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At the moment, everyone—ourselves at TLO very much included—are reflecting on the last decade, and especially on the banner year for Liverpool Football Club that was 2019. Well, everyone but Jurgen Klopp and the Mighty Reds. They have business to attend to.
If you haven’t heard, Liverpool are currently the pacesetters at the top of the league, with our best chance of winning the league in 30 years. Plus there are two cup competitions left to compete for, either of which—in addition to the long-lost league title—would make 2020 even better than 2019.
But nothing is settled yet, and Klopp wants to let the fans know this as well.
“I spent a lot of the post-match interviews after Wolves being asked about my reflections of 2019 and even though it was a year with a lot of happy memories, from a football perspective there isn’t anything ‘new’ we have to think about,” Kloppo said in today’s matchday program. “There is no pause and certainly no stop.
“Our professional life works in ‘seasons’ rather than calendar years, so in this moment I am not in the reviewing mood.
“We are exactly halfway through a league campaign, with two cup competitions to fight for also. So, we are right in the middle of something and nowhere near an ending.
“The only reviewing we are doing in this moment is with regards to our next opponent. We have reviewed Sheffield United extensively, but that is all.”
The media, opposition fans, and even some Liverpool fans are ready to declare this title race well and truly dead. The media, in particular, are pushing this narrative (against, I’d imagine, their best interest to keep the title race going for as long as mathematically possible). Klopp is thoroughly uninterested by this speculation.
“The world we live in means that we are constantly presented with invitations to see conclusions where there are none.
“How do you stay focused? That’s easy - look at how strong Sheffield United are. If you were in danger of distraction, spending time analysing our opponents soon sharpens the senses.
“Don’t look ahead, don’t dwell on what is behind. The here and now is our everything on the pitch and in the stands.”
Let’s hope the Anfield crowd continues to do what has served us so well since Klopp’s arrival: listening to the boss instead of the media or rival fan banter.
In his time here, Klopp has made Anfield an absolute fortress. And we’ll need that fortress to remain impenetrable if we want to continue to succeed in the league and beyond.