Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Forget being unbeatable... to be the world,european & English champions all in 12 months would be joyous
A NARRATIVE began to emerge last month that Liverpool had decided to set their sights on an unbeaten season and the ultimate Treble.
That, having all but wrapped up the title, their ambitions had been scaled up to emulating Arsenal’s Invincibles and Manchester
United’s Treblewinners. Suddenly there were TV graphics and phone-ins helping pundits decide where Jurgen Klopp’s “Unbeatables” sat in the pantheon of all-time great sides.
The flip-side of the immortality prematurely being thrust on them was simple to predict: as soon as either of their supposed objectives were missed, their season would be deemed, at best, an anti-climax and, at worst, a failure. Hence the current post-mortems.
The truth, though, is that these objectives were an invention by outside forces.
Not only did Klopp’s annoyance at having them put to him after every win tell us that, you would have struggled to hear a serious discussion between matchgoing Liverpool fans about the possibility of going unbeaten or winning a Treble.
All that consumed them was the league.
Talk of the Watford defeat being a blessing in disguise, as it threw the unbeaten monkey off their back, was never in their thoughts.
The only burden at Anfield is the 30-year absence of a title parade.
Plus, having witnessed one or two trophy-winning machines down the years, they knew there was no basis for the comparisons with past greats, as this side has only won one big, proper trophy.
When Arsenal went unbeaten in 2003/4, it was their third title in seven seasons and when United won the top European and domestic Treble in 1998/9, it was their fifth title in seven years. Both also won the FA Cup three times during those periods.
They were superb sides, containing winners who were peaking when those towering benchmarks were set.
The statistics over the past 12 months may back up the view that this Liverpool side are exceptional “mentality monsters” – but they are not the finished article.
The real blessing in disguise over the past fortnight is that
The only burden at Anfield is a 30-year absence of a title parade
the owners can’t argue if Klopp tells them he needs more depth and variation in his squad to move forward.
Serious money needs to be spent this summer bringing in top-class competition up front, in attacking midfield and at left-back as too many laurels are being rested on.
Plus, as was evidenced at Stamford Bridge, there are senior squad players just not up to it.
The tsunami of statistics that greeted Liverpool’s winning exploits were always – as far as Anfield was concerned
– a very flattering, but meaningless sideshow.
Nobody was celebrating at the end of last season, having secured the third-highest top-flight points haul. It just made the pain harder.
The most important game now is Bournemouth on Saturday. Win that and they’re nine points from the title. Win that title and, regardless of what happened at Watford and Chelsea or against Atletico Madrid next week, it’s impossible for this season to be remembered as anything other than utterly joyous. To be named, within 12 months, club champions of Europe, the world and England would be beyond the wildest dreams of most Kopites. Especially champions of this country – because, over three decades, that is the one they have ached for.
To win it up against this incredible Manchester City side, who averaged 99 points in the previous two seasons, is enough of an achievement for now. There’s no point being greedy when you’re already gorging yourself to breaking point.
If they win the league, the release of that 30-year-old mental pressure valve will see Liverpudlians partying harder than they ever have.
The question of whether Klopp’s team bears comparison with Fergie’s Treble-winners or Arsene Wenger’s Invincibles can be left for another day.