Jürgen Klopp shines out like a beacon in Stamford Bridge’s darkness

There was a glimpse of Jürgen Klopp’s powers of motivation in the way he appeared to make a point of becoming Jordon Ibe’s new best friend. When Philippe Coutinho – or Phil, as his new manager calls him – equalised for Liverpool on the stroke of half-time, Klopp turned to his substitutes and gave Ibe such a hearty high five that you almost expected him to produce a foaming jug of beer from behind his back. When he later admonished Ibe for not being stripped and ready to come on in the second half, moments later Klopp was cajoling the young winger and bromancing him into the state of mind that led to him playing a key part in Liverpool’s third goal.
And when the final whistle blew and Klopp strode on to the pitch to celebrate his first victory in the Premier League, he reserved a special hug for Ibe, whose pass inside from the right in the 83rd minute was cleverly dummied by Adam Lallana and left for Christian Benteke to finish off Chelsea with a low finish past Asmir Begovic. It is easy to see why players bounce off Klopp and indeed it was tempting to wonder if Chelsea’s despondent players were casting the occasional envious glance at the German, whose energetic and engrossing touchline demeanour offered a welcome shade of light next to José Mourinho’s dark scowl.

Chelsea are 15th because their defence is porous, their midfield is stodgy and their attack is struggling to create chances. Eden Hazard, last season’s player of the year, was peripheral, and substituted in the 59th minute. The champions took the lead thanks to Ramires’s header but their early intensity faded and Liverpool, who looked terrified in the opening 20 minutes, gradually asserted themselves.
It would be disingenuous to say that Klopp accepted all of Mark Clattenburg’s decisions with magnanimity. One boggle-eyed charge towards the fourth official, Lee Mason, left Mourinho justifiably asking what would have happened if he had done something similar. Yet Klopp still managed to be a breath of fresh air, a ball of pent-up fury when Liverpool were wayward in the early exchanges, a beaming, tracksuited, slightly messy creator of happiness and fun when they romped away with the points thanks to late goals from Coutinho and Benteke.
While Liverpool were far from perfect, undoubtedly benefiting from a slice of luck when Lucas Leiva did not receive a second booking for fouling Ramires, there were the obvious signs of a plan, of a team that is slowly going in the right direction and adapting to Klopp’s demands.
Klopp slapped his head a few times when Roberto Firmino, who played at the tip of Liverpool’s attack before Benteke came on to give them a more robust focal point, wasted a promising move with an overly ambitious shot from long range. Liverpool lacked conviction at times, not to mention the ability to play the correct final pass. Yet when they clicked, the effect was glorious, Coutinho bending in two sumptuous efforts, one with his left foot and one with his right, before Benteke wrapped up the win.

This was the first time Liverpool have fought back from a goal down to win since the victory over Crystal Palace in the FA Cup in February. “Cool, hey!” Klopp said. “We have to see what it does. I don’t know.” He is not getting carried away. Liverpool must travel to Russia to face Rubin Kazan in the Europa League on Thursday and then rouse themselves for the visit of Palace on Sunday.
Klopp does not possess an outstanding squad but he has enough raw materials to work with for now. “Phil is a brilliant player and we don’t have to talk about his qualities,” Klopp said. “Sometimes you have to work really hard to make football look easy. That is what he did. It was not a perfect start for Phil. But he came back and he was cool enough in the right moment, to shoot at the right moment.
“That is his quality of course. But not always is the sun shining. We have to work hard on days when it is raining for the team. Everyone asks me every day if I have seen the next step. When you come in and bring new ideas, new information, everything … My experience is that quality goes down a little bit.”
Klopp pointed to his chest. “You try to play from here,” he said. “But you lose your coolness, your flexibility and your fun for the game. You have to take the new information and develop.”

He needs time as he seeks to thrust Liverpool back into the elite and Klopp was exasperated when he was asked about finishing in the top four. They are only four points behind Manchester United. “Oh,” he said. “I can’t believe that England is so impatient!”
He spotted Clattenburg walking past at that very moment. “They are asking me about the top four,” Klopp said to the referee. “Welcome to England,” Clattenburg replied.
Like Clattenburg, Klopp knows that Liverpool are not the finished article. “I have been here three weeks,” Klopp said. “I don’t read newspapers but everyone tells me: ‘You want to buy this player, this player, this player’. But development is to work with the players you have. It’s like if you have a problem with your wife, you don’t want to change every day!”
That was followed by the loudest laugh that has echoed around Stamford Bridge for a long time.