GIVE ME MORE, GROWLS KLOPP
Hull humbled but Liverpool boss is hard to please
JURGeN KLOPP sat with his arms tightly folded in deep conversation with assistant Zeljko Buvac, occasionally leaping from his dugout to growl an order. to observe Liverpool’s manager during the second half against Hull City, you would not have guessed his team were on their way to dishing out another pummelling and heading towards a place in the top four.
the German’s mood was in stark contrast to the atmosphere around anfield. Hull might not present one of the most difficult assignments in the Premier League, but the manner in which they were dismantled augurs well for Liverpool’s season.
so high was their quality, ty, sadio mane — scorer of thee third goal in this 5-1 procession — was moved to call it ‘amazing’. James milner, usually so circumspect, described the squad’s quality as ‘unbelievable’.
It was anticipated that Klopp would be similarlyy effusive in his praise of thisis performance but, instead, he seemed at pains to play it down. there were platitudes but, equally, there was another message.
‘ I’m quite different usually,’ Klopp acknowledged. ‘But it’s only because I know nothing has happened yet. What would change if I said, “Wow! What we did in the first half I never saw in my life!”
‘that is not the truth. Until now it has been a pretty good start, with a few ups and not so many downs. But we are still far away from Christmas. after Christmas there’s January, February, march, april, may.
‘then it stops, right? so it’s a long, long, long race. I’ve never seen a 20km race where you are like this (hands in the air celebrating) after 5km. It makes no sense.
‘I’m happy with the performance but I know about the need to carry on and keep going. I’m fine, but I know there’s still a lot of work to do.’
the message could not have been clearer, but Liverpool’s fans are desperate to latch on to the idea their team will be a conquering force this season and the fluent way the Reds are performing is doing nothing to temper expectations.
mane, for instance, is playing so well that it has almost been forgotten he cost £30million. Big price tags can sometimes weigh heavily on players but there is no such issue with the senegalese flyer.
adam Lallana, who opened the scoring, might be playing the best football of his career, while the samba beat provided by Brazilians Roberto Firmino and Philippe Coutinho is irrepressible.
Yet there is certainly no sense from Klopp — or from within the dressing room — that they will get carried away with them- selves. ‘We played amazing from the beginning until the end,’ said mane.
‘We created a lot of chances and scored a lot of goals as well. It was key to our success but we have to be ready for the next step.’
this was a difficult afternoon for Hull, who finished with 10 men after ahmed elmohamady was sent off for deliberate handball, but mike Phelan did his best to maintain a brave face. ‘You have to stay positive and I want my players and the club to stay positive,’ said the manager, who is still awaiting a decision on his future. ‘We have to get back what we had against Leicester (in last month’s 2-1 victory). We will get it back.’ SUPER STAT: For the first time since 1959, Liverpool have scored four goals or more in their opening two home games. When they last did it, the second game was also a fivegoal haul — and Hull were the opposition. LIVERPOOL (4-3-3): Karius 6.5; Clyne 7, Matip 7.5, Klavan 7, Milner 8.5; Lallana 8 (Sturridge 69min, 7), Henderson 8 (Can 74, 6), Wijnaldum 7.5; Mane 8, Firmino 7, Coutinho 7 (Grujic 74, 6). Subs not used: Mignolet, Moreno, Origi, Lucas. Booked: Milner. Scorers: Lallana 17, Milner pen 30, pen 71, Mane 36, Coutinho 52.
HULL CITY (4-2-3-1): Marshall 7; Elmohamady 4, Livermore 5, Davies 5, Robertson 5; Huddlestone 5 (Maguire 46, 5), Mason 5 (Henriksen 73, 5); Snodgrass 6, Clucas 5, Diomande 5 (Meyler 32, 6); Hernandez 5. Subs not used: Jakupovic, Maloney, Mbokani, Keane. Booked: Huddlestone, Mason. Sent off: Elmohamady. Scorer: Meyler 51. Man of the match: James Milner. Referee: Andre Marriner 6.