Former Republic of Ireland and Liverpool midfielder Ronnie Whelan is not at all happy with the state of the performances he has seen at Anfield in recent times and has vented his frustration at the predictability of the situation the club currently find themselves in.
While Champions League qualification looks a probability, the manner in which it will be achieved has been less than convincing and Whelan believes Klopp has a lot left to answer for.
Writing in his regular column for The Herald [via Independent.ie], Whelan claimed that Klopp is "leading a charmed life" and suggested that he is lucky that the other clubs have not punished their poor results recently.
The game against Southampton was awful. The basic standard was unacceptable and Liverpool are now relying on circumstances and Mourinho’s relentless pursuit of the Europa League to get them over the line.
Klopp is leading a charmed life and every time his team makes a mistake, rival clubs do the same but he cannot longer rely on Manchester City to do that any more and Spurs will be focusing very firmly on staying second now that they seem to have blown the title chase.
Realistically, we are talking about fourth place for Klopp and his players and if Mourinho had focused on the Premier League instead of the Europa League, I think Liverpool would be in big trouble by now and probably behind United in the table.
Just about everyone successfully predicted that Liverpool would be vulnerable to ordinary teams and would slip-up, Mourinho must surely be kicking himself.
Whelan also lamented the quality in the Premier League as a whole, and after claiming that what he witnessed in Hull vs Sunderland was "well below League of Ireland standard", he claimed expressed his dissatisfaction with the influx of "foreign players" and posed the question as to why more Irish and British players are being given a chance.
Klopp himself would certainly have expected more in recent weeks, but you can't help but feel that he still needs a transfer window or two before the squad is truly his.
It will be an interesting summer on Merseyside, that's for sure.
