The trophies, the goals, the players - Klopp in numbers

Friday, 9 October 2015.

A smiling, bespectacled Jurgen Klopp sits down to meet the British media for the first time.

The Liverpool side he is taking over has had a frustrating start to the season, offering no sign of ending their long wait for the title.

Not that the new manager is talking up his chances just yet.

"I am the normal one," he famously proclaims. He adds: "It is not so important what people think when you come in. It is much more important what people think when you leave."

Eight-and-a-half transformative years later, Klopp has done his final fist pumps in front of the Kop and is exiting stage right.

We look at the numbers to weigh up his achievements.

Judging Klopp purely on silverware, his haul is notable.

One Premier League title, one Champions League crown, an FA Cup, two EFL Cups, the Community Shield, a UEFA Super Cup and a Fifa Club World Cup.

In that title-winning season of 2019-20, his Liverpool side became the fastest team to reach 30 wins and were within one of breaking the 100-point mark.

His trophy cabinet could have been a lot fuller too if there had not been heartbreaking Champions League final defeats by Real Madrid in 2017-18 and 2021-22 respectively, coupled with in-vain pursuits of Manchester City in the Premier League, topping 90 points twice and still finishing second.

At that same news conference, Klopp talked about turning "doubters into believers" and the relentless drive for perfection that characterised his reign and brought faith and pride back for Reds fans.

However, the German's tenure was far from perfect.

Allied to the disappointing times his sides fell short were fallow years. His Reds team were poor in defending their title in 2020-21 and were jaded in finishing only fifth last season.

Indeed, in the 2021-22 season, Liverpool were competing on four fronts until the final throes of the campaign, missing out on the Premier League and Champions League titles, but winning two domestic cups.

Similarly, this season’s stellar effort only has one EFL Cup to show for it, as his Reds side ran out of steam at the critical juncture.

Klopp allowed Liverpool fans to dream again – but he could not turn every dream into reality.

In many ways, Klopp is unfortunate to have managed Liverpool in this period.

Less than 12 months after he arrived, he was joined in the Premier League by Pep Guardiola, a boss who had got the better of him in the Bundesliga and would prove just that little too strong throughout their time together in England.

Looking through the annals of Premier League managers, it is only Guardiola, the irrepressible Sir Alex Ferguson and Antonio Conte that can boast a better win ratio than the former Reds boss.

In another era, Klopp could have had a bulging set of Premier League winners’ medals rather than the sole gong he picked up in 2019-20.

Indeed, this is backed up by his record compared to other Liverpool managers – and the Reds have had more than their share of outstanding head coaches through history.

Klopp’s first game in charge came at White Hart Lane, a feisty 0-0 draw with Mauricio Pochettino’s Tottenham that was marked by Liverpool’s best running statistics of the season so far.

Since that day, Klopp has fielded 121 players. No surprise to see who tops the number of minutes with Mohamed Salah some distance ahead of Trent Alexander-Arnold.

At the bottom, Bootle striker Joe Hardy got eight minutes in an FA Cup tie at Shrewsbury in February 2020 – and that was it.

Spare a thought for Brazil midfielder Arthur, signed on deadline day 2022 to plug a gaping hole in Liverpool’s midfield, and managing a mere 13 minutes of action for the Reds.

And then there are the goalscorers. Salah leads the way with 211 goals, with partners-in-crime Sadio Mane (120) and Roberto Firmino (110) next in line. James Milner (25) is, perhaps, an unexpected inclusion in the top 10.

Klopp’s "Mr Professional" played almost everywhere for the Reds boss – and no doubt would have gone in goal if required.

In total, Klopp signed 37 players during his tenure for the Reds (Source: Transfermarkt), at an approximate cost of £850m.

Topping that bill, was the £85m splashed on Darwin Nunez in 2022, with the lowest permanent transfer fee of £2m spent to acquire emergency centre-back Ben Davies from Preston in 2021.

He rarely dipped into the free transfer pool, with only Joel Matip breaking into the first team from those acquired without a fee.

Klopp was also adept at shipping players out at the right time. Selling arguably his best player in Philippe Coutinho – for the huge upfront sum of £105m plus add-ons – which enabled the purchase of defender Virgil van Dijk (£75m in January 2017) and keeper Alisson (£67m in summer 2018).

Those acquisitions turned Liverpool from mere Champions League contenders into arguably the best Reds team in decades.

Few will begrudge Klopp the odd clanger – Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Marko Grujic among the very limited number that did not work out.

Klopp’s achievements in the transfer market are best contextualised against his main Premier League rivals.

Not only has he spent comfortably the least of the top five highest-earning clubs, but his net spend when factoring in sales is also the lowest.

Liverpool have needed to be savvy at recruiting and selling – luckily Klopp is one of the shrewdest in the business.

Only one team has truly had an iron grip on Klopp’s Liverpool - and that is Real Madrid. Two Champions League final losses were understandably tough to swallow against the Spanish giants.

No doubt he will also be frustrated by his record against Manchester rivals City and United, despite some memorable wins against both. The average points per match against those two teams is 1.48 and 1.43 respectively.

On the flipside, plenty of teams hated facing the Reds under Klopp, not least Aston Villa who picked up only one win against him while he was at the Anfield helm. Granted it was the spectacular 7-2 victory at a supporter-less Villa Park in 2020, but otherwise Klopp had their number.

Similarly Bournemouth, smashed 9-0 at Anfield two seasons ago, Watford and Newcastle have had particularly hard times against Klopp.

In fact, against only five Premier League sides has Klopp got a record of fewer than two points per game.

There will be plenty of clubs relieved to see him go.