Liverpool‘s freakish decline could be a plot line from Stranger Things, a kind of Netflix pot-boiler so far beyond our experience as to render interpretation impossible.
The extreme end of the spectrum would have some players missing in another dimension. At the very least there is something other worldly about recent events at Anfield.
What could be more weird than Liverpool, of all teams, finding their prospects of Champions League progress enhanced by not playing at home? Liverpool’s epic fall is crystallised by six successive home defeats, which followed an equally improbable run of 68 unbeaten matches stretching back to 2017. Thus does the requirement to relocate back to Budapest, where Liverpool recorded a 2-0 win in the first leg of the last 16 tie against RB Leipzig, come as a blessing.
To advance the idea that Jurgen Klopp might quit his post or be removed no longer risks referral to a safe house. The sudden vacancy at the German national team following the decision by Joachim Löw to step down after the Euros triggered an obvious question about Klopp’s candidacy for the post.
“I will not be available as a potential coach of the German national team in the summer or after the summer,” he said emphatically. “I have three years left at Liverpool. It’s a simple situation; you sign a contract and you try to stick to that.”
Comparisons with Klopp’s experience at Dortmund, where he oversaw an even more torrid fall in 2015, are justified. A team that finished second in 2014 briefly found themselves bottom of the heap before recovering to seventh with a late rally. While the injuries suffered at Liverpool are far more profound than those experienced by Dortmund, there is something in the argument that a team which relies so much on intensity is vulnerable to abrupt collapse.
The difference is in context. Klopp had lost his best player, Robert Lewandowski, to his biggest rival, Bayern Munich, which underlined the structural weakness of his position in the Bundesliga, eternally second best to the Bavarian nation. And having fought so long first to establish his reputation at Mainz and then to augment it at Dortmund there was a sense that Klopp had exhausted possibilities in Germany. To get around the Munich problem he would ultimately have to leave. The Premier League offered the perfect opportunity.
Though Liverpool don’t have Manchester City’s cash, the vast wealth of England’s top division and the equitable distribution of prize money therein means Liverpool can still compete domestically providing they shop wisely. So where better to be than Anfield? It feels like lunacy even to consider the idea that Klopp and Liverpool might tire of each other at this point. The metric that led Liverpool’s ownership to Klopp in the first place still holds. Not even the great ones can win every season and none could have foreseen the compressed circumstances of a pandemic and the diabolic injury crisis it bequeathed him.
How to watch Liverpool vs RB Leipzig
- Kick-off: 8pm
- TV: BT Sport 2
- Live stream: Subscribers can watch on the BT Sport website and app
The Champions League offers a reprieve of sorts, a change of pace and emphasis, a chance to breathe free of the clawing proximity of domestic competition. It is a cup competition after all, which accounts for Klopp’s optimism. He has not given up on the quality of his players nor on the unpredictable nature of the enterprise. “You always have a chance in the next game,” he said. “It’s half-time [in the tie], we have to play the game. I have no doubt about us. We will give it a proper fight, we have 95 minutes to use.”
Speculation about the future of Gini Wijnaldum is another disruptor Klopp could do without. Wijnaldum’s nimble presence at the heart of midfield is an under-rated factor in Klopp’s gegenpressing strategy. The player clearly wants to stay but on terms that reflect his value. What that is would appear to be at issue. “I’m really happy at the club, happy with my team, the staff and my family is really happy here,” Wijnaldum said. “It’s not as easy as everyone thinks to make some decision for your future. You have to think about everything. First you have to negotiate with the club and those kind of things. It’s so difficult to deal with that.”
Maybe a goal or two in Budapest would hurry discussions along. Liverpool have little control over injuries. But to lose a player of Wijnaldum’s calibre over pound notes would constitute unnecessary self-harm.
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3ep6xCd
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