Klopp’s masterstroke was to identify a world-class goalkeeper and defender. Then go out and buy them

IT’S a sequence of events that certain players and coaches facing crucial European nights at Anfield never learn from.

When asked if they’re worried about the fabled atmosphere they shrug, say they’ve played at some of the most intimidating grounds in Europe and that Anfield is nothing special. Then, as Napoli’s Dries Martens is the latest to find out, they turn up, lose and are mocked.

One of the reasons they never learn until it’s too late is that it’s not necessarily about the effect the crowd has on their own side but on the Liverpool players.

As the noise is amplified to a completely different level from league games it fires up the men in red and their collective intensity is such that in key phases of play they overwhelm the opposition and wave after wave of attacks disconcerts and kills even the best teams.

If Tuesday’s defeat of Napoli goes down in European legend it won’t be due to an attacking blitzkrieg but a defensive masterclass.

Last September, after defensive errors cost Liverpool wins against Watford, Burnley and Sevilla, Jurgen Klopp faced a bruising press conference in which his ability to organise a back-line was questioned.

He hit back at journalists telling them he was “a really good defensive coach” who could write a definitive book in two hours on the art of defending: “About which space we have to defend, why, when and where you have to be. When you have to step up, push up... all that stuff.”

It turns out the German could have done it by writing only one sentence: “Identify a world-class goalkeeper and a world-class centre-half and buy them.” Which, in the following two transfer windows, with Alisson Becker and Virgil Van Dijk, he did. This season, with a mere six league goals conceded giving Liverpool the best defensive record of any side in major European leagues, it looks like it worked.

When it was crucial they kept a clean sheet against an in-form Napoli side who are joint-top scorers in Italy, the pair were immense. Van Dijk reads the game with such authority, anticipates with such intelligence and plays with such class you can see why Rio Ferdinand rates him the best defender in the world. Alisson’s peerless statistics in last season’s Serie A and this season’s Premier League put him up with the very best goalkeepers.

Some have suggested his vital injury-time save from Napoli’s Arkadiusz Milik wasn’t all that because the shot was straight at him. But look again at how big he makes himself, how perfect his positioning is, his use of both arms and legs and you’ll see it’s what the very best keepers do. Make key saves at key moments. Alisson has been quietly doing that all season which is why he’s the best goalkeeper Liverpool have had since Ray Clemence. A month after Philippe Coutinho starred in Liverpool’s final Champions League group game last December he was sold for £146million. Through Klopp’s powers of persuasion and refusal to accept lesser targets, that money was spent on Alisson and Van Dijk.

It was exceptional, transformational business. Indeed you have to go back to 1987 when Kenny Dalglish signed John Barnes and Peter Beardsley to find two signings in the same year who were such game-changers for Liverpool.

Throw in the inspired signing of 24-year-old Andy Robertson and the development of Joe Gomez and Trent Alexander-arnold, and it looks like Klopp has a backline that could ensure big Anfield nights for years to come. It might be a while before he’s asked again if he has a clue about defenders.