With Liverpool’s current form in the 2023/24 campaign as manager Jurgen Klopp looked to go out with a bang having previously announced that he would be leaving Anfield at the end of the season, rare dreams of a quadruple remained on the cards for us as we went into Sunday’s FA Cup quarter final clash with Manchester United at Old Trafford.
Our hosts started brightly, but having taken the lead in the tenth minute, we had some incredible spells of play and ended the first half in good dominant fashion, giving us a late 2-1 lead at the half time break and low odds betting tips would have suggested we would have held on but much like betting odds, football is often unpredictable and that came to pass.
Sadly for us, we could not turn our second half performance into another advantage and whilst we did retake the lead after we ticked into Extra Time, they again levelled matters up and it looked like we were dead set for penalties, until a very avoidable error and some poor defending saw us lose it right at the death.
The pain of the late defeat and the end of the quadruple dream was obvious to all, and it was epitomised by the faces of the players as they slumped to the pitch as the full time whistle was blown, as whilst fans can have plenty of reasons to be happy with our efforts across the 120 minutes, there is no denying that although United were determined (and played better than we have seen so far this season) it was ultimately our own mistakes that cost us.
The media, following the game, were very happy to dig into those errors, overblowing discussions about mentality, becoming complacent in the game and all that nonsense to talk up United’s efforts, but yes whilst this was another opportunity for Wembley, it is also football and you cannot be 100% perfect 100% of the time.
This could also still be an incredibly successful season for us as 56 year old Klopp looks for the perfect swansong to what has already been an incredibly successful spell for the German on Merseyside.
But naturally the order of the day was disappointment, and fans will clearly know that the gaffer himself was hurting after the final whistle as his usual jovial demeanour deserted him when meeting with one journalist in his post game obligations.
It is basically a non-story, but it has certainly gained traction and speaking for myself, I am happy to reference it because to me it shows Klopp’s passion, desire to win, disappointment and also anger at the lazy media looking to score points rather than doing their job and covering reality.
Klopp ended an interview with Danish reporter Niels Christian Frederiksen early, and it naturally went viral. During the interview the reporter came from the angle that we were complacent, entitled and that this explained the perceived lack of intensity. Klopp understandably objected to this, asking him ‘what is wrong with you’ and then quite understandably stating ‘you’re obviously not in a great shape and I have no nerves for you.’
Frederiksen did comment that after the cameras stopped rolling, that the dispute did continue wherein Klopp walked away, stating ‘he continued down the hallway, where he yelled and screamed at me’ but he acknowledged he was still actively following Klopp at the point, so that feels like a pretty obvious reaction to me and Klopp was loudly repeating the interview was over.
It was a storm in a teacup, I fail to see why either party is at fault here, it was just an unfortunate circumstance of the moment and that is basically where it should be left as Frederiksen was keen to point out. Despite VAR’s best efforts, football is still a game of immediate emotions and opinions at the end of the day – it was just the wrong opinion to come up against that emotion when it did.
