At last count, Liverpool had a 25-point lead over the rest of the Premier League and look certain to win their first league title in over thirty years once the season resumes towards the end of June.
Really, the run-in is nothing more than a mere formality with Jurgen Klopp’s men recognised as the champions some time ago. You almost get a sense that the planning for next season has already begun with so little left to achieve during the 2019/2020 edition.
As far as next season goes, Klopp doesn’t seem like a manager that would rest on his laurels, so Liverpool fans have very little to worry about in terms of their side becoming complacent. After all, the Reds won the Champions League in 2019 and then romped to the Premier League title in 2020.
Sure, it isn’t official yet but at odds of 1/1000 to do so, we can probably file this one under ‘done and dusted’. Glory days are indeed here again thanks to the 52-year-old.
2013 ❌
2018 ❌
2019 🏆Jurgen Klopp finally got his hands on Old Big Ears on his third attempt…
It meant the world! 🙌 pic.twitter.com/W4MVFrvNKr
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) June 1, 2020
There’s no doubt that the German manager has instilled a winning culture at Anfield but, when things are seemingly perfect, as they appear at Liverpool, there is a temptation to tinker and ever so slightly and try and reinvent the wheel. It isn’t just football where this happens, but across all sports, and the results are always the same; catastrophic.
You are able to see an extreme version of this in the popular Netflix series that has just come out titled The Last Dance. Indeed, just after the Chicago Bulls had built the greatest ever dynasty seen in the NBA, the powers that be saw fit to break it up. The lesson that Liverpool can learn here is that the temptation will always be there for management to try and make a winning team even more perfect; and that is where the cracks begin to form. Whether it be down to the main players feeling unappreciated, or bringing in new ones that break up the harmony of a team, the pitfalls of obsession with improvement can spell the beginning of the end.
Now, no one at Anfield seems to be as destructive as former Bulls CEO Jerry Krause – and that is a good thing. Instead, the hierarchy of the club appears to be level-headed and more than happy to leave matters in Klopp’s hand. After all, why wouldn’t they be after all the magic the German has produced? Keeping him happy and in the hot seat is paramount.
A look at how the German’s former team has gone shows just how vital he is to a club’s success.
This is the same man that was able to break Bayern Munich’s stranglehold on the Bundesliga as he guided Borussia Dortmund to the title in 2012. In fact, they were able to clinch back-to-back titles under Klopp. It must be said, those heady days of the Bundesliga seem like light years away now.
If you were to look at the German Bundesliga odds for the title, you would find Klopp’s old team Dortmund at 66/1 to win the league. Light years indeed. How they would love for the 52-year-old to return to The Westfalenstadion during these times of total and utter Bayern domination.
👑🏆@MoSalah‘s injury-time clincher against @ManUtd has won our Goal of the Month award for January 👏👏👏 pic.twitter.com/L4exP2NH6d
— Liverpool FC (at 🏠) (@LFC) February 7, 2020
With all this going on it won’t be any surprise to see that the current German football preview and tips suggest that Bayern will go on to win their eighth league title in as many seasons. Sometimes you don’t realise how good something is until its gone. Fortunately for Liverpool, Klopp made the move to Merseyside and could now be about to embark on a run that will see this Liverpool team immortalized, just like the ones of the 1970s and 1980s. That is if they leave it to Klopp to carry on doing what he does best.
More of the same is required next season and, should Liverpool follow that same blueprint, then they will make it back-to-back titles without breaking a sweat.