How did anyone ever doubt Liverpool and Jurgen Klopp?

Champions put down big title marker

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp, right, with Tottenham boss Jose Mourinho at the final whistle. Picture: Shaun Botterill/PA

Reports of Liverpool and Jurgen Klopp’s demise have proved to be wildly exaggerated after a performance at Tottenham which reminded us why they are champions.

There had been all kinds of nonsense from pundits in the build-up to this game, including former Liverpool defender Glenn Johnson suggesting Liverpool’s owners would be discussing whether to sack Klopp if his champions finished outside of the top four in May.

Let’s be clear: That won’t happen, that can’t happen. Liverpool are not Chelsea. And in 90 glorious minutes in north London, his team showed the sheer lunacy of the suggestion.

There were also conclusions last week that the German was feeling the pressure and ‘losing it’ following an angry tunnel confrontation with feisty Burnley manager Sean Dyche during a shock defeat at Anfield.

Fair enough, it was an easy conclusion to reach; but on reflection we can’t praise Jurgen for his emotional outbursts in victory one week and then expect him to be calm and collected when Liverpool lose. It’s all part of the same personality which has been crucial in the club’s success over the last few years ,and also part of the managerial skill pack which will inevitably guide Liverpool out of this mini slump. This victory, surely, was the first step in that revival.

What will excite Liverpool fans is that the front three looked back to their best, with Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino both scoring and Mo Salah lively; and there was even a goal and an assist for ‘out of form’ Trent Alexander-Arnold who was criticised so heavily for his poor quality crossing against Burnley and Manchester United recently.

We should have seen it coming. There were signs in last Sunday’s FA Cup defeat at Manchester United, when Salah scored twice, that things were starting to click again up front, and signs in the goalless Premier League draw against the same side a week earlier that the defence could cope despite so much disruption. And that improvement continued in north London as the champions began to become more recognisable.

Let’s not forget that just before this painful spell of six league matches without a win, and no goals in 2021, the very same Liverpool team went to Selhurst Park and put seven past Crystal Palace. Those goals came from only seven attempts, and it was only lack of confidence which saw that ruthlessness disappear — hence Mane’s terrible miss in the early minutes at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

In fairness to Mane he has been one of Liverpool’s most consistent attacking performers, despite a brief drop in his conversion rate, and he emphasised that by forcing Hugo Lloris into two fine first half saves before eventually putting the ball on a plate for Firmino to score just before half time. A classic Liverpool goal and a return to normality.

It was only last month when a last minute header from Firmino saw Liverpool beat Spurs at Anfield to go three points clear at the top of the table, and the idea that a team with so much quality could collapse and disappear in a puff of smoke was always unlikely.

Nobody was denying, however, what this match meant to Liverpool as they attempted to rediscover that elusive form.

You can only suspect that when Heung min Son scored after four short minutes the knives were out for the Liverpool manager; but when the goal was ruled out for offside by VAR, you sensed a turning point — and his team sniffed a revival.

Mane’s typically bustling performance led the way, his parried shot setting up Trent Alexander-Arnold shortly after the break for 2-0, and even Pierre-Emile Hojberg’s stunning response did not see Liverpool wobble. Instead, in a real test of character, they came back again with a goal of equal quality from Mane to clinch it.

It’s a mystery why Liverpool’s champions, who won the league by such a huge margin last year, had endured such a miserable slump. But you suspect the problem was around mental, physical, and emotional exhaustion rather than anything which Klopp is unable to fix long term.

The concentration required to win the title last year, the physical effort needed to play Klopp’s high-pressing game for so long, the impact of the pandemic and this crazy three-game-a-week season, all must have taken its toll.

Bit now they are back; and both United and City know they have another title rival.

How did we ever doubt it?