Arsenal vs Liverpool
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The duel between Arsenal FC and Liverpool FC on Sunday (3:1 (1:1)) was also the meeting between two coaches who shaped their team into a top team. The fact that Mikel Arteta and Jürgen Klopp are now among the longest-serving coaches in the Premier League is a plea for coaches to be given the necessary time, because things didn’t always go smoothly for both of them.
Both Klopp and Arteta took over at clubs that had largely lost their former glory. The former record champions Liverpool had not won a title since the Premier League was founded (1991). Five of the last six seasons before Klopp arrived had seen the Reds finish outside the top five. When Arteta began his tenure in London, the Gunners were 11th in the Premier League with just five wins from 18 games. The historic championship season without a lost game was 15 years ago. Both coaches took on a difficult task and also took over squads that urgently needed a comprehensive change.
Liverpool’s squad in Klopp’s first season in 2015/16 lacked top quality and Klopp lent a hand. Less than four years later, when Liverpool won the Champions League in 2019, not a single player from his first LFC squad was on the pitch in the premier class final. Arsenal’s recruitment, on the other hand, has been inadequate for over a decade. There was a lack of vision. Arteta took over an aging squad with high salaries. The fact that both teams are back in the title race this season speaks volumes about their head coaches and is an excellent reminder of sticking with a coach, even when the going gets tough.
How Arteta shaped the Arsenal squad into the top team
There was an atmosphere of despair and pessimism at Arsenal in 2019. They haven’t been in the Champions League since 2017, and fans and media discussed a changing of the guard in the so-called “Big Six” of the Premier League. Could Arsenal still be one of them, or had Leicester City (now in the second division) overtaken the Gunners? During this time, players, coaches and the entire club from north London had to endure contemptuous videos from the fan TV station AFTV. Arteta inherited an unbalanced squad characterized more by a lack of attitude than quality and hope.
The most valuable Arsenal player at the time was Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, 31 years old. The highest valued central defenders were 31-year-old Sokratis (14.5 million euros) and 32-year-old David Luiz (12 million euros). A complete overhaul and rejuvenation was necessary. Arteta and the new sporting director Edu developed a long-term plan. “Trust in the process,” were the words of former team captain and current head coach Arteta.
From the squad the Spaniard took over just over four years ago, only six players remain at Arsenal today, four of them products of their own youth academy: Bukayo Saka, Emile Smith-Rowe, Eddie Nketiah and Reiss Nelson. The other two are Gabriel Martinelli, who was 19 at the time, and Kieran Tierney, who is currently on loan at Real Sociedad. Since Arteta has been at the club, the market values of these six players have increased from a combined €91.2 million to €298 million. Arteta’s training, coupled with her phenomenal talent, has turned players like Saka and Martinelli into global stars.
Due to aging top earners such as Aubameyang, Mesut Özil and Alexandre Lacazette, Arsenal were unable to spend a lot of money straight away. In Arteta’s first three transfer windows, the club only invested €84 million. The then 23-year-old Gabriel (transfer fee: €26 million) and the 27-year-old Thomas Partey (€50 million) were signed in the summer of 2021 as Arteta began to lay the cornerstones of his new framework. After Arteta and Edu finally completed the thankless task of getting big earners like Özil and Aubameyang out of the club, the purse strings were opened a little wider and players like Martin Ødegaard, Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko were signed before the €116 million deal last summer .Euro expensive transfer of Declan Rice from West Ham was made. The Gunners now even have the second most valuable squad in the world at 1.12 billion euros. When Arteta took over, Arsenal were in sixth place in the Premier League alone with under 200 million euros.
It’s easy to forget now what a mess Arsenal were in when Arteta began leading the club to rebuild the squad, restore the connection between the fans and the team and establish the club at the top of the league. The squad has been renovated and some of the wounds from the pre-Arteta era have been healed. The next step would be a league title to emulate the man he faced this Sunday – Jurgen Klopp.
How Klopp led Liverpool back to the top
Throughout the 20th century, Liverpool was the hotbed of English football, winning title after title and more European Cups than any other British team. However, they have largely been a sleeping giant since the Premier League’s inception, and when Klopp was hired as manager in 2015, not many seriously expected the Reds to compete for trophies. Liverpool were in tenth place when Klopp took over the reins and the low-quality squad was valued at 339 million euros.
Liverpool’s most valuable players were Brazilian duo Roberto Firmino (€35m) and Philippe Coutinho (€32m), both of whom would play key roles in Klopp’s success. While Firmino actually became a key player, Coutinho was sold to Barcelona for an English record fee of 134 million euros. This decision was not entirely insignificant because it provided the financial means to bring in Virgil van Dijk and Alisson, two protagonists who would later be indispensable. Aside from Firmino, only Joe Gomez and Jordan Henderson remain from Klopp’s first squad today.
In addition to van Dijk and Alisson, Klopp’s Reds also reached the next level with Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mané. In 2018/19 and 2019/20, Liverpool scored 197 points from just two Premier League seasons. In the end there was the championship title. And in the 2021/22 season, Liverpool again scored over 90 points, but it was not enough to win the title again. If Pep Guardiola hadn’t set historic standards with Manchester City in this era of English football, Klopp’s trophy collection would probably be much better stocked.
In the 2020 season, Liverpool’s squad reached a peak value of €1.19 billion – more than three times the squad value that Klopp took over five years earlier. But the team began to age, which resulted in significant departures and additions last summer in order to lower the average age and build another title-ready team. And the 56-year-old Klopp, who announced his retirement after the season, managed to do just that. Dominik Szobozslai and Alexis Mac Allister have rejuvenated and strengthened the midfield. Before the encounter with Arsenal, Liverpool led the table with a five point lead over the Gunners and Man City, who had played a game less. There is no doubt that the connection between Liverpool and Klopp is a special one, highlighted by the emotional reaction of fans far away to the news of the German coach’s impending departure.
Klopp went through the entire process from upheaval to the championship title. For Arteta, the big highlight, if the Londoners are granted it, is still to come. Then both will go down as two of the greatest coaches in the history of the Premier League. This is also notable because Klopp and Liverpool had to settle for fifth place before the squad change last season. The club management did not lose patience, did not part ways with Klopp and was rewarded for it. Arteta also needed time. After taking over during the 2019/20 season, he was able to stabilize the team, but hardly improved the results in the following season. The Gunners management also remained calm, left Arteta in office and is now in better shape than it has been since under legendary coach Arsène Wenger.
From Hitzfeld to Klopp: The German coaches in the Champions League finals
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