An insight into the types of people who bet on sport can be seen in the fourth-placed Liverpool team in the Premier League, below. One of the reasons Klopp chose to pack his side with center backs was because he knew the team would benefit from the vast experience of Pepe Reina and Brad Jones – both of whom are 36 and 37 respectively.
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Other reasons for setting up with three center backs were in defense, in midfield, and up front. All four of Liverpool’s top scorers this season are on the bench, with Daniel Sturridge, Rickie Lambert, and James Milner all on the cusp of being in their 30s and nearly in their 40s, respectively. The only top scorer on the bench is Divock Origi, who’s scored 12 times in 26 league appearances.
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As we saw in Klopp’s man-management style at Borussia Dortmund, players will flock to him. They’ll play for him, learn from him, and he’ll get the best out of them.
There’s a brilliant moment in Adrian Chiles’ ESPN documentary, ‘Liverpool: The New Dream’, in which he spoke to John Aldridge about his former manager at the club. Aldridge made the point that clubs nowadays expect managers to win, “They don’t want managers to get to know players and see what they can do. They want results.”
Liverpool have been like a New Era for many years, but they’re much more than that now. Klopp believes in what he’s doing, he’s got the backing of the club’s owners, he’s making changes and letting players go.
For a club who’ve traditionally played the way they have, and always been a side that favors youth, fans should be excited about the future. They’ve bought well, they’ve looked to go younger, and Klopp is looking at the way he wants to play football. The club have one of the biggest wage bills in the Premier League, but now they have a manager who believes in them. The players should now start believing in Klopp. They’ve been given a fantastic manager to work under, who’s shown he wants to get the best out of them, and has all of the tools to do so.
Liverpool have one of the best coaches in Europe, the finances are there, and they have the players to make this club compete with the best. They should make sure the long term looks good too, because for too long now, Liverpool have looked one way and that’s been all right. But if they don’t make the right moves, they’ll get a manager like Mancini and have the players of Torres and Raikkonen in their ranks for years to come.
Watch: Klopp’s love for dancing is pretty cute
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