Jurgen Klopp has begun his long farewell at Anfield in the best manner possible.
Only a matter of months from his announcing the decision to quit the Liverpool FC manager role and his side was holding its first trophy of the season aloft.
Victory in the Carabao Cup final over Chelsea was remarkable for the circumstances in which it was achieved.
Heading into the game first-choice goalkeeper Allison was sidelined along with defensive starters Trent Alexander-Arnold and Joel Matip, whilst in midfield the team had Dominik Szoboszlai and Curtis Jones missing.
Those absentees were in addition to talisman Mohamed Salah’s unavailability, as well as injuries to Darwin Nunez and Diogo Jota.
Less than half an hour into the game itself things got even worse when Ryan Gravenberch was forced off with a knock.
As the match headed to extra time and legs grew tired, Klopp was forced to rely on the squad’s youngsters who remarkably delivered the goods.
Ultimately it was an 118th minute winner from the more experienced head of Virgil Van Dijk that sent the stands of Liverpool fans into delirium.
“In extra-time, it’s been Klopp’s kids against the blue, billion-pound bottlejobs,” pundit Gary Neville ranted in a clip that quickly went viral.
Neville’s narrative was one the internet leaned into postgame. Memes were soon produced of Van Dijk standing shoulder to shoulder with children in shirts matching the names of youngsters who’d come on for the Reds.
While the win was an achievement and perhaps even one which will, in retrospect, be season-defining, the reaction to Klopp’s decision to bring on youngsters has been astonishing.
“Liverpool’s fearless youngsters are Jürgen Klopp’s greatest legacy,” gushed Guardian columnist and Reds fan Jonathan Liew.
“The culture that allows them to play without fear, the sheer audacity to give them the big stage and the belief to fill it: perhaps this, as much as any win percentage or precious metal, is Klopp’s real bequest. Since he announced his departure a month ago, much of the talk has naturally centered around memories and legacies. But here, under the twinkling Wembley lights, was a reminder that every end is the beginning of something else,” he marveled
Liew was not alone in aligning Klopp’s legacy with the sudden emergence of youth products.
Jason Burt of the Telegraph was singing from the same hymn sheet when he wrote that “other managers would have hesitated. They would have persevered with the senior players and tried to keep them out there. But Klopp has the belief and the belief saw them home as he won his eighth trophy as Liverpool manager.”
A Changed Klopp
It’s understandable for Liverpool supporters to be caught up in the emotion of Klopp’s departure, but it is bizarre columnists would do the same.
For starters, it doesn’t take much to notice that the rhetoric Jurgen Klopp has exuded since he decided to leave is a sea change from the way he spoke last season about a similar injury crisis.
“They come back and play and then they have another [maybe] not injuries but ‘other things’ and then the medical department says they can’t play more than 20 minutes, they shouldn’t do this and they shouldn’t do that,” he raged at another bout of absences in October 2022.
“That’s how you go into the Premier League games with a knife between your teeth.”
This season there have been no references to knives in teeth by Klopp when discussing the injury situation. Relaxed and good-tempered he has instead thrown praise on the young players.
“We are where we are because of them,” he said ahead of the Carabao Cup final “That’s how it is because the boys really delivered. We will have to use and give the opportunity because, in a good moment, they can all be in. We have still options.”
It’s tempting to attribute this shift in tone to the quality of the young players Klopp has at his disposal, but, let’s be honest, it was not that different from the options he had a year previously.
No, the change is within the German. He is freed from the shackles of the endlessly relentless soccer calendar.
For example in the postgame interviews after the 1-1 draw with Manchester City, it looked like he was about to go off on another rant against the officials.
But instead, a warm smile crossed his face and he shifted the focus to the performance of Luis Diaz.
Klopp’s ability to empower these young players should not be understated. But the truth is the only genuine rookie to start the final against Chelsea was Conor Bradley, everyone else was either an experienced first-team player or had been around the squad for several years.
It’s a statement of the blindingly obvious, but the other crucial point is that legacy is only something that can be decided in retrospect.
So far the end of Klopp’s era has been impressive and his use of young players encouraging, but ultimately we’ll only see whether he hands on a squad that can continue to challenge for trophies after he’s gone.
Just look at the end of Sir Alex Ferguson’s reign at rivals Manchester United. It’s been suggested that the years of failure that followed were because he acted selfishly to seek immediate success at the cost of future development.
But at the time few would have suggested such a ridiculous notion. True, he signed an aging Robin Van Persie in his last transfer window, but that was in addition to the promising talents of Wilfried Zaha, Shinji Kagawa, Alexander Büttner and Nick Powell.
Those investments were in addition to the trust he placed in young players like Phil Jones and Chris Smalling, who were considered amongst the best in the country at the time.
Meanwhile, Tom Cleverly and Danny Welbeck were promoted from the youth team in his last year.
That none of them fulfilled their potential at Manchester United should not be placed on Sir Alex.
And it is with that knowledge of the fickle way soccer can shift suddenly in a different direction that we should resist hailing Klopp’s youngsters or their current good form as his legacy until that scenario manifests.