Thanks to Jurgen Klopp’s departure from Liverpool, some unscrupulous gamblers are hitting the jackpot. Lower stand tickets for his last game at Anfield are selling for £12,000 on a resale site (so they’re right behind the bench) and a seat on the Kop is selling for £4,250. If the price of a ticket to Wolves on May 19 includes the presentation of the Premier League trophy to a departed idol, they will receive the reward and will probably receive it sooner rather than later.
Klopp was asked on Friday if he was considering the perfect send-off in the Premier League. “I’m not a dreamer,” he replied. Having lost the other two title races with Manchester City by a single point and with 16 games to go, it pays to not do that.
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But the 56-year-old’s realism and City’s reputation for success at this time of year will not dampen the aspirations of those around the Liverpool manager. His players responded to the shock of his planned departure by scoring nine goals in two matches. Norwich and Chelsea have felt the power of a team taking the next step in their development since the goalless draw with Manchester United before Christmas, according to Klopp.
Liverpool have dismantled Chelsea this season, with their two most influential players in Trent Alexander-Arnold and Mohamed Salah relegated to the bench and treatment room. It is a testament to the strength of Klopp’s rebuilt squad that the emergence of Conor Bradley has challenged Alexander-Arnold’s undisputed reign at right-back. Another victory at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday would not only put Liverpool eight points ahead of Arsenal and the defending champions, who have two games in hand, but would also intensify what Klopp calls the “outsider talk” around a title bid. On paper at least, Arsenal represent the toughest away task Liverpool have ever had.
“What would be different if I didn’t announce what I announced a week ago?” Klopp asked. To start with, the cost of tickets for Wolves. “It’s: ‘Wouldn’t it be nice to win another Premier League, wouldn’t it be nice to win this, wouldn’t it be nice to do it after everything we’ve done over the years and how close we are?’ It’s all the same. The only small difference is that now they say ‘For Jürgen’. That’s the only thing. Nothing else has changed and that’s the mood I’m in.”
“Of course I want to win the league. Do I really know if we have a chance? It looks like we might be around but there are so many games until then. We have to play them all and win them all which is absolutely crazy. I can’t think about that. I’m not a dreamer. But I don’t know if it would be nice or not.” If you ask, yes, it would be great for everyone involved and the whole Liverpool world. But it’s not hard to prevent that because it’s no different from previous years. If he can produce a few extra percentages it would be nice but I’m not sure it’s needed because we’re already at 100% and that’s a good thing.” thing.”
City’s history leaves Liverpool with little margin for error, even at this stage of the title race. Klopp’s team ended a 30-year wait to become champions of England in 2020, finishing 18 points ahead of their closest rivals. It is better to lead than to chase, the view of a manager who cannot celebrate this long-awaited victory with his own strength. Their own supporters due to the pandemic. The opportunity to party together at the end of his final season adds to the importance of Liverpool’s chase.
Klopp, who has injury concerns over Darwin Núñez, said: “We were only properly ahead of them once and then we won and that was by 25 points at one point before Covid came into play and all these wonderful people wanted to cancel and void the league.” I had forgotten that Rio Ferdinand was quite forward-thinking on this subject and I interviewed him the other day!
“The best way to do it is to be out of reach, but that’s not really possible. In other competitions we lost the race when we were a little bit behind them. For five or six weeks it was one point and it stayed one point because we both won all our matches. You can’t compare. It’s really important.” “It’s not. What we know is that if you want to win the Premier League you better win a lot of football games.”
Klopp believes his team can and will improve on their recent performance, which was a 2-0 FA Cup win at Arsenal four weeks ago, which owes much to the hosts’ generosity. His desire is to dominate the ball more and control the opponent better. “We are becoming a better version of ourselves,” he said. “And there is still a lot of room for improvement.”
He added: “This is the best league in the world and we are top of the table, what does that mean? Are there any bad players on this team? No. But now it’s not about thinking about what they do, how great they are, or how good they look to boot. It’s about us digging into the season, holding our breath, buckle up, and hit the road. The base is good and still needs to be expanded. Make sure we’re in a good position for the match and then we’ll see.”