The failure of the long goodbye
When Jurgen Klopp announced he would be leaving Liverpool at the end of this season, it’s reasonably safe to assume he expected it to inspire his team to go out with a bang.
In reality, they are going out with little more than a faint whimper.
Where he would rightly have expected his loyal squad to raise their game for a big sendoff, they have instead been inconsistent, unfocussed and unable to turn dominant but disjointed displays into victories.
This has seen them kicked out of the FA Cup by a mediocre Manchester United, and then following that up by securing elimination from Europe to a decent but unremarkable Atalanta.
That left them with only the league title to play for, but defeat at home to Crystal Palace made that dream look unlikely, before losing the midweek derby to Everton shattered it completely.
It must be heartbreaking for the German who genuinely loves the club and desperately wanted to leave the fans with a season to remember.
Okay, in the intervening time, they did win the League Cup. But that was against Chelsea, so it doesn’t really count as proper success. And when you are enthusiastically chasing a quadruple, ending the season with only one trophy – the least significant one – is a massive anticlimax.
I am going to be honest. I said at the time I thought Klopp’s announcement would spur his squad on. Such was his bond with the players, they would surely want their manager to be carried away from Anfield surrounded by trophies and joy.
But I, and probably Klopp too, failed to take one crucial thing into consideration – players are intrinsically selfcentred, with an inbuilt tendency to only really care about number one.
Yes, the Liverpool players may love their gaffer, worship the ground he walks on, in fact. But that doesn’t change the reality that the second Klopp said he would be leaving, they would have started thinking about their own futures under the new manager.
Who’s coming in next? Will I still be in the first team? Will I start? What if the new guy doesn’t like me and I am sold? Where will I go? I only have 12 months left on my contract? Should I get my agent to put out feelers? What if the new guy thinks over-30s are past it?
It will have been doubt, after doubt, after doubt. And those doubts, probably entirely unintentionally, have had a detrimental effect on performances. Not a devastating effect – the team were still creating enough chances to win games – but enough of an effect to ensure a season that promised so much has delivered so little.
When Sir Alex Ferguson announced his retirement at the beginning of the 2001 season, he said some players in the dressing room “downed tools”, and it was only when he reversed his decision a few months later that performances started to improve again.
I didn’t think that would happen at Liverpool and, to be fair, I don’t think it has. Liverpool’s players haven’t downed tools so much as forgotten how to properly use the tools they have.
Ultimately, and with the obvious benefit of hindsight, mid-season resignation announcements would appear to be a silly idea. And I can’t see any other top-level managers following suit after Alex and Jurgen’s respective disasters.
The conclusion seems to be that if you do intend to leave, tell the board, tell the director of football, tell the chairperson, tell your family. But whatever you do, don’t tell the players...
Arne Slot, you have been warned.
The perfecT TiTle?
At the beginning of the season, if you told a random Inter Milan fan that they would win the league with Simone Inzaghi in charge, most would have looked at you like you were a few sandwiches short of a picnic.
Then, when you explained how their team would not only win the Serie A but do so with a remarkable five games to spare, losing only once along the way, they would have been reaching for the nearest straitjacket.
At that point you would obviously want to describe how Inter would clinch the title with a 2-1 victory over AC Milan at the San Siro, the first time in the derby’s 116-year history that that has happened.
But by then you would probably have been bundled into the back of a van by the men in the white coats.
Yet as remarkable and unlikely as all that seems, that is precisely how this season unfolded for Inter. If you are going to edge ahead of your local rivals in terms of titles (20 to 19), it’s hard to think of a more perfect way of doing so.
And all this despite the fact that, before the campaign started, it was touch and go as to whether Inzaghi would even be in charge of the team. After an indifferent season that saw them lose a dozen league games, the manager was dangling by his fingertips.
Yet the club stuck with him even when the Italian media were baying for blood, and have now been rewarded in startling fashion.
The funny thing is, having spoken to a few Inter fans I know, many are still not entirely convinced by Inzaghi; the general feeling being that his failure in Europe was unforgivable. Are these doubters in the minority? I would imagine they are, but it’s hard to say for certain.
I suspect I wouldn’t be too sad if my club won the title; with games to spare; by beating the team from the same city.
But then again that could also be because I have been so starved of success for the last half century I celebrate when we win a corner...
“With the benefit of hindsight, mid-season resignation announcements would appear to be a silly idea
E-MAIL: JAMES.CALVERT @TIMESOFMALTA.COM TWITTER: @MALTABLADE