Reports of Jurgen Klopp’s demise will prove greatly exaggerated

After finishing second in the Bundesliga in 2013-14, Jurgen Klopps’s Dortmund side have failed to live up to expectations, and now find themselves languishing in the relegation zone after 13 matches. Kevin Hatchard looks at whether previously-lauded Klopp should be feeling the pressure.

Football is a brutally capricious business, and that’s been showcased by the supposed transformation from ‘hero to zero’ of Borussia Dortmund coach, Jurgen Klopp.

Before BVB’s Champions League trip to Arsenal last week, there were plenty of disgruntled Gunners fans expressing their keenness to see “Kloppo” replace the long-serving Arsene Wenger in the Emirates hot-seat. After a limp 2-0 defeat, Klopp joked that those same Gunners fans would no longer want him running their club.

After another 2-0 defeat at Eintracht Frankfurt, a result which left Die Schwarzgelben bottom of the Bundesliga, some media outlets have described Klopp as being “on the brink”, but he is no such thing. He has made it clear he has no intention of walking away from the club he “has fallen in love with”, and although sporting director Michael Zorc admits the Ruhr giants are in a relegation battle, there is no desire to fire the charismatic coach.

If anyone should have credit in the bank, it should be Klopp. He transformed Dortmund from a mid-table side to back-to-back German champions, and took BVB to within a whisker of Champions League glory.

Not only has Klopp lifted Dortmund to heights no-one could have reasonably expected, but he has done it in breathtaking style – a mix of relentless pressing and razor-sharp counter-attacking. It’s also worth remembering that loyalty is a two-way street. Klopp has never openly courted admirers, and he strongly hinted last week that he has rebuffed the advances of big Premier League clubs.

Dortmund’s current malaise has been 18 months in the making. A crippling series of injuries has affected almost every key player in the squad. The title-winning back-four of Marcel Schmelzer, Mats Hummels, Neven Subotic and Lukasz Piszczek have all had serious injuries in the past two seasons. Midfield regulator Ilkay Gundogan missed well over a year with a back problem, his potential partner-in-crime Nuri Sahin has been sidelined since the summer, and Sven Bender’s 2013-14 season ended in February.

Much of Dortmund’s attacking play hinges on Marco Reus, and two serious ankle injuries in 2014 have kept the willowy forward a peripheral figure. In the cases of Bender and Subotic, top-class players have returned from injury as shadows of their former selves.

Klopp’s philosophy of making sure his players outrun their opposition and work intensely hard throughout the match has come under scrutiny, and while “gegenpressing” could be responsible for some injuries, surely Klopp can’t be blamed entirely for what is an extraordinary catalogue of setbacks.

Klopp also can’t be criticized for the loss of two key attacking players in the space of two seasons. Mario Gotze stunned the Bundesliga when he defected to his boyhood club Bayern Munich in 2013, and although Robert Lewandowski’s journey down the same path a year later was expected, it was no less painful. As Liverpool are finding with the loss of Luis Suarez, it’s incredibly difficult to replace the best players in the world, especially if you lose two of them in quick succession.

Klopp has also been let down by some of Dortmund’s summer signings. Matthias Ginter arrived as one of the most promising defenders in Germany, and yet he has alarmingly slid into the “rabbit in headlights” category. Last season’s top scorer in Italy, Ciro Immobile, has struggled to adapt. He has looked much more at ease in the Champions League than he has in the Bundesliga.

People are starting to get excited about the prospect of Dortmund being relegated, but it simply won’t happen. Injuries are bound to clear up at some stage, and when they do, confidence will slowly return.

Klopp is an excellent motivator, and I’m utterly convinced he’ll turn this around. BVB are hardly cut adrift – they are seven points off the top half, and ten points off the top four. There are plenty of clubs in the relegation mix, and I wouldn’t back any of Freiburg, Werder Bremen, Hertha Berlin, Hamburg, Paderborn or Stuttgart to be ahead of BVB come the end of the season.

It’s raining for Dortmund fans at the moment, but that rainbow is on its way.

Where do you think Dortmund will finish this season? Will Klopp remain with the German side? Would he be a suitable replacement for Wenger, were Arsenal to call time on the Frenchman’s reign?

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