THE THRILLS & DISAPPOINTMENTS OF THE ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE

 

The drama of the English Premier League would never stop to confound its admirers seeing the listless moments of excitement, disappointments, and confusion each match brings. The introduction of VAR has further increased the level of suspense viewers are faced with in the English Premier League.

The past five years have been most remarkable and this has been an outcome of the stiff rivalry between clubs such as the acclaimed perennial winners of this half-decade, Manchester City, and Liverpool FC, strengthened by the managerial acumen of the now departing Jurgen Klopp and Mikel Arteta of Arsenal FC, a former assistant to Pep Guardiola, the architect of Manchester City's recent dominance.

As the 2023/24 English Premier League reaches its twilight, the fight between Man City and Arsenal FC remains fierce, and extraneous factors have caused a sudden decline of Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool FC. The sudden outbursts of the mercurial Mohammed Salah, at his coach's actions during their match against West Ham FC, revealed a possible crack in Liverpool's setup. It would remain a very painful end to the beautiful legacy that the German coach has built in these past eight years wherein he has won everything within England, including the European Champions League for Liverpool FC.

 

CAN ARTETA STOP GUARDIOLA?

These two teams are accelerating at the same speed towards the finish line and only the actions of spoiler teams striving to secure their positions within the English Premier League would determine who wins the league. These Spanish coaches have brilliantly managed their teams amidst the diverse vagaries of the English Premier League, such as injuries and loss of form of their players, unfavorable VAR decisions, and surprise defeats by opposition teams. Their consistency shows the quality of their coaching skills and unlike a team such as Tottenham Hotspur FC, who dazzled the English Premier League in their first ten matches but fell apart thereafter possibly resulting from some mediocre coaching and poor mentality from the players, Arsenal and Manchester City FC, both represent a perfectly better level of team strength.

 

 

 

WHO REPLACES KLOPP?

Liverpool FC has virtually confirmed Dutch coach Arne Slot, as a replacement for Jurgen Klopp but it's too early to call if he'd be able to immediately keep Liverpool at their current level of being amongst the best 3 teams of the English Premier League for more than five years. Whilst we wait to see how well he maintains this consistency, the superlative performances of Unai Emery's Aston Villa FC cannot go unnoticed. In his first season, he took them to get the European Conference League ticket, and currently, they have a firm grip over the fourth position in the English Premier League. With this level of consistency, the likelihood of maintaining this position looks strong and it would be the right decision to get the best backing from his board, anything otherwise would be calling for trouble!

 

THE BOTTOM TEAMS

The struggle here has been very fierce though Sheffield United FC confirmed their relegation last weekend and the battle for the other two spaces continues between Luton Town, Nottingham Forest, and Burnley. Despite the point deductions against them, Everton FC has overcome relegation and gliding on safe ground, whilst Nottingham Forest who faced the same fate as Everton FC is in dire waters.

When the English Premier League ends next month, there will be so much thrills, excitement, and disappointment about how the 2023/24 season went and the next focus will be on what to expect in the next season and how to make VAR a less disruptive factor in the determination of match results.

 

THE JURGEN KLOPP LEGACY AT LIVERPOOL FC

Whenever an appraisal of the greatest English Premier League football managers of the 21^st century is made, the dynamic inputs of German-born Jurgen Klopp to the resurgence of Liverpool FC will be highlighted in several chapters of the dissertation. His results turned Liverpool FC, from a team spoken about in retrospect to a world-beater compared with the very best football teams in the world.

 

JURGEN KLOPP’S ARRIVAL TO LIVERPOOL FC

Jurgen Klopp did not arrive at Liverpool FC, unannounced; his achievements at Borussia Dortmund FC already heralded him as a modern coach with a high-octane pressing and attacking football philosophy that would always leave his opponents at the edge of their seats as highlighted by Pep Guardiola in his tribute to Klopp.

