Liverpool Owners Reportedly Believe Jurgen Klopp Can Win Title This Season

Liverpool’s American owners reportedly believe the appointment of Jurgen Klopp could see the club challenge for the Premier League title this season.

Former manager Brendan Rodgers was axed on Sunday by the Reds after a 1-1 draw with local rivals Everton and Klopp is the big favourite to take over, with reports claiming a deal is close to being agreed, per Andy Hunter of the Guardian.

According to Simon Hughes of the Independent, the reason for such swift action against Rodgers is the owners still feel as though this team can challenge at the summit of the table:

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Owners hastened Rodgers’ exit as they feel with a new man in charge Liverpool can still challenge this season. ...

Beneath the frenzy of the last 24 hours, lies a reality: only six points separates Liverpool in 10th from Manchester City in first. By sacking Rodgers, FSG believe that not only do they now possess a head start on rivals, it will give Liverpool the best possible opportunity of finishing inside the top four – or  even challenging for the title this season, taking into consideration the relative struggles of several clubs they are meant to be competing against.

While critics will argue their decision is short-term and reactive, they consider the removal of Rodgers as pro-active, one that could have positive short-term consequences as well as long-term ones.

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Currently there are six points separating Liverpool, who are in 10th place, and league leaders Manchester City after what has been a gripping start to the domestic season. There are few sides that have struck up any kind of consistency in the opening weeks, with champions Chelsea faltering badly under the tutelage of Jose Mourinho.

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That’s likely to open the door to a lot of sides for a potential top-four challenge, something Liverpool should be contesting. There were few early signs this season that Rodgers was capable of hauling the Reds up to those levels, as the team turned in some weary, imbalanced displays.

Klopp will surely enliven this group. The former Borussia Dortmund man is a figure of infectious charisma and his teams play the game with a real vibrancy. So feasibly, the top four may not be beyond this group quite yet.

But as Bleacher Report’s Bundesliga expert Clark Whitney noted here, it did take a little bit of time for Klopp to fully entrench his principles at the Westfalenstadion:

There will be different challenges facing Klopp in English football. In the Bundesliga he only had to usurp one juggernaut in Bayern Munich, whereas in the Premier League, while none of the top sides have started particularly well, there are a lot more teams capable of competing with the very best.

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In addition, Klopp will be taking over another manager’s squad and won’t be able to make major adjustments to it until the January window. Even then, in midseason it can be very difficult to lure players to a football club, making a squad reshuffle problematic.

Sky Sports’ Spanish football expert Guillem Balague doesn’t necessarily agree Klopp will end up at Liverpool, hinting he may well wait for a grander job to come along:

To challenge for the title may be a fanciful thought, but Liverpool supporters are renowned for their ambition. Sadly, reckless hopes have been quelled over the past year or so, with key players leaving the club, below-par acquisitions having been made and little direction from the manager on the sidelines. Klopp will definitely get the fanbase dreaming once again.

He’s a manager who got so much out of his players at Dortmund, turning youngsters into title winners. Liverpool’s squad isn’t too dissimilar, rife with talented footballers with malleable abilities. If Klopp can give them some direction, Champions League qualification is a realistic ambition. However, even if the German does come in, the title looks beyond them.