With his charm, quips, tactical insights and beaming smile, Juergen Klopp made quite an impression when he was presented as liverpool’s new manager last week.
Comparisons were made with Jose Mourinho’s arrival in English football a decade ago. liverpool fans spoke of Klopp as a savior.
However, it will be results on the field he’ll be judged on and the Klopp era at liverpool gets off to a potentially tough start on Saturday with a trip to Tottenham.
The international break has at least given Klopp some extra time to adjust to his new surroundings. He took his first training session on Tuesday with nine players who weren’t involved on national-team duty, including Philippe Coutinho, Daniel Sturridge and James Milner.
Danny Ings won’t be in the attacking mix, not for most of this season anyway. British media reported that the striker will be missing for six months after sustaining a cruciate knee ligament injury. liverpool hasn’t officially confirmed the injury.
liverpool is in 10th place after eight games, but only three points off the top four. Spurs are a point and two places ahead.
CITY INJURIES
The international break did no favors for league leader Manchester City, with Sergio Aguero and David Silva both getting injured on duty for their countries and set to miss Saturday’s game against Bournemouth.
Aguero was in tears as he was being carried off on stretcher playing for Argentina last week and his hamstring injury appears serious. He said he is hopeful of being back for Argentina for its Nov. 13 game against Brazil, but that “the injury must be let to recover a bit so there is no relapse.”
Silva injured an ankle playing for Spain against luxembourg.
City holds a two-point lead over Arsenal and Manchester United.
CHElSEA WOES
The Premier league standings are starting to take shape after eight rounds and it was no surprise to see City, United and Arsenal occupying a place in the top four.
The one glaring omission is Chelsea, which continues to struggle in its defense of the title and is languishing in 16th place with only two wins so far. A home loss on Saturday to Aston Villa, one of the four teams below Chelsea, would really heap pressure on Mourinho.
Chelsea may have to replace right back Branislav Ivanovic, who was injured playing for Serbia on international duty.
Meanwhile, Arsenal visits Watford in Saturday’s late game, with big wins over leicester and United raising hopes of a title challenge this season. laurent Koscielny could return from injury for Arsenal.