Jurgen Klopp’s decision to terminate his contract with Liverpool at the end of this season certainly made Liverpool a little surprised and panicked. Without any strong wind as a warning, suddenly the German coach wanted to leave Anfield.
In fact, if you look at Liverpool’s performance this season, Klopp’s place is very safe. In fact, Liverpool will certainly not hesitate to extend the contract of the coach who is entering his 8th season with Liverpool.
The reason is, Liverpool is the only team in Europe and in England that is still playing in four different competitions, namely the FA Cup, Carabao Cup, Champions League, and is currently at the top of the Premier League standings.
This weekend, Liverpool will meet Chelsea in the Carabao Cup final. In terms of appearance, Liverpool seems to be the favorite to lift the Carabao Cup trophy against Chelsea, who have not yet found stable performance.
Obviously, Klopp’s decision made Liverpool panic. Finding a suitable replacement is not easy. This has been experienced by Liverpool who are looking for a coach to end their almost 30 year drought for the Premier League title.
In Klopp’s hands, Liverpool’s long wait ended. If Liverpool continues to perform consistently, they could take steps to become Premier League champions again this season.
Therefore, Liverpool had to rack their brains to find a suitable replacement. The name of Xabi Alonso, a 42 year old young coach, has been included in the market to replace Klopp for next season.
Alonso’s name was included in the replacement market because of the Spanish coach’s performance with Bayer Leverkusen in the German Bundesliga. Alonso was able to increase Leverkusen’s prestige.
Even when Alonso arrived last season, Leverkusen was sitting in 18th place in the standings. Slowly but surely, the former Real Madrid and Bayern Munich player helped Leverkusen climb to 6th position at the end of the season.
Leverkusen’s performance continues to improve this season. Apart from being temporarily at the top of the standings with a distance of 8 points from 2nd place, Munich, Leverkusen are also currently playing in the German local DBF and the European League Cup.
Inevitably, Alonso’s name became one of Liverpool’s targets. Moreover, from his track record, Alonso was successful as a Liverpool player before leaving for Real Madrid.
The Benefits and Risks of Recruiting Alonso
When Leverkusen celebrated their victory against Munich two weeks ago in the German Bundesliga, the players did not forget to call the coach, Xabi Alonso. Interestingly, Alonso is not alone in accepting the call of his team. Alonso invited his staff to join him in celebrating his team’s victory with supporters in the stands at the club’s stadium.
This scene clearly shows Alonso’s recognition of the role and performance of his team staff. In a sense, Alonso is very aware that without his staff it is not certain that the results of his work can be reflected well in his squad.
Therefore, if Liverpool chooses Alonso, Liverpool will also be directly supported by the coaching staff who have been with Alonso at Leverkusen. With this, there is no need for adjustment time between the coach and the coaching staff.
Another advantage is Alonso’s track record having previously worn a Liverpool uniform. No half-hearted, Alonso defended Liverpool for five seasons (2004-2009). He became one of the important players in midfield with Steven Gerard that season.
This historical closeness could be one aspect that means Alonso doesn’t need a long time to adapt. Maybe Alonso just needs time to polish or strengthen the existing squad.
However, the challenge of being Liverpool coach is not easy. In terms of composition, the Liverpool squad consists of many star players.
Klopp has succeeded in building and increasing the prestige of the players since being brought to Liverpool. Klopp has strong authority over his players because they were recruited by Klopp himself and generally from teams outside the Premier League. Also, some of them are players who have just risen to fame, and just need to be honed by Klopp at Liverpool.
It is not certain that a new coach can manage the same squad as Klopp did. The same thing could happen with Alonso.
Alonso was successful in managing his players because of Alonso’s popularity as a footballer and the freedom to give roles to the players. Also, the players want to be managed by Alonso.
The same thing could be difficult to happen at Liverpool. Especially if Liverpool achieves great success this season, for example, winning the treble or winning two titles.
The mentality of the players rises and that can be a stumbling block for coaches to manage the players. Not to mention, the new coach’s efforts to maintain the same level of performance when replacing Klopp at Liverpool.
One of the keys is that the coach must have a strong mentality in dealing with the players and find ways to maintain the players’ best performance.
Alonso may be successful at Leverkusen. The same success will not necessarily happen if you coach Liverpool. With this, although there are beneficial aspects in recruiting Alonso, there are also risks that can occur.
ASL
