One of the things I do like about the depth of the group he has put together is that it does appear to lift some of the stress of the job that, possibly, might make it viable for him to extend his tenure more than if he felt he was carrying the weight of it all.
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I said to a friend last year, that run at the end put to bed the Dortmund demons of that last season, yes they put on a run but ultimately it was for nothing.
Last season he did the same, dug a Liverpool team pretty much gone and got them into the CL, it’s small win in the great scheme of what went before but I think he understood and learnt and adapted better this time.
I think it’s also spurred him on for this season and we have so far seen that, there was always a doubt that talking heads were right, but evidently they are not or it doesn’t look it. His really bad finals record is 50/50 at Liverpool now, hopefully he can make it at least 50/50 in his career by the time he leaves, I think it requires another 4 finals to win.
Maybe he is going quit when he says but I’m more sure than I have been that he will not manage another club side and will want to see through the next generation to leave to the next guy.
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I think his rep for finals is somewhat exagerated by critics, often lacking context (Not by you). His losses with us were against a dominant City shortly after he joined the club, a top Spanish side in the Europa League that same season and a dominant Real Madrd side when we were still far from finished article, losing perhaps our biggest threat early in the game and our keeper possibly playing with concussion.
Not sure of his record before that. Obviously injuries and the attrition from the season of heavy metal football may have been a factor but how many of them were they the underdog?
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To be honest if you look at the teams he faced the results were to be expected possibly his last with Dortmund and the Europa cup with us you could make an argument on but the rest you’d expect them to lose.
But you also ignore the factors about Seville and how the season Dortmund had.
Was just another stick to beat us with to be honest
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I think a lot of it comes from the 12-13 season where they lost EVERYTHING to Bayern. After a 2 year run of back to back champs, Bayern won their title back, but then also beat them in the pre-season super cup final, knocked them out of the Pokal, and beat them in the CL final.
It was technically only one final (super cup doesnt really count), but earmarked them as clear second best to Bayern, which is like saying they are nearly winners who cannot get over the line (apart from the 2 years previously when they did).
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Can’t all get it right like we did with Bob and then Joe! Even Roy Evans won a trophy and had us near the top. (not intended in a derogatory way, really like Roy who did his best and was successful)