Within two years of joining Liverpool FC, he rebuilt the team by integrating an efficient spine comprising Mohammed Salah and Saido Mane in the attack, Nabil Kaita in the midfield, then Virgil Van Dijk and Allison Becker in the defense. It didn’t take a century for his team to begin to make an impact and it’s that team evolution that has crest his legacy on the minds of every Liverpool FC supporter and the football World in general!

Several other coaches had managed Liverpool FC in the twenty-first century before Klopp but could not take them to their apogee of the mid-1970s and 1980s under Bob Paisley and Joe Fagan. They reigned for most parts of the last quarter of the twenty-first century as a rather mid-table team, falling in and out of oblivion. He transformed the club and currently has won seven major titles for Liverpool FC, including the English Premier League, European Champions League, and every other title of the English Football Association, including several appreciable mentions.

He exudes so much confidence and his aura attracted several good players to his team, turning them into world-beaters who continue to compete with the best in the world. Mohammed Salah had not fully patched his failed stint with Chelsea FC and his sojourn with Roma and Fiorentina FC in Italy when he joined Liverpool FC. With Klopp, Salah has achieved football legendary status, rising to become the highest goal scorer, in LFC history and winning the African Footballer of the Year Award. The same transformation happened to Saido Mane, Virgil Van Dijk, Trent Alexander Arnold, Allison Becker, and several others.

JURGEN KLOPP: THE CROWD’S FAVORITE

Jurgen Klopp remains a coach greatly loved and respected by Liverpool FC supporters and as a testament of how much his legacy has rubbed on him, he’s foreclosed any possibilities of ever working for any other team within the English Premier League. He’s also highlighted the strength of the team he’d be leaving behind.

Klopp has not foreclosed returning back to coaching and his return would be a hugely anticipated wait about when it would happen and what team he’d be joining. His indelible imprints on world football would remain for long and whenever he chooses to return, Jurgen Klopp would be greatly sought after. When this time, comes, he’d likely emerge better!  

 

ANC2023: HOW FAR CAN LIVERPOOL FC GO WITHOUT MO SALAH?

The Confederation for African Football 2024 African Nations Cup would run from the 13^th of January 2024 to the 11^th of February 2024. Within a fortnight, players from participating countries would join their various camps to prepare for the tournament. Liverpool FC lethal striker, Mo Salah would be leading the Pharaohs of Egypt in their quest to win the title in Ivory Coast. He’s been a livewire for his national team and his availability is crucial to their title quest at the Nations Cup. He’s not won any major title with his national team and this quest would certainly be taken seriously by Salah and his team.

 

Mo Salah, the Jewel

Mo Salah remains one of Africa's greatest strikers and his importance in the Liverpool FC team is immeasurable, just like it is for the Pharaohs. Coach Jurgen Klopp has done much to fortify his attack with the purchase of Darwin Nunez Luiz Diaz, and Gakpo, but despite this, the team still relies greatly on Salah to rally them to victory, especially at difficult times. The consistency of the other striking force has remained questionable and epileptic. That is where Salah’s value continues to soar. His skill, dexterity, and experience often come to bear in their pursuit to win the 2023/24 English Premier League.

 

Mo Salah would be Missed

Liverpool FC would have to deal with the absence of Mo Salah when the ANC starts. Egypt’s first match would be against Mozambique on the 14^th of January, then against Ghana on the 18^th of, January, and Cape Verde on the 22^nd of January. On paper, they stand a good chance of qualifying from their group and that could take him away from his club, missing matches in the Premier League, League, and FA Cup until February, even if Egypt doesn't get to the final. If they do get to the final, then Salah would effectively be away for about 5 weeks. He'd be sorely missed except his replacements can replicate his scintillating performances.

 

Liverpool FC matches from January 1 to 11^th February when the ANC ends:

o   Newcastle(h) – January 1^st      - EPL

o   Arsenal (a) – January 7^th – FA Cup

o   Bournemouth (a) – January 21^st - EPL

o   Chelsea(h) - January 31^st - EPL

o   Arsenal (a) - February 3^rd - EPL

o   Burnley(h)- February 10^th - EPL

 

He’d miss several crucial matches whose consequence could affect their bid for titles in different competitions. Their major rivals such as Arsenal, Aston Villa, and Manchester City FC would have no such absentees and any negative consequences of Salah's absence could effectively cost Liverpool FC the English Premier League and possibly other titles. Another important issue would be the fear of injury and fatigue from his participation at the ANC. The team would have to step up their game to cover for his absence as that remains the best solution to this issue.

