A year ago, Liverpool came closer to statistical perfection than virtually any other team in history.
They were European and world champions, on a run of 35 wins in 36 games. Now, in more troubled times, when Liverpool’s only victory in 2021 came against Aston Villa’s youth team, when they have lost their place in the top four and gone 438 minutes without a league goal, Jurgen Klopp is experiencing very different fortunes.
But, he stressed, he did not expect perfection. He did not get too excited by Liverpool’s rise and is not too despondent about their subsequent fall.
Knee-jerk reactions and over-reactions, a tendency to pronounce everything brilliant or terrible, frustrate a manager with an emphasis on the bigger picture.
“I am not the person who sits here and thinks my life should always be perfect and my team should always win games,” he said.
It has been imperfect of late for both him and Jose Mourinho. Liverpool beat Tottenham 2-1 six weeks ago. They reconvene on Thursday night with the circumstances having changed.
“We met in December first and second,” Klopp said. “Obviously that is not the situation any more. I know it is easier in the high-flying times to believe in what you do but I was never only a good-weather coach.”
Not that Liverpool’s run of three points from a possible 15 and the loss of an unbeaten home league record that lasted almost four years has convinced him it is a crisis.
“In this world we are losing trust and faith much too quickly, everywhere,” he explained. “Everything is great or the opposite. There are so many stages in between them. It is a complex game and I love that. It is never about one person. That is the main reason I love it as a kid.”
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Liverpool 2-1 Spurs – a different story in December
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If criticism can be exaggerated, he believes praise has been as well. “All of a sudden people told us we were the best team in the world which we never were,” he said. “We could beat the best team in the world and we can again.”
Liverpool produced an improved performance in losing 3-2 to Manchester United in the FA Cup on Sunday. Klopp rejected the notion it was a turning point, arguing instead that Liverpool had already begun to plot the right path.
“We can’t consistently start anew,” he said. “We started already and we will stay on track. We will be really annoying and fight hard. We will be positive with the positive things and critical with the not positive things. We will be ready for a fight and where it will lead us, I don’t know.”
With West Ham, Manchester City, Leicester and Everton also among their next six opponents, Liverpool could be out of the title race within four weeks but Klopp added: “This team has the potential to fight for the title. We will see if we can this year. If not, we will try next year.”
It forms part of a greater quest. That eschewal of short-termism explains Liverpool’s reluctance to buy a centre-back in the extended absence of Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez. Joel Matip could return tonight, along with captain Jordan Henderson. “We make all our decisions for the long term so the club has a benefit in the long term,” said Klopp, though it risks short-term pain.
Part of his task is to regain the momentum Liverpool had a year ago and which they seemed to possess a few weeks back. It was propelled in part by the Liverpool support, who are now exiled from grounds. “I really hope we can create that common fighting spirit again,” he said.
