The manager of Liverpool football club, Jurgen Klopp has described himself as a better football manager than in previous seasons because he had to deal with new challenges in the ongoing 2020-2021 season.
Jurgen Klopp ended the 2019-2020 season as the best coach of the year in virtually all the major awards held across the world. He received a lot of attention after leading Liverpool to win the Premier League title for the first time in 30 years.
In the 2018-2019 season, Jurgen Klopp enjoyed much more accolades even though he didn’t win the Premier League title that season. He won the best manager award in virtually all football award ceremonies across the world including the Ballon d’Or.
That season, he led Liverpool to win the prestigious UEFA Champions League for the first time in over 14 years in the history of the club. He went ahead to win the UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup.
Hence, the consistency of Liverpool in the last two seasons was expected to extend further since the majority of the players that achieved the aforementioned feats were still fully available at the club.
Unfortunately for Liverpool, the club suffered an unprecedented injury crisis in the 2020-2021 season. The department that is worst affected at the club is the defense. Jurgen Klopp has had to change his defense line several times because almost all his first-team defenders have been battling with one injury or the other.
It got so bad for Liverpool that the reigning Premier League champions had to convert the club’s midfielder, Jordan Henderson to a center-defender due to lack of options. Unfortunately for the club, Henderson is currently out with an injury which might keep him out of the game until April.
Besides Henderson, Liverpool will face Chelsea football club at Anfield Stadium later today, March 4, at 21:15 without the club’s injured defenders – Virgil Van Dijk, Joe Gomez, and Joel Matip. However, the likes of Diogo Jota and Fabinho could return against the London club.
“Most of the problems are as a result of the injury situation,” Klopp told Sky Sports. “This year we have faced completely new problems. I have never in my life – and I have been doing the job for 20 years – had to change the last line every week.
“I am a much better manager this season than I was before because usually, you are not having to think about these things but now I am having to think about them constantly.
“We had a situation on Friday night. We trained all week, or the few days that we had to train, with one specific line-up, and then overnight we had to change it completely. That is another big thing to do that is common in football but we have had it plenty of times.
“People might say that is an excuse. I could not care less, to be honest. We do not use it as an excuse but if you ask me the question then it is the explanation for why things changed.”
As it stands, Chelsea are seen as favorites to win against Liverpool tonight due to the current state of the Merseyside club. It has been so terrible for Liverpool that the club lost four successive home games this season, for the first time in almost a century. Such a trend might continue in favor of an in-form Chelsea side who are yet to record a defeat since Thomas Tuchel became the coach of the club on January 26.
So far this season, Liverpool have recorded 12 wins, 7 draws, and 7 defeats which left them on the 6th spot with 43 points in 26 league games, a point below 5th placed Chelsea.
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