Jurgen Klopp still energising Anfield as he enters his fourth year in charge at Liverpool

It is hard to believe Jurgen Klopp entered his fifth year on Merseyside this week. The German still generates excitement around Anfield. Most clubs feel a bit stale when a manager has been at the helm for four years. Not Liverpool.

The 52-year-old’s energy and passion are undimmed. The squad are receptive to his ideas. Dressing-rooms can become immune to a manager’s psychological promptings over an extended period. Players get to the point where they have heard it all before. It takes a special individual to retain the ability to motivate a group of young men season after season. Klopp inspires belief.

Klopp’s first game in charge in October 2015 was against Tottenham Hotspur. Mauricio Pochettino’s youthful team were about to emerge as a top-four side with serious pretensions to win trophies. In June Spurs lost 2-0 to Liverpool in the Champions League final in Madrid, but by that time Pochettino’s power was on the wane. He has struggled to inspire the players. What is happening at White Hart Lane is a good example of how short the shelf life of a Premier League manager can be. Klopp is an exception to the accepted rules.

How does he do it? Winning generates conviction. The team have got better with every season. It creates an environment where players expect success, even in difficult circumstances. The weekend’s performance against Leicester City is a good example. When Liverpool conceded a late equaliser, it would have been easy for everyone to settle for a point against one of the division’s more capable sides. Instead, the team piled on the pressure and won a stoppage-time penalty that James Milner dispatched to seal a 2-1 victory. Klopp calls his men “mentality monsters”. That game illustrated why.

It took a while for Klopp to build this fortitude. The squad he took over four years ago lacked mental robustness in adversity. Seven of the starting side at White Hart Lane are no longer at the club and another, Nathaniel Clyne, is on loan at Bournemouth and unlikely to return. Brendan Rodgers, Klopp’s predecessor, said before his final game in charge that Liverpool needed to begin a three-year rebuilding cycle. That infuriated Fenway Sports Group (FSG), who believed they could win with the personnel available to Rodgers. It was the final straw in an increasingly uncomfortable relationship and FSG replaced the Northern Irishman with Klopp.

The former Borussia Dortmund coach told FSG what they wanted to hear. At the time Liverpool were in four competitions and Klopp told his bosses he could compete on all fronts. It was a hopelessly optimistic assessment. Rodgers was right about the squad. They were not good enough. Even Klopp could not lift them higher than eighth in the Premier League.