Is there anyone who doesn’t like Jurgen Klopp?
The eccentric manager, now at Liverpool, is one of football’s most loveable and respected characters following a successful seven-year stint at Borussia Dortmund.
He’s quickly become a cult hero at Anfield, too, with his ‘heavy metal’ style of play and charisma reinvigorating the Reds over the past year.
Under Klopp’s tutelage, Liverpool have gone from strength to strength and look well equipped to not only challenge for the Premier League title, but potentially win it.
And because of the effect he’s had on Merseyside, it would seem the German has made a new fan in the legendary Diego Maradona.
In an interview with Marca, the Argentine was asked to name his favourite current manager and chose Klopp without hesitation, also explaining what he “loves” about him.
Maradona said: “Jurgen Klopp, at Liverpool. I love what he conveys, the type that gives me confidence.
“Before at Dortmund and now in the Premier League. Klopp is always going forward.”
Klopp became renowned in the Bundesliga for his highly effective ‘geg en pressing’ system, whereby his players play with energy and harass their opponents to retrieve possession.
He’s successfully integrated that tactic at Liverpool, with Roberto Firmino, Adam Lallana, Philippe Coutinho and Sadio Mane at the forefront.
And the results have been outstanding. The Reds currently sit fourth in the Premier League, two points behind league leaders Manchester City and with the joint-highest goals scored so far this season (18).
Were it not for some poor defensive displays, Liverpool might have been top after seven games.
Victories over Arsenal, Leicester City and Chelsea serve to suggest Liverpool can challenge for the title this season, especially so given their rivals have also shown inconsistency.
Klopp will certainly harbour hope that his side can contend after admitting recently that winning the Premier League is his ultimate goal on Merseyside.
He said on Monday Night Football: “To play football that we like to remember when we watch it back.
“I think that’s what you have to do in life, use the time you have together to create some moments which you really can enjoy and when you look back, you think ‘they were maybe a few of the best moments I had’.
“It cannot happen that we finish 15th when you collect moments like this, so with the quality we have, I know what everybody wants to hear because there is a big rush in football and someone says they want to hear we want to win the league.
“Of course we want to win it, I don’t know when it will happen. But all I can say is that we will do our all for it [so] we are not too far away from the teams which battle for the title.”