Debate: Klopp or Pochettino – which manager has made the bigger impact in English football so far?

Liverpool play Spurs this weekend and it will be a clash of two of the Premier League’s most talented coaches.

Though neither man has actually managed to win the league title, both men have constructed brilliant sides that are genuinely fun to watch. What has made their teams so unique is the tactical set-ups that they have employed, and this has given both managers to have a tremendous amount of influence and impact.

But which manager has had a bigger influence on English football? Let’s have a look!

Jurgen Klopp

Klopp took over as Liverpool boss in October 2015, taking over from Brendan Rodgers who appeared to have lost all of the swagger that saw him one game away from winning the Premier League title in 2013/14. Klopp inherited a mess of a team and has gradually transformed them into phenomenally entertaining side.

Sure, in the last year he’s also spent an obscene amount of money to find what could be dubbed “the final pieces of the jigsaw” with Virgil Van Dijk, Alisson and Naby Keita. But the undeniable impact Van Dijk has had must create faith that Klopp knows what he’s doing and the two new signings will have similarly positive effects.

But what has Klopp done to English football? Well he returned a Premier League side to a Champions League final for the first time since Chelsea won the trophy back in 2012, and although he lost his Liverpool side were phenomenal to watch in the cups. They played (and play) a direct counter-attacking style which relies on an intense high-press to destabilise opponents.

The idea that you can play technical football at a higher speed than the rhythmic possession play influenced by Pep Guardiola and Barcelona was never really considered in England; it was always seen as “simple = fast, technical = slow” which was never a real dichotomy. Klopp has shown you can play fast and skilful, and his sides success will inspire legions of copycats in the future.

The impact Klopp has had on the performances of Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mané won’t change things too much as they are merely players in the mould of Cristiano Ronaldo who showed the Premier League the potency of goalscoring wide-forwards over a decade ago.

But the way Klopp uses Roberto Firmino, a hyper-intelligent attacking midfielder, as a line-leading no. 9 could really have huge ripple effects on the way young forwards are coached in England. It’s just that because Liverpool’s successes have been so recent and because they haven’t won a trophy yet then we haven’t really seen the Firmino fall-out.

Over time, that will probably come to pass just as Klopp has made the people of England understand gegenpressing (well, sort of) and shown them that players appreciating fans even after hard times (he was mocked for his side celebrating a draw with the fans, but it was appreciated), but it’s too early to say.

Mauricio Pochettino

Pochettino came to England from Espanyol back in 2013. He managed Southampton for a season and incredibly led them to finish in eighth, their highest position in over a decade, as well as clock up their biggest-ever points tally in the Premier League. He then moved to Spurs where he has turned Tim Sherwood’s sagging little miracle into an extended happening.

Because that’s the thing, Spurs haven’t won a trophy yet nor extended any sort of dominance, so they aren’t really an elite side but at the same time they aren’t a continuous underdog, nipping at the heels of the colossal Great Danes that roam the fields of football. They are somewhere inbetween. Thus, a happening.

Pochettino inherited a Spurs side saddling the weight of the wasting of the Gareth Bale money and made them a great team almost instantly. Tactically they played an intense style of football, favouring high-pressing and quick, rapid counter-attacks. Expensive signings were cast aside and young players promoted instead. Harry Kane was given the full trust of the club and he’s been one an absolute tear for Spurs ever since (137 goals in 190 games).

And that right there is Pochettino’s influence. Not the sum total of it, but the biggest and brightest example of the main thing Mauricio Pochettino has brought to English football: trust in young English talent to play intelligently in complicated tactical systems. Under Poch, Kane has developed into genuinely one of the five best strikers on planet earth. He recently won the World Cup golden boot. These are phenomenal achievements for an alright prospect who had become a loan merchant.

Of course, Poch has been at it since he first came to England. The way he developed Luke Shaw and Adam Lallana at Southampton was nothing short of incredible and only injury has stopped the pair of them really kicking on once they got their big moves. At Spurs he’s brought brilliance out of Harry Winks, made Dele Alli develop into a phenom, pushed Kyle Walker and Danny Rose to become the division’s best full-backs, then sold Walker and turned Kieran Trippier into the Bury Beckham.

Verdict: Pochettino

One cannot state how important Mauricio Pochettino has been to England, not just English football. Although the way he succeeded whilst steadfastly refused to speak without a translator in his early days, and then made the effort to settle and learn the language, has gone a long way to de-stigmatising managers who use translation as mercenaries here for a quick payday.

But Pochettino has proven that you can trust not just English talent, but young English talent. That you can build a competitive squad without having to spend hundreds of millions or pay out hundreds of millions in wages. He proved that words like “philosophy” and “process” are not antithetical to actual, genuine progress.

It’s not overstating it to suggest that Pep Guardiola’s success in England was aided in part because Pochettino had already conditioned the English media to not spontaneously combust if a foreign manager insisted on playing with a tactical philosophy that included ball-playing defenders (they still mocked Pep for it, but nowhere near as severely as they could have done).

Yes, Klopp has helped develop Trent Alexander-Arnold and now is doing the same for Joe Gomez, but Pochettino did it first and did it better. His trust in youth is now becoming a new paradigm for the Premier League, and it’s making the likes of José Mourinho look as increasingly out of touch as he actually is.

The fact that the England team is heavily-based around players who he coaches (Harry Kane, Dele Alli, Kieran Trippier… occasionally Eric Dier and Danny Rose) or has coached (Kyle Walker, Luke Shaw) says it all. Poch has helped English football wake up to the realities of the game in the modern era, but he’s also provided a conveyor belt of talent for the most exciting English national team in over a decade.

English football owes Mauricio Pochettino a great debt. For now, he’ll have to make do with winning this debate.

Cheers Mauricio!

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