I was at the Liverpool v Atalanta match last night. One thing we all agreed on was that we can’t remember a performance like that at Anfield under Jurgen Klopp. It was reminiscent of the Brendan Rodgers 2014/15 season.
Utterly abysmal and devoid of positives in every respect. The players, the support, but most of all, the manager. The selection sets the tone for the rest of the night and cannot be excused. Nor can the failure to react to their man marking by changing the shape or the instructions given to the team. Every hopeless punt up the pitch from Kelleher made my blood boil.
I think it was Klopp himself who said that moments, not trophies, are what’s really important in football. Last night felt like a moment. As did United at the weekend. As did United in the cup. Our season is unravelling rapidly and I don’t have much faith it can be turned around.
I think last night was a big moment because it feels like an outward projection of where Klopp is mentally and where his management of the side sits at this moment. A casual line up for a game he casually expected us to win. Casually not panicking as the match unravels, unable to adapt and match their intensity. I am beginning to wonder at which point ‘no panicking’ becomes indistinguishable from ‘no hunger’.
The return of high pressing and attacking intent has been very welcome this season. However, the fact remains that most of the ingredients of the 2018-2020 side are missing. We cannot keep clean sheets. We almost always concede first or when only one goal up. We don’t appear capable of scoring when on top and making periods of pressure count. We cannot shut games down or slow the tempo. All of these things are features of the essential characteristic of any great side: control.
As well as we have done to get where we are, as good as we have been this season, control is not something we have possessed at any point of the campaign. Given how we press, it may seem unfair to suggest that we have become a casual side, certainly compared to proper basket cases like United or Chelsea. However, compared to the greatest Klopp sides, I think this is fair to say.
This is not something that has come from nowhere. I think this side is the best since the title winning season, and to demean it feels unfair and ungrateful. I have no interest in throwing my toys out the pram. However, if you examine our trajectory since we won the league title, there has been a gradual yet undeniable shift in the managers style across the board. Demeanour, tactics, transfers, everything. More casual, more distant, more inconsistent. In other words, lacking in the intensity and control that defined our peak.
We know that he has altered the way he manages, the way he runs the club, in order to stave off burnout. I don’t think anybody can begrudge or lament this, everything he has given and for how long he has stayed. This season has been a pleasure irrespective of what we win. Like I say, moments, not trophies.
And yet last night feels like such a moment, although certainly not a positive one. A performance and a result symptomatic of a manager who, by his own admission, is running out steam. I know most may point to the players being tired rather than the manager, but I just don’t buy that. Our squad is massive and brimming with quality. City and Arsenal have comparatively smaller squads this season and City themselves have struggled with injuries. There are no excuses for us in this regard.
I can’t excuse that selection. I can’t excuse opting to use Konate in Europe instead of the league. I can’t excuse the inability to adapt to their tactics. I can’t excuse failing to learn our lesson against United and repeating many of the same errors in the second half against them, also losing our heads when a silly mistake happens. I can’t excuse starting a full strength side in a dead rubber tie at Anfield while consistently complaining about the fatigue and demands placed on the players. I can’t excuse persisting with out of form players like Szoboslzai when Elliott has been excellent.
Yet most telling is that, in the past, Klopp has never excused himself. He was always, always, insistent that any failings of his side were his own fault. Every post match interview, without fail, he made a point of saying that. In the past few weeks, this has changed. Following all of our recent results, he has implied that the poor performances from the players have been the issue, something beyond his control.
All of this is to say that last night felt like it meant something. A big moment. A symptom or a product of something that has been bubbling for a long, long time. A result and performance I did not think possible under this manager, certainly not with a squad of this calibre. I can scarcely believe it happened.
This man has given us everything, I adore him, and being able to go to these last few matches to show my support for him is a privilege. Yet last night feels like the beginning of the end, the tolling of the bell. Perhaps a reassurance that his decision to step down is the correct one. An example of what could come to pass under a more exhausted, burnt out version of Jurgen Klopp.
I have seen Ed001 say a few times over the years that the Wimbledon FA Cup final in ’88 was that moment for the great Liverpool dynasty of old. My question to you all, and Ed001 especially is what did that feel like, and did it feel like this?
Written by Anonymous Woolback April 12 2024 13:57:39
