- Jul 28, 2004
- 27,719
- 54,929
They finished below us every season bar one in the 9 seasons prior to 18/19, winning one league cup and nothing more in that time. Unless you have a very loose definition of what it takes to be a top club, Liverpool have only most reached that point again in the past two seasons thanks to a transformation engineered by Klopp.Bit of a weird take there. Liverpool have clearly been a 'top' club for a long time, and have consistently won trophies up until Klopp's appointment.
I'm not denying that Klopp is a good manager, but I'm confused as someone could claim Liverpool were a 'non-top club' prior to his arrival.
Pre 18/19, their league placements this past decade starting with 09/10:
- 7th
- (6th)
- 8th
- 7th
- 2nd
- 6th
- 8th
- 4th
- 4th
Liverpool hadn’t been a top club in a long time time Klopp reversed the side. Former great? Absolutely. Huge fan base? Undoubtedly. Rich? Very. But an average position of 5th/6th across 9 seasons suggests that they had become a second tier club, and to say otherwise it’s to not recognise the incredible job Klopp has done.
We may have different criteria or opinions about what makes a top club, but to my mind a top club is one that can be reasonably expected to challenge for the title, or at the very least presumed a safe bet for top 4. Liverpool ticked neither of these boxes for a very significant period of time.