Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp namechecked West Brom as he gave an “absolutely insane” verdict of the quality of football in the Championship.
The Reds face Albion’s promotion rivals Southampton in the FA Cup on Wednesday (28 February), fresh on the back of beating Chelsea in the Carabao Cup final.
Klopp has seen a number of matches in England’s second tier lately and has been impressed by what he saw from West Brom among others.
“I love the Championship, I watched Leeds v Leicester last week. Wow,” he said at his press conference, as per the Daily Mail’s Lewis Steele on Twitter [27 February].
“The football intensity in the Championship is absolutely insane. I saw West Brom recently, a real football-playing idea. Ipswich as well. The league is incredibly difficult.”
West Brom flying high in Championship under Carlos Corberan
Klopp is not wrong with this assessment. The quality of football in the Championship this season has been a different level among the teams towards the top.
Leicester City and Leeds United in particular both still have Premier League-calibre squads, while Southampton’s is not bad either.
Ipswich Town are the anomaly as they have more then held their own among those sides despite only earning promotion from League One last season.
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Jurgen Klopp on the second tier: “I love the Championship, I watched Leeds v Leicester last week. Wow. The football intensity in the Championship is absolutely insane. Saw West Brom recently, a real football-playing idea. Ipswich as well. The league is incredibly difficult.”
Albion are then very much the best of the rest in fifth place, having done enough to hold off the likes of Hull City, Norwich City, Preston North End, Coventry City and other clubs in that chasing pack.
Carlos Corberan has a particular way of playing and it has worked wonders at The Hawthorns.
There is no doubt that the Spaniard is a Premier League manager in waiting, but hopefully that is with the Baggies and nobody else.
