Richard Buxton: Batman without Robin as Klopp walks alone

No amount of wild gesticulating or showmanship can mask Juergen Klopp's vulnerability.

For the first time since becoming Liverpool manager, the effusive German faces an unfamiliar challenge in tomorrow morning's (Singapore time) Champions League semi-final, second leg against AS Roma.

Headlessness is a trait to which the Reds have regularly succumbed to, even in a season as prosperous as this one, but they are now at genuine risk of becoming fully lobotomised.

SEMI-FINAL, 2ND LEG

AS ROMA

LIVERPOOL

• Liverpool lead 5-2 after first leg

Without his trusted assistant Zeljko Buvac, dubbed "The Brain" of his coaching set-up, Klopp must negotiate a task which most of his predecessors in the Anfield hot seat will be familiar with.

Sooner or later, the bond between the incumbent and his right-hand man breaks down.

Ultimately, it proves their undoing. Gerard Houllier, Rafael Benitez and Brendan Rodgers will all attest to that, after parting with long-standing allies who doubled up as their safety nets.

Success, no matter how minor, has often altered the dynamic of Liverpool's operations.

Houllier was never able to replicate his 2001 Treble-winning feat once coach Patrice Bergues departed, while Pako Ayestaran served as Benitez's sounding board for over a decade before a supposed "betrayal" prompted a break-up from which the latter never truly recovered.

Rodgers' five-year partnership with Colin Pascoe, similarly, dissolved when the Anfield pressure cooker prompted the current Celtic manager to sacrifice him for a brief stay of execution.

All three attempted to fill the void with ill-fitting stopgaps and pale imitations.

Buvac, like some of his predecessors, was more than a mere beta figure within the club's current coaching hierarchy.

His capabilities extended far beyond simply being a font of footballing knowledge; a fact typified by his incorporation into Klopp extending his stay on Merseyside until 2022.

Such had been the former Borussia Dortmund boss' dependency on the Bosnian that in the five-day period between succeeding Rodgers and his trusted assistant's arrival, he appeared somewhat lost and borderline listless as he set about surveying his new surroundings.

In Klopp's own words, Buvac was "the best transfer I have made and will ever make".

His absence, temporary or otherwise, symbolises far more than a simple change in personnel.

The pair's working relationship was characterised by highly charged disputes but it had remained unbroken across a 17-year spell.

It now appears to be irreparably fractured.

Both on and off the pitch, it could not be timed worse. Liverpool can take another seismic step towards immortality in the Eternal City while their house of cards faces a potential collapse.

Klopp has already lost one integral backroom figure this season with Pepijn Lijnders joining NEC Nijmegen and could lose another if Steven Gerrard also opts to trade a coaching apprenticeship at his boyhood club for a new challenge of managing Glasgow Rangers.

How the 50-year-old responds to these cumulative setbacks will define whether he remains Anfield's modern godfather or is merely destined to falter like those who came before him.

Klopp considers himself "nothing" without the knowledge and input of his coaching staff, but his absentee assistant has arguably had a greater impact than the overall collective.

Liverpool have reached the last four of Europe's elite club competition largely through the combination of his motivational passion and Buvac's attention to tactical details.

They have been the team's heart and brain, operating seamlessly in tandem, for the past nine months.

Whether in the Stadio Olimpico or beyond, that reality will dawn as Klopp again walks alone.