made it difficult for him to deploy his ultra-aggressive style of football. In 2017 too, he accused the wind of disrupting his side’s focus during the EFL Cup semi-final.
Even after a couple of years, it seems he hasn’t let that go. And if recent evidence is any indicator, one can expect him to harp on the same tune for years to come.
The latest instalment of the Merseyside Derby saw Liverpool turn in an insipid display. Yet, rather than looking at his team’s flaws, Klopp decided to blame his favourite fall guy: the wind.
Since his arrival on English shores, the German has enjoyed a correspondence with the said entity akin to the one Arsene Wenger had with his zip coat: extremely irritating but one he couldn’t do without.
On most days, Klopp talks beautifully about football and its nuances but by holding a natural element culpable, he let himself down spectacularly.
#2 Opponent injuries
The game of football is extremely volatile as it entails its fair share of injuries. The ailments strike like a bolt from the blue and are harder to deal with due to their unpredictability. Thus, if a team is ravaged by injuries mid-game, one would be tempted to provide them with an allowance.
However, if one blames the opposition’s injuries as an excuse for his own deficiencies, that borders on being ludicrous. And guess what, Klopp did so recently.
The Reds were playing at Old Trafford when Manchester United had to make all of their substitutions in the first half itself. Hence, the advantage clearly lay with the former with the latter hamstrung.
A listless performance followed and instead of coming clean and admitting his side’s failure to benefit, Klopp decided to say that the opponents’ changes impacted his side negatively.
As long as the German continues to win, these reasons would only be looked at as a deviation mechanism where the players are absolved of any criticism. Yet, if he conjures such excuses on a more regular basis, he might go down the same route as the boy who cried wolf.
#1 Broadcasters
The ‘beautiful game’ is the most followed sport on the planet and the broadcasters have played a crucial part. In today’s day and age, it is rare to find a football match not reaching out to billions across the world and thus, the importance of TV channels can’t be overstated enough.
However, for a certain German at the helm of Liverpool FC, he found the broadcasters to have impeded him in his pursuit of victory.
Liverpool crashed out to West Brom in the FA Cup in 2018 and put in a lackadaisical display. But, in Klopp’s eyes, that was the least of his concern as he was more worried about BT Sport not according his team enough time to win the match.
In fairness to the German, there are certain drawbacks of the commercialisation of the game. Yet, such a reason certainly isn’t one of those.
Klopp didn’t cover himself in any glory when he wildly accused the match officials of cutting down on injury time to suit the channel’s needs.
Though he has come up with some insane explanations over the years, this one just takes the cake, with the proverbial cherry on top.
And boy, Mr Jurgen Klopp could surely have done better on that occasion.