Despite Mo Salah’s absence, Klopp Can still be Trusted

Jurgen Klopp is known as an astute coach, adept at raising his team to overwhelm the foray of any opposition. Since taking over at Liverpool, he’s taken them to a new level of success, winning six titles so far. Apart from his first season and the 2022/23 English Premier League season, Liverpool FC, has continued to challenge for titles both within England and Europe. He’d again prove his mettle as one of the world’s best current coaches, to rise above this transitory hiccup.

Click to Purchase: 

AN ANALYTICAL STUDY OF NIGERIA's FOOTBALL DEVELOPMENT: 1959-2009

The Jurgen Klopp Effect at Liverpool FC

Embed from Getty Images

Jurgen Klopp has kept Liverpool FC on steady waters since he became their coach in 2015. He's taken the club to three UEFA Champions League final matches and won the title once. Klopp has won six titles for Liverpool since he left Borussia Dortmund. With Dortmund in Germany, Klopp had already distinguished himself. He competed almost at par with Bayern Munich FC, who has turned the German Bundesliga to a one team league, where they won virtually all the titles, leaving the crumbs for the others. He won the Bundesliga with them in the 2010/11 season. Eight years of Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool FC

Embed from Getty Images

When he first arrived, the team was crumbling and at the twilight of the Stephen Gerrard's era. He then set out on a gradual rebuild to give the team a better spine. He brought Loris Karius, Saido Mane, Joel Matip Georginio Wijnaldum. They lost the Europa cup finals three goals to one to Sevilla in 2017. This brought them hope, and then painfully lost the 2018 UEFA Champions League to the great Real Madrid FC led by Gareth Bale’s dynamism. He continued his rebuild; for Loris Karius and Mignolet, he bought Allison Becker for the goalkeeper's position. He brought Roberto Fermino, Mohammed Salah into the attack and Nabil Kaita in the midfield. Not to forget Virgil Van Dijk and in the defence. With these men, Liverpool FC began to compete at the highest levels with Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United et al. This period marked the first era of the Klopp rebuild and it worked perfectly with the good results that followed. Liverpool FC won the UEFA Champions League final in 2019 beating Tottenham Hotspur FC. The second rebuild In 2022, they narrowly lost the UEFA Champions League, again to Real Madrid, losing one goal to nil and have gradually begun another rebuild. With their long-serving captain, Jordan Henderson, Saido Mane, Roberto Fermino, Nabil Keita (never did much though) gone, he's brought players such as Darwin Nunez, Luis Diaz, Diego Jota, Ibrahim Konate, Cody Gakpo, Dominik Szoboszlai, Alex McAllister, Ryan Gravernbach, and these players look perfectly settled to improve the team. The results so far gives the impression of similar success with the first rebuild. Jurgen Klopp has always been very pragmatic, attack-minded and ruthless in picking the maximum points against his opponents. Apart from possibly Pep Guardiola's Manchester City, no other club competes better in not crumbling when least expected.

Embed from Getty Images

In spite of their heroics, last season was tough for Klopp’s Liverpool FC. They fell to the firepower of Manchester City, Arsenal, Manchester United and Newcastle FC. These teams took the English UEFA Champions League tickets, leaving Liverpool to fall to the Europa League. Jurgen Klopp, the Astute Financial Manager Klopp has been a good financial manager in his rebuild and Liverpool FC has spent far less than the Manchester teams, Arsenal and Chelsea throughout his reign. He has been very successful in his purchases; most players who have arrived under him have performed well. Liverpool FC has started the 2023/24 season on a good note, both in the English Premier League and Europa. They endured a torrid time at the Tottenham Hotspur FC stadium two weeks ago, due to bad VAR calls, but the future looks very bright for them this season.