Contenders Health Check: Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Spurs

Liverpool (Fourth, with 16 points from seven matches)

There hasn’t been a collective stirring of loins like this in Liverpool since the Beatles were regulars at the Cavern Club. Rare is it a football club finds a perfect fit with a manager. Liverpool might just have one with Jurgen Klopp.

Few crowds are as happy to decree demigod status on a manager as readily as Liverpool’s. A year on from taking the reins, Klopp has the Anfield faithful surfing a wave of his infectious enthusiasm. Talk is of a first title in over 26 years. There was a Soviet Union when Liverpool captain Alan Hansen held aloft the First Division trophy in 1990.

With any football club, but particularly those based in a city, a manager needs to understand its people almost as much as his players. Rafa Benitez got Liverpool from the moment he set his eyes on the Shankly Gates, and as as a result, Liverpool got him. 

Welcome to the Liverpool family. YNWA Mr. Klopp!! pic.twitter.com/TkWcVHU3ye

— Xabi Alonso (@XabiAlonso) October 9, 2015

It wasn’t just because of his on-field success Benitez became an honorary Scouser. He was in tune with the ethos of the people as much as he was the football club, surrounding himself with Liverpool folk to help him soak in his new surrounds. 

Great managers forge relations beyond football, becoming part of a city’s fabric. Klopp enjoyed a similar relationship with Dortmund, via his work with Borussia. He looks well on his way to establishing an equivalent connection on Merseyside. 

Klopp’s personality could not be any more different to Benitez, but what they seemingly share is an inherent understanding of what Liverpool supporters want from their team.

Last season when he took over from Brendan Rodgers, there was always going to be a bedding-in period, a process replete with as many false starts as moments of promise. Reaching two major finals in his first year was a measure of far he has taken the club. The 3-1 defeat against Sevilla in the Europa League final was a yardstick for how much further they still have to travel. 

This term, with a full pre-season behind him and a healthy transfer budget to play with over the summer, Liverpool look very much a side in the image of their manager.

Given Klopp’s track record, that’s a pretty healthy position to be in. 

Position at this stage last season: Ninth, with 11 points from seven matches.

Results so far: Arsenal away – won 3-4, Burnley away – lost 2-0, Tottenham Hotspur away – drew 1-1, Leicester City home – won 4-1, Chelsea away – won 1-2, Hull City at home – won 5-1, Swansea City away – won 1-2.

Next six Premier League fixtures: Manchester United (h), West Bromwich Albion (h), Crystal Palace (a), Watford (h), Southampton (a), Sunderland (h).

   What’s Gone Right?

It’s been an eventful first year for Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool