Jürgen Klopp held his pre-match press conference ahead of the game with Leeds United and it was an interesting one. While the boss did offer some analysis of the match, he spent the majority of the time discussing the Premier League in general, Liverpool's poor play in the first half of matches this season, and the confidence gained after a Champions League win versus Ajax.
The EPL is widely considered one of the toughest leagues in European Football, but is it tougher this year than in the past?
“For different reasons, I didn't think about the general situation of the Premier League,” Klopp said. “Now for a while, I was more busy thinking about us. I have watched Leeds and I can say that there is a massive difference in the way they have played and the results they have gotten… About the League, [Manchester] City is not running away and that makes it obviously already more competitive. There is not only two teams or one team out front. There are three, four, five teams out front. My problem with that is that only we are not one of them, so apart from that I don't look at other clubs apart from when we play them, what we do now against Leeds.”
There is a stat that says Liverpool would be near the bottom of the table based on the results from the first half of matches.
“Thank God the game is 90 minutes,” Klopp said. “It's an interesting question, but it's a question I should probably think a little bit longer about before I answer it. You cannot shoot unprepared for that. Our situation is clear, I think you can see it in different ways. Around the Nottingham game we had quite a few positive performances and results, but we cannot ignore the Nottingham game as well.”
The win over Ajax did more than secure the Reds a spot in the next round of the Champions League, it gave the team some much-needed momentum.
“If we lost at Ajax, we have to play Leeds and then we have a final against Napoli - I would feel different I can tell you,” said Klopp. “The situation is a tough five games until the World Cup break. For us, all matches are super important - they are. That's all I'm talking about and then there's a long break and we'll see how we get back and how others come back and these kinds of things.”
Klopp is right. Neither he nor Liverpool are in a position to worry about the rest of the League right now. They have enough to worry about just focusing on themselves. He is also correct that the squad gained momentum after beating Ajax, but the thing about momentum is that it can end as quickly as it starts. Supporters learned that lesson from the Nottingham Forest match.
Liverpool finds themselves in a similar situation versus Leeds. They are coming off a big win, facing a team below the relegation line. Let's hope history doesn't repeat itself.
