A club working to the same goals

Liverpool were not in the pits of despair when Jürgen Klopp was appointed as Brendan Rodgers’ successor in October 2015. Idling would be a better description. Different people at the club were on different pages, which led to Rodgers pushing for the signing of Christian Benteke that summer in return for “accepting” the arrival of Roberto Firmino, whose merits were pushed by the scouting hierarchy of Michael Edwards, Dave Fallows and Barry Hunter.

The sense of separation was not conducive to success and, ultimately, resulted in a disconnect between the players and supporters. Klopp has galvanised Liverpool to ensure that everyone now pushes in the same direction and has mobilised fans behind a team of whom they can