Rise of the Liverpool from the ashes – Part III

Already in the 15/16 season, Liverpool were close to this. The Europa League final was one step away, but in the first half of the return game against Dortmund, Liverpool conceded three goals, scoring just one. Due to the time zone, I had already dozed off by the break, in Liverpool at that moment, Klopp was moving towards the platform under the stands.

 

Milner’s opinion about Jurgen

According to James Milner, the coach was not wearing a face when he entered the locker room. Jurgen asked just one question: “Guys, do you have something to tell your grandchildren?” The locker room was filled with silence. “Let’s try to win now, and you will have something to tell your grandchildren!”

2016 has been a year of great change. Klopp began to build the foundation, saying goodbye to players who either did not fit his system of play or forgot about discipline. Of course, all the transfers were made after the exhausting joint work of the coach, his staff and the analytical department.  These people deserve much more attention than they receive, so let’s talk about them in more detail.

 

The Growing pressure from Klopp

In 2011, Michael Edwards was appointed head of the analytical department, and in 2016 he became a full-fledged sports director. The respect Edwards has earned from the owners of Fenway Sports Group after a decade of service at Liverpool is boundless. Jurgen Klopp built a great team that won big trophies, but it was the shrewd Michael Edwards who gave him the tools.

Edwards has always avoided attention, never talked to the press, does not have a profile on social networks, but it was this person who personally went to see Salah when he was still at Basel, and was soon able to convince Klopp to sign the Egyptian instead of Julian Brandt in 2017 .

It was Michael Edwards who saw the potential in Andy Robertson, it was Edwards who managed to persuade the greedy Italians to bring down the price of Alisson from 90 to 62 million euros. It is Edwards who manages to negotiate contracts with the stars so that in the end all parties are satisfied. Near Anfield, a statue of Bill Shankly has long been flaunted with the caption “He made people happy.” Michael Edwards, in the aggregate of his merits, deserves no less, the American is quite worthy of a statue with the caption “He sold Benteke for 30 million.” 

FSG President Mike Gordon once stated: “Speech at Liverpool is not necessary, it is mandatory!” Jurgen Klopp respects Michael Edwards in many ways because of this. He likes the fact that Edwards has never been afraid to speak his mind directly.They don’t always agree, but there is plenty of mutual respect.

“It’s a very good relationship. He is a very thoughtful person,” Klopp said a year earlier. “We don’t always need to have the same opinion from the first second of a conversation, but we end almost all of our conversations with the same or similar opinions.