Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp is an ‘actor’ who doesn’t deserve credit for the Reds recent success.
That’s the opinion of former manager Gerardo Pelusso, who once managed Liverpool’s namesakes Liverpool FC Montevideo.
Klopp has been at Anfield since 2015 when he arrived to replace Brendan Rodgers at the club following a disappointing start to the season.
He has since reestablished Liverpool as one of the best sides in Europe, leading them to the Europa League final in his first season before the Champions League final in 2017/18.
That ended in defeat, but they were back a year later to secure their sixth crown before going on to win their first Premier League crown and end a 30-year wait for the title last season.
Such success means Klopp, who enjoyed a highly successful spell with Borussia Dortmund in Germany, too, is widely considered one of the best coaches in world football.
Pelusso is having none of that, though, believing Liverpool’s success is not down to having the German in the dugout.
“Klopp is a good manager, but what happens is that he sells himself very well,” he told Info TNU.
“Liverpool’s success is not Klopp’s; Liverpool’s success is the success of those who put the squad together before he arrived.
Fútbol | @GerardoPelusso sobre el entrenador del Liverpool, Jürgen Klopp: “Es un buen entrenador, pero se vende muy bien, es un buen actor. El éxito es de los que armaron el plantel antes de que él llegara”. Más información a las 19:00 por @TNUtvpublica pic.twitter.com/jpMXx2QvL4
— Canal 5 Noticias (@5noticiasuy) February 16, 2021
“Because when Klopp was managing Dortmund, they offered him Sadio Mané, who was at Salzburg in Austria, and he said ‘no, that’s a black rapper, I don’t want him’.
“Then he goes to Liverpool and Sadio is a monster as a footballer and as a person and he won them all the championships.
“So Klopp is a good coach, but he’s an actor who sells himself very well… He really understood the key to the football business, Klopp is an actor.”
