It’s a long time since the Premier League last enjoyed a bout of mind games, but Jürgen Klopp’s reaction to Liverpool’s 2-2 draw at Manchester United on Sunday suggested that we may be about to enter a bold new age of psychological warfare.
This, it should be acknowledged, was a long way from Alex Ferguson suggesting Leeds United might go easy against Newcastle because they subconsciously wanted to stop Manchester United winning the league, and perhaps even further from José Mourinho’s lurid provocations. But what Klopp said still stood out, if only because managers these days so assiduously follow the code of saying nothing remotely negative about other Premier League sides.
“Arsenal are a good football team,” Klopp said when asked about the league leaders’ visit to Old Trafford. If they [United] play like today, Arsenal will win the game, I am 100% sure. I am sorry to say that.” From one point of view, it’s a simple assertion of fact: Liverpool had the first 17 shots of the game; of course they should have won. But that’s the beauty of mind games: they turn unremarkable, uncontroversial phrases into demons to haunt one side and inspire the other. Klopp, in saying what is obvious, simultaneously heaped pressure on Arsenal and also, from his point of view, hopefully gave United a kick up the backside.
At the same time, Klopp was ostensibly phlegmatic, despite losing leadership of the league. “I’m not over the moon about it,” he said. “It’s not the best result I have ever seen but I am fine with it. You shouldn’t do what we do today constantly, that won’t be enough. Definitely not. But we know that. To the whole Liverpool community, just stay calm.”
Which, of course, is how he has to be. Seven games remain. If there are to be twists and turns over the final month and a half of the season, the manager who remains most composed and clear-headed, who continues to transmit belief, is likely to be the one who prevails. The example of Kevin Keegan in 1995-96, first with his “I would love it” rant in response to Ferguson, and then slumped over the advertising hoarding at Anfield after a 4-3 defeat, continues to lurk always as a warning.
But at the same time, Klopp must know how needlessly Liverpool dropped two points at Old Trafford. Liverpool battered United on Sunday. They had 28 shots to 11. They won the xG 3.6 to 0.7. They should have been out of sight long before Bruno Fernandes scored from 45 yards with United’s first shot. And what’s worse, this is part of a pattern.
Liverpool have the highest total xG in the Premier League, yet have scored three goals fewer than Arsenal. The xG had them beating Manchester City at home by more than a goal, but they drew. It had them beating United at home by more than a goal, but they drew. It wasn’t quite as stark in the home game against Arsenal but still, it was a game in which they were wasteful. If Liverpool do not win the league this season, they will, not unreasonably, blame the VAR mistake that cost them a goal at Tottenham, but if they look at the responsibility they must take, the failure to take chances in key games will loom large. It’s perhaps not insignificant that Diogo Jota missed Sunday’s game at Old Trafford and those three key home games.
Mohamed Salah has not yet regained his edge since returning from the injury he sustained at the Africa Cup of Nations. Without him at his best, Jota’s clinical presence is sorely missed. Part of the joy of Liverpool, the way they overwhelm teams, is the energy of Darwin Núñez and Luis Díaz. There is a gleeful chaos to how Liverpool play, a contrast to the control Arsenal and City seek to exercise. It’s stirring to watch and it does tend to overwhelm sides, as it ultimately did against Brighton and Sheffield United in the past week after each had scored at Anfield.
But perhaps the flip side to that sense of chaos can be a lack of ruthlessness. Liverpool have taken 27 points from losing positions this season: that’s obviously a positive in terms of what it says about their character, but there must also be a question about why they fall behind so often. How has a team that has lost only twice in the league all season fallen behind on 15 occasions? Perhaps no side can play constantly with the fury of Liverpool at their best but there are times, and it happened early in the second half on Sunday, when the intensity drops.
And that may be why Klopp has opened a new front. On the pitch, it’s impossibly tight at the top of the table but Mikel Arteta hasn’t experienced a title run-in like this, while the relationship between Klopp and Pep Guardiola has always been too mutually respectful for there to be any jibing via the media. A bout of psychological warfare adds an additional element to what is already a fascinating race.
This is an extract from Soccer with Jonathan Wilson, a weekly look from the Guardian US at the game in Europe and beyond. Subscribe for free here. Have a question for Jonathan? Email soccerwithjw@theguardian.com, and he’ll answer the best in a future edition
