I actually thought they could do it against Madrid. It is a tiring older Real Madrid side that I sense falls off a cliff some time soon. They were 17 points off Barca this season and below city rivals in the league. Lots of players over 30 and beginning to resemble some of the great Italian teams at the turn of the last century, who fell away for a time as they were just a bit too old.
They have had a particularly easy run, but the first time they faced a decent European team they fell apart. I know City won the league, but to me they have very little pedigree in Europe and have a inferiority complex with Liverpool. So I discount them. Other than that, they got two sides in the knockout competition who are a million miles away from being the top 8 in Europe, and there is a debate about whether they are in the top 16. Against Roma they nearly messed it up, and with 10 minutes longer I sense would have done, in spite of a bang average team playing into their hands for 60 minutes and giving them a 5 goal start. They remain a complete liability at the back .
The best teams in the European cup are, Real Madrid, Barca, PSG, Juventus & Bayern Munich. That they avoided any of those 5 in any of the games until the final is telling. In a normal season, with a normal group, they likely finish 2nd or worse and get one of the 5 in the 1st Knockout round to be eliminated. Fortune worked on them this time, and avoided a top side until the final.
The 2nd layer of teams, notably United & Spurs they avoided too, who again would likely have knocked them out in Europe. Over two legs you'd have probably fancied Sevilla too. So you are looking at 8/9 teams they avoided. As I say, good fortune but unlikely to repeat itself.
I think the departure of his assistant is a massive moment for Klopp too. He is very much the front man, the fluffer of the operation. Very charming and effervescent with the media and players but the core aspects of his system were thought through by Buvac. It's no surprise they have already taken a big dip since the fall out. If he leaves that will continue. We had something similar with Joe Royle and Willie Donaughie back in the day, Donaughie did most of the prep work on the training ground to implement the system. Clop and Buvac are very close and he will not be able to replace him like for like.
Add in world cup year, where 4 years ago he took a Dortmund side, better than this current Liverpool one in relation to their competitors to bottom of the table approaching Christmas and relegation fodder after Christmas, before essentially doing an Allardyce and lifting them to mid table obscurity.
Though I'm not saying either are a certainty there is a lot of pressure on Klopp now. Lots of players will be arriving back late from a world cup. Salah is likely to be carrying an injury going into the start of next season and will be a marked man. They are hoping they can reproduce the ability to find good players, Fakir looks a decent player but not enough to fill the void. Keita in spite of their build up looks a good player little more, whenever I have watched Leipzig for example, if you'd have said which lad cost 10 million, which one cost 55 with him and Lookman, 90% would have said Lookman was the more expensive.
It could all start to unravel quite quickly for Klopp. There is a clear blueprint to play against them, though sides struggle to enact it when LFC fitness levels are high & they have players bang in form scoring lots of goals. Fitness will be a major issue for all teams next season, particularly ones who rely on high pressing games. Unless Salah, or another has the season of their lives and a major aberration in goal return I can see them being quite badly stuck. They will continue to leak goals at the back, it's not bad luck, they have a massively error prone back 4 and goalkeeper, and Butland will only compound this problem, a goalkeeper who is significantly inferior to Pickford.
They will be like a boxer, who has lost some of its power, gassed a bit and is very easy to counter punch. I expect him to go heavy early, he has to take that risk and hope momentum can pull them through. The usual January decline they have had, I expect to start a lot earlier and last a lot longer (perhaps until the end of the season). I can see the wheels coming off big time, if they are not top by November.
All of this logic will fall upon deaf ears to the largely arrogant and insulated fanbase of LFC who believe they will just keep getting better and better. It will be painful for them. Especially if we get someone like a Silva who emulates the start he had at Watford, we spend wisely on players that deliver.
Or maybe Martinez wins the world cup and returns to finish the job with funding (this is a joke by the way!)
