“When you need some time nobody gives you time,” said Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp ahead of Sunday’s defeat against Arsenal.
It was an unintentionally poignant musing from the German, for whom time is a prevalent theme.
Seven years at Mainz. Seven years at Dortmund. With his Liverpool team looking like a shadow of themselves as Jurgen Klopp marks seven years on Merseyside, the parallels are obvious.
The 3 – 2 defeat in North London felt like the old powers making way for the new.
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Jurgen Klopp is famed for his ‘heavy metal football’, but his Liverpool haven’t been like that for a while. Once they graduated from underdogs to giants, Liverpool changed their style of play.
If they built their project on heavy metal football, they sustained it with a more mature 5th album. The kind that won’t excite the die hard fans but gets recognition from the wider musicianship. Probably their best work, yet missing the frenetic quality that made them, ‘them’.
Liverpool can still blitz teams in moments, but their aging squad is finding it increasingly difficult to access that intensity.
When they needed to wrest back control from Arsenal they did, but they couldn’t keep their opponents restricted for long. Five minutes of stoppage time at the end of the first half was enough for Arsenal to score their second goal. 2 – 1.
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A Roberto Firmino equaliser against the run of play wasn’t enough to change the run of play. Arsenal put them under wave after wave of pressure until they were awarded a penalty. Saka scored, 3 – 2, and Arsenal didn’t give up the game from there. Even 7 minutes of added time at the end wasn’t enough time for Liverpool to click into gear.
Jurgen Klopp is defined by emotional highs and lows. His team was two games away from the most successful season by any team in history. With a squad that needs refreshing, perhaps competing with City is too much to ask after last season’s disappointment.
