How nice it must feel to be a fan of the Liverpool right now…! She is a steamroller who wins (almost) every time, plays well, He humiliates his main rival (5-0 and 4-0 against Manchester United in the two classics of the season), he fights for all the titles, the players hug each other like brothers, Klopp smiles, the packed stadium applauds… It’s heavenly.
On Tuesday, by thrashing ManUtd, he rose for twenty-four hours to the top of the championship with six days to go; on Wednesday City won and regained the lead and is still up.
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For four titles
Those from the city of The Beatles are one step away from winning the four tournaments in dispute: Premier, English Cup (it will play the final against Chelsea), European Champions League (it is a semi-finalist) and League Cupwhich they already conquered by beating Chelsea on penalties.
If they had been able to ask their fans, surely the Manchester team would have preferred to deliver the points and not have to face the hell of Liverpool. Like last October 5-0, it was a crush.
He beat him everywhere on the field, dominated him at will with high pressure, then handled the ball (74 percent at 26 percent holding). only in the first half) and looked for the exact movements to pierce De Gea’s goal.
If total football exists, it was that: pressure, possession, mobility, passing accuracy, ambition, attack, goals, collective harmony, individual highlights. For the record, Norwich or Burnley were not opposite, but a rival full of history and valued at 722 million euros.
United could do virtually nothing, just show up at Anfield and abide by the regulations.
The abysmal difference, more than functioning, was of state of mind; Manchester is ten meters underground, Liverpool flies into the stratosphere. And this is due to the exceptional climate generated by her driver, the man with the eternal smile.
Liverpool FC already has a date of birth and another of rebirth; the first, the official, on June 3, 1892, when its foundation; the second, unofficial, on October 8, 2015, the day Jürgen Norbert Klopp signed his contract. His signing was surely the best decision in the history of the club.
After dominating English football -and to a large extent European football- in the ’70s and ’80s, in the 25 years prior to the arrival of the Stuttgart strategist, the red team navigated a footballing morass while watching their staunch rival, the Manchester United bagged one title after another at the hands of Alex Ferguson.
But, as in a poker game, at one point luck changed hands: Sir Alex retired and United sank into a swamp in which they have spent eight years signing dozens of expensive and unproductive names, without joy and with many disappointments.
As opposed, Klopp landed at Liverpool and returned all the splendor. With what is clear, once again, that it is not the footballers but the great coaches who guide the ship to victory.
To your taste
In many cases, there is a blurred border between the merits of a coach and the quality of his players. It is the suspicion that haunts Guardiola: if the fabled Barcelona was the work of the coach or of Iniesta, Messi, Xavi, Puyol, Busquets… In the case of Klopp, it is clear that the work is all his.
He patiently assembled this squad and made it victorious. The last piece he added was our well-known -and beloved- Luis Díaz. A long time ago a South American did not enter so well in a club of the powerful ones of Europe.
We talk about arriving, being a starter, an immediate figure, scoring goals and shining. And it is clear that it is a winter signing, usually someone who enters a group to plug a hole, complete the squad, be an alternative at the beginning and gradually assemble. Above all, in such an oiled team.
And where there were already seven forwards: Salah, Mané, Firmino, Diogo Jota, Origi, Minamino and Elliott. Lucho skipped five fences in one go. There is also the merit of Klopp, first because he knew how to see it, then for understanding that this was more than most and should play. Without anyone getting angry, he put it as soon as he arrived.
The result was extraordinary. On Tuesday, the peasant scored the first of the four goals and served the third. Finally, he knew how to enlarge it, praising him fervently at his press conferences.
Klopp is already in the gallery of the great coaches of all time. His essential virtue as a leader is the exceptional degree of motivation that he instills in his players. You only have to see the concentration, the advances and the fierceness of Andy Robertson, the Scottish full-back, to understand the mentality with which this team plays each game.
The atmosphere that Klopp established is so stimulating, it seems so democratic, that when he makes a change, the footballer who comes out hugs him and smiles at him. Most of his colleagues give them dirty looks or pass them by.
Genius of the rotation, all his coaches have minutes, so they are happy even if they play ten minutes. A good example is that, in the penalty shootout that gave them the League Cup against Chelsea, they ended up executing -and converting- Divock Origi and Harvey Elliott. It gives everyone confidence.
It is worth noting that, within exactly 14 days, Liverpool had to face five tough games: Benfica (3-1), Manchester City (2-2), Benfica (3-3), Manchester City (3-2) and Manchester United (4-0). And on the fifth they went out to play as if their lives were missing, to devour United. They show more and more appetite, it is a group with an unusual voracity, that never relaxes, overcomes fatigue and wants to win everything.
Since the season began on August 13, Liverpool have played 52 games, totaling 38 wins and just 3 losses. The heroes who managed to break him are Leicester (1-0), West Ham (3-2) and Inter (1-0) in the Champions League. It boasts a very high 80.12% yield. If he wins the remaining ten games, Liverpool can win all the chips on the table. Watching him play does not seem impossible.
The only thing Klopp is missing is a Ballon d’Or for one of his boys. And that can also come this year: Mohamed Salah is a Premier League gunner, if in addition to that he adds four crowns, not even Benzema will be able to take the trophy from him despite his year of film.
Liverpool hired Jurgen Klopp in 2015. If Manchester United signed Haaland, Mbappé or Lewandowski at that very moment, Who would have campaigned better…? We have no doubt: the sum of successes in these almost seven years would not have changed. The difference is the DT.
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last tango
JORGE BARRAZA
For the time
@JorgeBarrazaOK
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