Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has cut a frustrated, pressurized figure of late. Liverpool drew the Merseyside derby 0 – 0 at Goodison Park on Sunday, handing the title race initiative to Manchester City.
They are now in second, behind Manchester City by a single point. Obviously, talk that they’ve bottled it is premature. However recent comments from Jurgen Klopp speak to the pressure he and his team are under.
Jurgen Klopp notoriously set his team up more defensively for the new season. With Virgil van Dijk settled and higher stakes to play for, it seemed the ideal time to do it. Jurgen Klopp remarked that when all his players came back in August, he had to tell them they have new jobs.
For a team chasing top honors, this is prudent. For neutrals, who love to watch Klopp’s swashbuckling Liverpool destroy teams, it is disappointing. The decreased attacking potency has led to genuine questions about whether conservatism is the best strategy for Liverpool, though.
Read: Champions League Race – Odds and Analysis
In three 0 – 0 draws against Bayern Munich, Manchester United and Everton, Liverpool were a shadow of the offensive force they can be. Pertinently, they kept clean sheets in all those games. But a team chasing the biggest titles will need to win these big games eventually.
Before Jurgen Klopp came to England, he looked like a perfect match for the Premier League and Liverpool. English fans watched Dortmund highlights giddily as Klopp’s face contorted in both rage and delight.
He’s a bit rock n’ roll, a bit gung – ho, a bit cavalier. And his teams have always played that way. His two German league titles confirm that his ‘heavy metal football’ style can get winning results, too. However, it is the ‘nearly moments’ that cannot be ignored and which must haunt Jurgen Klopp.
In 7 contested cup finals, he has won only one, the German Cup in 2012. His most recent cup final defeat was to Real Madrid in last year’s Champions League. Perhaps Klopp has realized that his style is good for a chasing underdog, but not for a favorite.
Liverpool could well go and blitz teams the way they did last season. They would probably win most games. However, they could also lose one or two – and that is something they can’t afford this season.
That pressure is clearly affecting Klopp, who seems to be enduring something of an identity crisis. His moaning at the referees, the wind, and journalists show his frustration. His answer to one particular journalist who asked whether Liverpool should be more offensive is instructive. The comments speak to a man waging an internal battle between his instincts and what is necessary.
“Don’t understand that question,” he snapped at the journalist who asked about Liverpool being too conservative.
Unsure where to bet on the Champions League? Check out our reviews section to find out the best odds and biggest welcome bonuses.
“I’m really disappointed about your question, I have to say. We don’t play playstation. Do you think we didn’t take enough risks today? Is that what you want to ask? I’m really disappointed in that I have to say. Because that means if it’s so easy, if I go in and say to the boys we take more risks, ‘Yeah, come on boys, we go for it’, can you imagine? Can there be any draw we didn’t try to win? What is that?”
The thing is, they did take a lot of risks last season. They also finished fourth in the league. This year, they have a chance to beat Manchester City, the best Premier League side in history, to the title. It’s something that Jurgen Klopp clearly doesn’t take lightly, repeatedly referencing the nine remaining league games in his interview.
“An extra attacker, just to go wild? Nine matchdays, there are a lot of reasons that you are not experiencing. Again, you think it’s like playstation, bring an extra attacker and football changes. It’s not like that. We are offensive enough, football doesn’t work like that, come on.
“There are 9 games to go, what is that? We don’t lose our nerves.”
