by Some unscrupulous chancellors are going to the jackpot because Jürgen Klopp left Liverpool. Lower standing tickets for his final game at Anfield are £12,000 on a resale site alone (well, they’re just behind the dugout) and a seat on the Kop is going for £4,250. They will get it too, and perhaps closer to the time, if the ticket price for Wolves on May 19 includes the awarding of the Premier League trophy to a departing idol.
Klopp was asked on Friday if he was thinking about the perfect Premier League promotion. “I’m not a dreamer,” he replied. Having lost just one point in two more title races with Manchester City, with 16 games to go, that’s not worth doing.
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But the grounded realism of a 56-year-old and City’s reputation for making progress at this time of year will not diminish the dreams of those around the Liverpool manager. His players responded to the shock of his planned departure with nine goals in two games. Norwich and Chelsea felt the force of a team which, according to Klopp, has taken the next step in their development since the goalless draw against Manchester United before Christmas.
Liverpool have been sidelined by Chelsea with two of their most influential players this season, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Mohamed Salah, on the bench and in the treatment room respectively. It is a testament to the strength of Klopp’s rebuilt squad that Alexander-Arnold’s undisputed reign at right-back is being challenged by the emergence of Conor Bradley. Another win at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday would not only move Liverpool eight points clear of Arsenal and the defending champions, who have two games in hand, but would add to what Klopp calls “the outside talk” of a win title. On paper at least, Arsenal are Liverpool’s most difficult task left.
“If I hadn’t announced what I announced a week ago, what would have been different?” Klopp asked. The cost of tickets for Wolves for a start. “It’s: ‘Wouldn’t it be nice to win another Premier League, wouldn’t it be nice to win that, wouldn’t it be nice to do that after everything we’ve done over the years and how close and we were. ?’ It’s all the same. The only slight difference is that now they say: ‘For Jürgen.’ That’s the only thing. Nothing else has changed and that’s just the mood I’m in.
“Of course I want to win the league. Do I know if we really have a chance? It looks like we can get around it but there are so many games between now and then. We have to play them all and we have to win them all, which is crazy. I can’t think of it. I’m not a dreamer. But if you ask me if it would be nice then, yes, very nice for everyone involved and for Liverpool as a whole. But it is not difficult to block that because it is no different from previous years. If it can generate a few extra percent it would be good but I’m not sure it’s necessary because we’re already at 100% and that’s fine.”
City’s pedigree leaves Liverpool with little margin for error even at this stage of a title race. Klopp’s side finished 18 points clear of their nearest rivals as they ended a 30-year wait to be crowned English champions in 2020. Better to be in charge than chasing a manager who couldn’t win. He had long hoped to celebrate with his. his own supporters because of the pandemic. The opportunity to party together at the end of the final season increases the importance of Liverpool’s pursuit.
Klopp, who has injury concerns for Darwin Núñez, said: “We only got ahead of them once properly and then we won it, and that was 25 points at one point before Covid kicked in and these great people all trying to cancel. and annul the league. I forgot that Rio Ferdinand was quite upfront about that and I gave him an interview the other day!
“The best way to do it is to be out of reach, but it’s not really possible. In the other fights when we were a little behind them we lost the race. It was one point for five or six weeks and it stayed one point because we both won all our games. You can not compare. It’s really not too important. What we know is that if you want to win the Premier League you better win a lot of football games.”
Klopp believes his side must and will improve on their last performance at Arsenal four weeks ago, a 2-0 FA Cup win that was largely due to the hosts’ misery. More dominance in possession and better control of the opponent to request. “We’re getting better ourselves,” he said. “And there is still so much room for improvement.”
He added: “This is the best league in the world and we’re top of the table, what does that say? Are there any bad players in this team? But the job now is not to reflect on what they did and how great they are or how good they are on top of that. It’s about us digging deep into the season, hold your breath, buckle up and go for it. The base is good and still to be extended. Make sure we’re able to come in and we’ll see you there.”
