FIND OUR DNA, KLOPP
I joined Reds to win league title... and I did. Jurgen has makings of a Liverpool team that can do the same as us
WHEN John Wark arrived at Liverpool in March 1984, the currency at the club was medals.
“Every season, the thinking was the same,” Wark recalled.
“It wasn’t what trophy we would win, it was ‘how many?’.
“That was the philosophy at Liverpool at the time.”
Times have changed. In his four years at Anfield, Wark won the League title twice.
“That is why I had left Ipswich,” said the former Scotland midfielder, whose scoring touch tempted Joe Fagan to pay £400,000 to bring him to Merseyside from East Anglia.
“I had won the FA Cup and the UEFA Cup with Ipswich, but I wanted to win the big one – the League title.
“We were close on one occasion at Ipswich – but I knew the chances would be better at Liverpool. And I was proved right.”
Inside the first three months of his career at his new club in fact, as Wark and Liverpool won the First Division crown.
Two years later he was a champion again.
“There was a feeling about the club that each season we would be successful,” said Wark. “I don’t get that feeling now. They need that self-confidence and assurance back.
“The Liverpool team I played in was consistent. We were ALWAYS challenging.
“You wouldn’t be happy with a place in the top four, or just qualifying for Europe.
“It was assumed that you would be pushing for the title, competing for the cups.
“What I see in the team at the moment is a lot – and I mean a lot – of talent.
“You look at players like Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane and you see goals. And some of the football they play is breathtaking. But the team lacks consistency.
“Yes, they beat Manchester City in a fantastic game. They were superb. But then they lost to Swansea and went out of the FA Cup to West Bromwich Albion at home. And there was Tottenham at Wembley, when they lost 4-1.
“They were awful that day, awful, especially in defence.
“I like the manager Jurgen Klopp. His teams play high-tempo, attacking football.
“But, for me, the present Liverpool team are weak at the back.
“They need a central defender and they need a goalkeeper. That was obvious against Spurs. It is often good management to keep criticism in-house. Players prefer that. “And after that match, Klopp just called it along the lines of ‘a bad day at the office’. “But it was more than that – and maybe that was one occasion when he could have been more critical publicly.” Since then, Klopp has brought in Virgil van Dijk from Southampton for £75million – and Wark sees that as a start of a rebuilding job on the defence. “Van Dijk is a good player – a very good player,” said Wark. “But he can’t change things on his own. It is going to take more than one player.” Van Dijk will this afternoon return to Southampton as Liverpool take on his former club at St Mary’s.
And Wark believes the clash will be a reflection of the current standing of Liverpool’s team – and how it contrasts to those of the glory years.
Wark said: “Liverpool teams of the past would go there and have just one thought – a win.
“It seems that now, a draw would be seen a decent result. “That thinking has to change. “Liverpool was always about winning trophies, every season.
“That feeling has to come back.”