When Arsene Wenger recently said that the Premier league is like the “world championship of managers”, he was not being presumptuous by any stretch of the imagination. Jose Mourinho, Pep Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp, Claudio Ranieri, Antonio Conte, Mauricio Pochettino and Arsene Wenger himself, this list of managers in charge of different English clubs is staggering and it adds more competitiveness to the most popular league on the planet.
Many people consider the two Manchester clubs, Chelsea and Arsenal as favourites for the four Champions League spots this season but Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur would definitely have something to say about that. Both these clubs will be hoping to secure Champions League football next season under the leadership of their innovative managers, Jurgen Klopp and Mauricio Pochettino.
Jurgen Klopp was appointed as the manager of Liverpool in October last year after his predecessor Brendan Rodgers was sacked and Pochettino succeeded Tim Sherwood as the manager of the Lilywhites in May 2014.
The beginning
As in the case of almost all managers, both Klopp and Pochettino were professional players before their lives in the technical area began. Klopp played for various clubs in Germany, notably Mainz 05 in an eleven-year spell but his playing career is not as charismatic as his managerial one. The German started his career as a striker, but he had to switch to a defender later. He retired from his 15-year long playing career in 2001.
Mauricio Roberto Pochettino had a pretty good playing career and he played his club football for Newell’s Old Boys, Espanyol, Paris Saint-Germain and Bordeaux over the course of 17 years. The Argentinian has also represented his home country in the 1999 Copa America and 2002 FIFA World cup during his three-year long international career.
Klopp was appointed as the manager of Mainz 05 in February 2001, after the four-month reign of his predecessor Eckhard Krautzun turned out to be a shocker. He was one of the most senior players in the Mainz squad at that moment in time.
Pochettino’s managerial career began three years after he had retired from his playing career. He had just the experience of working as the assistant coach of the Espanyol’s ladies team when the club made him the third manager during the 2008-09 season. Espanyol was third from bottom and were in serious trouble when he took charge in January 2009, but Pochettino saved the day and the club secured a mid-table finish that season.
An overview of their managerial careers
Jurgen Norbert Klopp’s reign as Mainz 05 manager lasted seven years and had a fair share of highs and lows. They missed out on promotion to the Bundesliga on the last day of the season, not once, but twice.
Later, Klopp created history as he led Mainz 05 into the Bundesliga after securing promotion in 2004. The club even qualified for the UEFA cup in the 2005-06 season but things took a turn for the worse as Mainz 05 were relegated in the 2006-07 season. Ultimately, the German resigned from the job in 2008 as he failed to secure promotion again.
Pochettino served as the manager of Espanyol from 2009 to 2012 and he led the club to three comfortable mid-table finishes. However, he was sacked in November 2012 as the team were rock bottom in the La Liga after picking up just 9 points from 13 matches in the season.
In the summer of 2008, Klopp signed a 2 year deal with Borussia Dortmund and he became an idol of the fans during his tenure which lasted 7 years. He led the German club to 2 Bundesliga titles, 2 German super cups and a German cup win.
Dortmund had also managed to progress to the UEFA Champions league final which they lost against Bayern Munich and their 4-1 win against Real Madrid in the first leg of the semi-final is something that the Dortmund fans will cherish for a lifetime. The 2014-15 season was a roller coaster ride and Klopp announced that the time has come for him to leave the club. He won the German football manager of the year award in 2011 and 2012.
What was more frustrating for the Southampton fans than the sacking of their hero Nigel Adkins, who had won back-to-back promotions, was the appointment of a manager who couldn’t even speak English. But the Argentinian soon gained the support of the fans after helping the club to maintain it’s status of a Premier league club.
The Saints finished eighth in the league the following season and the fans were frustrated yet again as they felt the club shouldn’t have let Tottenham Hotspur lure him away. Pochettino waved his magic wand in London and led the club to 5th and 3rd place finishes in his two seasons in charge, and became a fan favourite. Spurs have also made it to a cup final under the Argentinian but they lost 2-0 to rivals, Chelsea.
The 2016-17 season is Klopp’s first full season in charge of Liverpool and fans do have a high level of expectation. The German led the Merseyside club to two cup finals, but unfortunately, they lost both the finals. However, making it to two cup finals is a remarkable feat considering the fact that he inherited an unbalanced squad from Brendan Rodgers and didn’t have a pre-season with the squad.
Head to Head
At least a few consider Klopp’s and Pochettino’s system of play to be similar but Pochettino has denied that. “It is a different style of pressing”, he said. “If you analyse Dortmund, it’s not similar to how we played at Southampton. You can’t compare Klopp’s style with my style.”
Jurgen Klopp calls his style of play ‘heavymetal’ football and the term ‘gegenpressing’ often gets mentioned when his tactics are analysed. Gegenpressing is something that Klopp’s team do when they lose possession so as to prevent the counter attack and force the opponents to play the ball backwards. This may sound simple but it is not, because of the physical impact this system has on a player and doing the pressing as an organised team is far from easy.
Pressing is not random but planned to perfection. Everyone in Klopp’s team would know when to press and when not to. Another dimension of Klopp’s tactical approach are the deadly counter attacks which simply blow teams away. Counter attacking football is never easy as it is hard to master the art of turning defence into attack in the blink of an eye.
Pochettino’s pressing game is not as adventurous as that of Klopp’s and is based on zonal pressing. Pochettino’s side often maintains a high defensive line and a compact shape. He is a disciple of the 4-2-3-1 formation and plays a proper central defensive midfielder, a player who would break up play and buys some time for the defence or even assume the role of a third centre-half. Also, the Argentinian would want his centre-forward to drift wide to receive the ball.
When it comes to transfers and developing young players, both the managers are almost on the same page. Klopp has had a genuine influence on the careers of world-class players such as Robert Lewandowski, Marco Reus, Mario Gotze etc. On the other hand, Pochettino has shown immense faith in the likes of Harry Kane, Dele Alli and Eric Dier and the former Espanyol manager is reaping its benefits.
Jurgen Klopp’s interviews and press conferences are one of a kind and his name is always in the headlines. The way he is animated in the touchline signifies his passion and how involved is he in the game. Pochettino is not popular like Klopp among journalists as the former doesn’t say anything worthy of the headlines and he skips all the controversial topics.
Klopp and Pochettino have faced each other only thrice and all the three games were draws, in fact, Klopp’s first game in charge of Liverpool was against Spurs and both sides couldn't break the deadlock that day.
Bottomline
It is way too obvious that they are two of the best managers in Europe with philosophies of their own. It’ll be interesting to see how long will they remain in charge of their current clubs, not that they are doing anything wrong right now but because of the sad truth that the life of a manager is never easy and unpredictable.
The ultimate question is whether Klopp and Pochettino can take their respective sides to the heights of glory or not. The answer is something only time will tell.
