Long before Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp announced his decision to leave Anfield at the end of the year and bring his pretty successful spell with us to a close, fans were hoping beyond hope that we could again lift the Premier League title.
That desire to go out with real success once again, was only magnified when we knew the 56 year old German would be parting ways with us this summer. Having already lifted the EFL Cup for the 2023/24 campaign with our Wembley victory over Chelsea back in February, dreams of a potential quadruple were soon over with FA Cup and Europa League defeats to follow, but it was all eyes to the title.
For those fans who like a small flutter on their football, odds were still in our favour of doing just that, despite how tight the battle at the top of the table had been and we were well in the race for a large part of the season, and in more recent times there was only a point, or two, separating us, Manchester City and Arsenal, so individual match odds from the bookies would certainly have been of interest to some. Unfortunately our more recent results just have not been good enough and with one win in the last five in the form guide, our two defeats to Crystal Palace and rivals Everton are likely to prove incredibly costly.
With three games remaining in the year, it is going to take some good fortune for us to close the now five point gap, but whilst it remains possible, we simply have to give our all to do just that.
With our drop in form recently though from what are undoubtedly our more normal levels of performance, fans will be understandably concerned about the spirit in the dressing room, particularly in light of the unfortunate spat we saw between Mohamed Salah and Klopp on the touchline during the 2-2 draw with West Ham United last Saturday.
Klopp himself did his best to play down the issue at the full time whistle, but Salah own words about starting a ‘fire’ when asked to comment, certainly caught the attention of the wider world of football, and naturally in today’s modern media, it became a talking point that created headlines.
Whilst fans may never truly know what happened, or what was said between the pair, it does not take much of an educated guess to think that our 31 year old Egyptian wizard was not happy to start the game from the substitutes bench, nor certainly enter the fray that late on in the game – but equally few fans would argue his recent form has not been the best, and he did not wow against West Ham either.
It is just one of those situations where Klopp was probably right to leave him on the bench, but equally Salah will be frustrated with his own form and impact of late, and it seems quite obvious that players are disappointed with how the season had begun slipping away from us, and occasionally tensions boil over for no real reason.
Whilst it was undoubtedly a disappointing and frustrating moment for all involved, the best and biggest way to bounce back and draw a line under this (and our recent form), is by providing the best possible reaction next Sunday when we welcome Ange Postecoglou and his Tottenham Hotspur side to our home ground.
A good, comfortable and solid victory in that match would boost everyone’s spirits a touch, even if we are reliant on results elsewhere for it to actually count in the race for the title.
Spurs, Aston Villa and Wolverhampton Wanderers are winnable games though and it would send us into the summer with far brighter spirits again, as it is going to be an uncertain few months as we see what the new managers’ plans are, what kind of player turnover we might actually have – and not least, although he has not quite been the same since his last injury, talk of Salah’s own future at the club is rarely very far from the media headlines and that could be a further upheaval that nobody in the fan base actually wants.
He obviously will not be the only player subject to heavy speculation given Klopp’s departure either.
