I think at the outset of this season the general consensus was top 4 was a realistic target and we are there or therabouts. To now rewrite being in the top four as some great managerial achievement because of the lack of quality in the squad is nonsense (especially when you've spent the season telling everyone that you think player X is way better than he is.)
Klopp is doing fine but for every look at what he did with Milner/ Lallana/ whoever ... there's a look at what he's done with Sturridge/ Origi / Sakho.
Our transfer activity still leaves a lot to be desired. But that shouldn't be Klopp's responsibility - thats a club failure.
For me the one thing Klopp needs to address is the general conditioning of the squad. Too many players have broken down and/or are dead on their feet at the end of the season and we don't have European football clogging up our fixture list this season.
Typically, I can see both sides of the argument.
There was little doubt that City and Spurs would finish above us, but I also expected United to - although if they win the Europa and League Cup they'll be happy enough. Chelsea was more of a hard one to call; they were certainly going to improve after the horrible last season. But it still left little room for manoeuvre
In fact, I think I said we'd finish sixth or maybe 5th. So where we are now is better. However, my prediction of 5th or 6th or whatever it was, was also driven by what I saw as a disappointing summer of recruitment: in particular the lack of striker signing, new LB, quality CB and another CM.
It didn't help that the goalkeeper Klopp signed was shit, and The Binman CB was even worse. Wijanldum has been inconsistent, Firmino isn't good enough, Origi is one of the worst strikers in the Premier league and the amount of games Lucas has played has been shameful.
The only really superb signing was Mane, who was as good as I expected him to be. The obvious issues with squad depth, defensive solidity, consistency and an absurd reliance on the pace and goalscoring of Mane was always going to be costly, and everyone who said this from the start has been loudly and obviously vindicated.
So it's all very well to crow loudly about how amazingly well Klopp is doing with "this squad", but who the fuck has had several transfer windows to improve it and hasn't done enough of the fucking obvious?
The only 100% bang-on brilliant signing he has made is Mane.