Welcome to the Premier League, Jürgen. Make yourself at home. Try not to get too comfy, though, you’ve been here two seconds and you still haven’t won anything. Maybe the Normal One is too normal. What was all the fuss about? What kind of managerial genius loses 3-0 to Watford? Klopp for the chop.

Forgive the facetiousness, but Liverpool’s 2-2 draw with West Bromwich Albion two weeks ago was portrayed as a telling moment in Klopp’s tenure. He had three wins, three draws, two defeats, 12 goals scored and nine conceded from his first eight league games in charge. Brendan Rodgers had three wins, three draws, two defeats and a goal difference of minus two after his final eight games at Liverpool.

Stripped of context, those numbers were potentially troubling. Yet Liverpool were drifting under Rodgers and, while it is too soon to say that they are going places under Klopp, it is clear that the German has a plan, a coherent way of playing and the kind of magnetic personality that convinces his players to come along for the ride, wherever the hell they end up.

Klopp’s football was scintillating during the good times at Borussia Dortmund and it is not hard to see him eventually ending Liverpool’s long wait for a league title if he is given time, space and support. Yet it is also tempting to wonder how long the honeymoon period will last, especially if Liverpool look like finishing outside the top four.

Arsène Wenger never bothers to hide the weariness in his voice when he observes that we are living in the age of impatience. Managers are obvious victims, rewarded with hefty contracts one minute and slapped in the face with P45s the next, even when they are not solely to blame. “The society today always wants something new,” Wenger said last week. “We have news every half an hour or every minute. You need to announce something new. But let’s not forget that football is as well about cohesion, about stability.”

The sacking culture is corrosive. We have become accustomed to speculation about who will be the next sucker to lose his job, as though football is a reality television show in which the least popular contestant gets voted off and the flavour of the month takes his place, and too often we are blind to the potential rewards of keeping faith with a beleaguered manager, ignoring the possibility that results can improve if people are allowed to learn from their mistakes. The fear of even brief failure stunts a club’s growth and development.

Just as it is worth remembering that Sir Alex Ferguson needed six and a half years to win the first of his 13 league titles in England, it is striking that Wenger is tantalisingly close to seeing his third great Arsenal side emerge. Arsenal should be regarded as title favourites after last week’s victory over Manchester City and, although they still have to convince us that they will stay well clear of the self-destruct button, they have matured hugely this year.

Wenger winning the league for the first time in 12 years could be a major turning point for managers in England. Arsenal have had to hold their nerve since the Invincibles swept to glory in 2004 and there have been a couple of occasions over the past decade when sacking Wenger would have been justifiable.

The 8-2 defeat by Manchester United in 2011 was a potential breaking point. So was the 6-0 defeat by Chelsea in Wenger’s 1,000th game, while there have been needless embarrassments against lesser sides in the cups, and a sense that Arsenal are only ever one setback from crumbling. How they respond after Boxing Day’s fiasco at Southampton will be crucial.

Yet if the title arrives at the Emirates Stadium for the first time since Wenger led Arsenal to the ground in 2006 it will be seen as a victory for stability, loyalty and forward planning, and plenty of managers should be secretly cheering them on. When clubs get twitchy in dark times, it would demonstrate the value of patience. Take Liverpool, whose owners would have to take note and stick with Klopp if he is still struggling to get his ideas across in a year or two.

It is true that not every manager deserves time and some are promoted too soon, jumping into Premier League jobs instead of learning their trade at a lower level. Garry Monk comes to mind. Despite leading Swansea City to eighth place last season, he was exposed as soon as results deteriorated. Swansea’s chairman, Huw Jenkins, is not a fool.

Equally Monk’s sacking was part of a trend, a swift rise followed by a sharp descent. On to the next one, then the next. Sometimes it is impossible to know if a manager was good enough, because no one sees them for long enough to reach a definitive conclusion.

Snap judgments scrub out football’s shades of grey. Every issue becomes black and white, yet managers are not always the ones at fault. The root causes of failure can often be found in a club’s structure or its recruitment. United may get a quick fix if they replace Louis van Gaal with José Mourinho, but it is unlikely to be a lasting cure. They are a good advert for having a director of football.

When Klopp arrived at Liverpool, he found a squad lacking belief, courage, cohesion, drive, moxie and quality. The players’ flaws did not magically disappear when Rodgers was ushered out of Anfield in October and even when Liverpool were playing their part in Mourinho’s demise at Chelsea and racing into a 3-0 lead at Manchester City inside 32 minutes, Klopp was telling people not to get carried away. He sounds like Wenger in those moments. Whether his bosses will have the foresight to listen remains to be seen.