Klopp will look to repeat his glories with Dortmund after draw against Fulham

Liverpool opened with a 2-2 draw against Fulham, while Manchester City beat West Ham 2-0.

10/08/2022, 03:12 AM +00:00

Liverpool made an inauspicious start to the Premier League season. Manchester City may have jostled their way into the leading pack early on, but Liverpool will have another chance to get the jump on them. Usually, the Premier League offers no ‘do-overs’. The season is a relentless 38-week slog, with the winner being the one with the most staying power.

Klopp would rightly prefer a genuine winter break as opposed to a World Cup, which will hand rests to some players and further fatigue others, but it is bound to have some kind of positive impact on Liverpool. Specifically, in light of the opening day disappointment against Fulham, it gives the manager a chance to make amends. However, while it was Liverpool who were caught cold at the start of the campaign, their rivals will have to deal with the pressure of the restart at the Rückrunde.

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Dortmund

Klopp is something of a specialist in these situations. It’s not particularly surprising: a winter break is like an extra pre-season, but with all of the players already up to speed in terms of fitness and sharpness. This is the kind of environment in which the Liverpool manager can thrive.

At the turn of the last decade, the Liverpool manager was busy leading Dortmund to back-to-back league titles. It's an achievement that has only been made to look more impressive with time, given Bayern Munich’s stranglehold since Klopp departed the division — and the manner in which he triumphed gives some hope for the current campaign.

In 2010/11, Dortmund’s Hinrunde got off to the worst possible start, with a 2-0 home defeat to Bayer Leverkusen. But they roared back against the same opponents when the league returned in January, beating them 3-1 away from home. Having lost the final game before the restart, this put Klopp’s title tilt back on track.

The subsequent eight-game unbeaten run effectively ensured Dortmund would not be caught, even though faltering form towards the end of the campaign led to a lot of dropped points. Having got away quickly at the restart, Klopp snuffed out the hopes of any challengers.