Seven years into life at Liverpool and Jurgen Klopp is starting to see perhaps the most prescient of all his memorable soundbites flipped on its head.
As the longest-serving manager of the Premier League surveys the wreckage of the worst start to a campaign in over a decade, Klopp may just feel the believers have turned to doubters.
Not, it must be stressed, in his ability as an elite coach or whether or not he is still the right man to halt this particular downturn, but there are some who are starting to feel, with increasing justification, that a half-decade of the hard running that has taken this team to their outer limits has finally caught up with them.
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For so often it was Liverpool whose rage was unconfined under the German. They were the team who outworked and outfought; pressing machines who hunted in packs, seized on weakness and devoured those in their path.
With points tallies of 97, 99 and 92 in three of the last four seasons - during a time when they have won every major honour available to an English club - Liverpool have rightly held a fearsome reputation across the game.
It's why Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola was compelled to refer to Sunday's visit to Anfield as "the biggest test I would say we can face in England" on Saturday and why Mikel Arteta said "it’s what our profession is about, to live days like this" after his side's 3-2 win the following day.
But for all the suitably reverential words from Klopp 's peers, something is broken at Liverpool right now. Never has this team looked so bereft of confidence, so short of ideas and so utterly devoid of any of the things that have made this iteration of the Reds enter the debate about where it ranks in the all-time great sides of Anfield history.
To quote another admirer of the Reds manager's work, the iconic former Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson, he once stated a belief that four years is the lifespan of any great team.
"I believe that the cycle of a successful team lasts maybe four years and then some change is needed," Ferguson was quoted as saying in 2013 upon his retirement. To be clear, the Scot was not necessarily detailing his belief in "some change" at management level, more that a turnover of key players is needed.
The idea that stagnation inevitably sets in when the same players hear the same voice with the same ideas over a number of years is valid and one Klopp himself is wary of slipping into. It's why there has been a concerted effort to constantly adapt in recent years, even if the core principles are non-negotiable at Anfield on his watch.
After the famous - and perhaps overused - cliche of the early 'heavy metal football' that existed at Anfield generally until 2018, the arrival of Virgil van Dijk and then Alisson Becker six months later helped Liverpool become a more pragmatic, controlled version of themselves. No longer did games need to be won 3-2 or 4-3 and it provided the basis for all the success that has followed.
The high-line and the unwaveringly brave mentality needed to consistently execute such a tactic were also introduced as further ingredients were added to an already potent and successful mix that has always continued to utilise their intelligent and irrepressible pressing instincts. The arrival of VAR did at least help with the effective implementation of that much-discussed style of defending.
At times it led to chances being coughed up and questions being asked but the proof was in the pudding for a side who held the best defensive record in Europe's top five leagues alongside Manchester City last season.
A willingness to embrace change and evolve each summer through the time spent on the pre-season training pitches has always allowed a Liverpool squad containing largely the same players to effectively keep the opposition guessing. There's a staleness about it all right now, though.
At the moment, Liverpool do not resemble themselves at any point during the last four years. Too many players have endured a remarkable dip in form all at once and injuries have inevitably bitten too.
Since the start of the campaign there have been significant lay-offs for Thiago Alcantara, Andy Robertson, Diogo Jota, Joel Matip, Ibrahima Konate and Jordan Henderson. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Curtis Jones and Naby Keita have yet to kick a ball this season and Luis Diaz and Trent Alexander-Arnold both went off with problems of their own at Arsenal. Arthur Melo, in what is a major dose of gallows humour, was signed to ease a midfield crisis but has played just 13 minutes of a 4-1 defeat at Napoli and is now facing between three and four months out himself.
They are not excuses but they certainly have not helped as a side in flux, either. All too often the manager has been unable to call upon key men at important junctures.
"It is much more important for us that we become unpredictable again and we need different formations for that," he said on Friday when asked if he would be keeping his new-look 442 or reverting to his battle-tested 433 for Sunday's trip to Arsenal. "It is not the only formation we can play, is it 442 is it 433 is it 451? We don’t want to make it more complicated but there are different formations available for us and we have to choose the right one for the opponent. We definitely have to be more unpredictable."
Unpredictable is the last thing Liverpool are right now: they concede first, struggle for form and don't win Premier League games. Rinse and repeat.
A prevalent theory is that this is the inevitable drop-off that comes when a near six-month long chase for every honour in the game is over and many have suggested this has affected the players subconsciously. Given the magnitude of virtually every game between January and May, when every league fixture needed to be won to keep pace with Manchester City while they also reached the Champions League, Carabao Cup and FA Cup finals, it is only natural a dip would follow, especially when factoring in the heartbreaking way the final week of the 63-game campaign played out both domestically and in Paris against Real Madrid in the European Cup.
It's a theme that has been dismissed a handful of times already by Klopp as well Van Dijk and Fabinho, but it's one that will continue to linger the longer this malaise threatens the top-four hopes.
"What has [last season] to do with this season?" the boss responded when it was put to him again at the Emirates. "A lot of people ask if we're playing like this now because last year, we lost the two big trophies. It feels like years ago. I don't think it's the reason, but I understand more people think around all corners to find the reason."
One of the most identifiable problems has been a sluggish start to games. In 10 of their last 12 league matches Liverpool have conceded first, dating back to May. That they have only lost two of those suggests the character and resolve to muster a response has not overly wavered, but things won't change for the better until that flaw is eradicated. Too often, a confidence-shot team are giving themselves too much to do in order to win games.
It's been an easy one for those searching for neat narratives to look at the seven-year mark of Klopp's previous stints at Mainz and Borussia Dortmund and surmise that the same problems that led to a changing of the guard in both times in Germany are again afflicting him at the same point on Merseyside.
It was something he rejected himself in his Friday press conference as he detailed what the respective issues were at both clubs, but the feeling is lingering that seven years in the modern era is a veritable lifetime in the Anfield dugout. Right now, it will surely feel like it for Klopp.
What comes next over the long term will be highly instructive. With one of the oldest squads in the Premier League and players like Mohamed Salah, Jordan Henderson, Thiago Alcantara, Virgil van Dijk, Joel Matip and James Milner all in their 30s and Fabio Carvalho, Harvey Elliott, Curtis Jones, Ibrahima Konate and Darwin Nunez all 23 or under, the squad has too few players at an age where their peak performance is expected. The question now is can Klopp build his second great Liverpool team? He will need unequivocal and significant backing from owners Fenway Sports Group to prove he can.
READ MORE:
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