Have we? We've had so many engrossing back-and-forths over the past couple of years that I'm fairly sure you're right, but I can't remember the specific instances.
Anyway, I think Dortmund got to the top *regardless* of the financial evenness of the Bundesliga (outside Bayern), not because of it. While their competitors all spent pretty heavily during Klopp's time there, he (iirc) maintained a negative transfer spend right up until his final couple of years, and with a lower wage budget than some of his non-Bayern rivals (Schalke, for example) to boot. Hence, I'm not sure the admittedly more even Bundesliga matters all that much when weighing Klopp's successes, since he still worked at a disadvantage (imo) greater than that which faced Poch when he took over.
I agree that Poch is sometimes judged way too harshly relative to what he's had to work with and what he's managed to achieve with us despite the limitations placed upon him (and a *big* one, I think, is our mentality - he's had to work with the shadow of S P U R S I N E S S hanging over him, and it must have been galling for someone like him to manage that). But, having said that, there are areas where he can improve, much like there are areas where many of our young players can definitely improve. His transfer business has been up and down (although when we get it right, we get it f*cking right, as Toby, Dele and co. prove), his approach in Europe and against opponents more prone to tactical adaptation and drilling could use some tightening up...and, perhaps most pertinently, he hasn't yet won anything to cement his place as one of the world's most promising managers. In some cases, it absolutely isn't his fault (he did put out strong sides in Europe, and is putting out strong sides in the FA Cup of late), but in other cases, it absolutely is (like with the League Cup, a competition we consistently turn our noses up at). The last one is a bugbear of mine, and I sincerely hope he rectifies it sooner rather than later.
On the whole, he's been very good for us - Levy definitely the right appointment when he went for Poch in 2014, and he (Poch) will retain my confidence even in the event of a bad future season given the credit he's built up over the past three seasons. But he has flaws, and he also isn't quite the miracle worker that he is definitely sometimes portrayed as (he hasn't yet accrued more points than Redknapp or AVB, he hasn't yet managed to finish above our red neighbors, and he hasn't yet won something - all three would be minor miracles
). It's a case of deserving *qualified* praise and unconditional trust, I think - trust because he's done so well with what he has, but *qualified* praise given that he isn't quite the next Bill Nick just yet.
Well, it is Poch's third season, and I think it's fairly clear that the league is out of our reach, so Poch isn't going to outdo Klopp on that score.
Yes, in his first two seasons, Klopp finished upper mid-table. But his starting point (as I mentioned) was lower than what Poch inherited. As of 2014, Tottenham Hotspur, as a club, were an institution with momentum behind them and bold plans ahead of them - the only problem was that the ethos and mentality of the squad, expensively assembled though it was, did not match up to those ambitions. Poch was hired to change that, and to give him full credit, he has done a sterling job - the mentality of the club now is seemingly worlds away from what it was when he arrived, and he has done that on time, on budget and via the use of a core of young and homegrown players that have endeared themselves to the fans in a way that mercenaries or expensive buys could never really have done.
But Klopp inherited a club mired in lower mid-table, a club financially skint, forced to rely on youth players and freebies - not by choice, but by absolute necessity. A club which did not own its own historic stadium, and which had drifted a *long* way from its glory days. Thus, what he subsequently did probably holds more weight than what Poch has done - even though Poch has done admirably well too, on his own terms.