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In recent days Jurgen Klopp has seemed like a politician who has just conceded defeat in an election, suddenly more at ease with the world, more accepting of his fate. Summing up the slow fade of Liverpool’s title challenge in his programme notes, Klopp remarked: “We just need to be ourselves.”
It has been a long while since Liverpool were themselves at Anfield. You would have to go back to the 4-1 rout of Chelsea at the end of January to find a game when Liverpool were last so often what they have been under Klopp; imperious, thrilling and inventive. It was the first Premier League game after Klopp’s announcement he would be leaving Liverpool at the finish of the season.
There are just two more matches left and, though it may not end with the league title, the long goodbye should finish with a flourish.
It matters not at all that Tottenham Hotspur were terrible. They were a side challenging for the Champions League, a name, albeit one that had won a single league fixture at Anfield since 1993. Within an hour, Liverpool were four goals up and Mohamed Salah, who at West Ham last week had turned very publicly on his manager, was playing the kind of football he has not done since being injured in the Africa Cup of Nations.
There are those who argue that Liverpool missed a trick by not shipping out a 31-year-old forward the moment Saudi Arabian clubs started offering £250m. However, Salah is central to Liverpool in a way that Steven Gerrard, Kenny Dalglish and Kevin Keegan once were. He is the only member of this Liverpool side to have his own banners on the Kop and the sublime touches and cushioned assist for Andrew Robertson’s goal were indications that they will be fluttering for a while yet.
And yet, 4-0 up, Liverpool relaxed. Salah managed to miss from a yard, Trent Alexander-Arnold tried to score from the halfway line and Spurs did score twice. The tension lifted to such an extent that it resembled a benefit game to the extent that you half expected Robbie Williams or the cast of Gavin and Stacey to come trotting on.
In September 1978 a freshly-promoted Spurs came to Anfield and were thrashed 7-0 in a way that Manchester City would have thrashed this Tottenham side, if only because goal difference might just decide this title. They will not get that close yet, as Klopp fist-pumped towards the Kop, it was in the knowledge that, just in time for the last hurrah, he has got his Liverpool back.
This is an extract of The Score. Sign up here to receive the newsletter every Monday morning this season for Daniel Storey’s verdict on all 20 Premier League clubs
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