RED MACHINE
Klopp’s men are an F1 car. Rafa’s tactics stall them but they pull away. Now for the chequered flag?
IT’S like buying a suit. It’s like driving a Formula One car. Rafa Benitez has plenty of metaphors to describe competing with the strongest teams in Premier League history. What he doesn’t have is a way of reining them in.
Nobody does. Civilians, those outside the industry, can revel in this most exhilarating, high-quality title race, yet from where Benitez sits there must be no little despair. His Newcastle team came so close to taking points off Liverpool, and lost; in January, they actually defeated Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City, yet look at them now.
That Newcastle were undone by Divock Origi, in effect Jurgen Klopp’s fifth-choice striker, seemed to sum up the yawning gulf at the top of the league. Origi is a relatively inexpensive reserve: he was bought for £10million as a 19-year-old from Lille in 2014.
Yet beside him on the bench was Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who cost £35m. At Manchester City, Riyad Mahrez no longer starts, yet was recruited for £60m. This is the age of the super-coach, yet Benitez believes the money at the top has made coaching almost secondary.
‘We were competing — but then their squad makes the difference,’ he said. ‘People ask me about my Liverpool versus this Liverpool. We had players coming from the bench who were £1.5m; this team has players who are nearly £40m. That is where the consistency comes from — that is why they can compete until the very end for trophies.
‘These clubs have bigger squads than the others so even if you, as a manager, make a mistake — the player coming from the bench then makes the difference.’
If this sounds like a pop at Klopp, that wasn’t the intention. Benitez was full of praise for Liverpool and the way they played under the intense pressure of keeping pace with Manchester City. His argument, however, has substance.
Liverpool’s winning goal was scored and created by two substitutes: Origi and Xherdan Shaqiri. So elite managers are working with a safety net that isn’t available lower down the league.
If plan A isn’t functioning as hoped, plan B will invariably introduce more players of outstanding quality, individuals who would be the marquee names at a club such as Newcastle.
So on one hand, it is good for the league to have a title race of such incredible intensity; on the other it is unhelpful for the league to have two teams so far ahead. But don’t worry, Benitez has an analogy for that. Several, in fact.
‘As a coach you can improve players, get them to a certain level,’ he explained, ‘but eventually you will hit maximum efficiency. It is like being a Formula One driver. Around the bends you can compete, because you can use tactics — but once it is on the straight, they pass you because they have more. You can be the best driver in the world, it doesn’t matter, they go past.
‘With a better squad you can have injuries and remain consistent. If we lost Salomon Rondon, it would be very difficult for us. Liverpool can lose Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino, and they play Daniel Sturridge and Origi. And those players can make a difference. These clubs, they play the big money, the big wages, they go early in the transfer market.
‘So it is like buying clothes. If you have £1,000, you shop in this section, but if you have £10,000, you can shop in that section. And the material is much better. So even if you don’t have a cl ue about clothes, like me, you are going to look good.’
I t’ s a fair point, but only so far. Liverpool and Manchester City have more depth to their squad, that much is true. And it must be hugely frustrating to be an excellent coach, as Benitez undoubtedly is, and come up against a glass ceiling of investment and therefore potential. Benitez is right. He spent money at Liverpool, but the last time he played this fixture — Newcastle away — on December 28, 2008, one of his substitutes, David N’Gog, had been recruited f or £ 1.5m. Unused on the bench was Nabil El Zhar, bought from Saint-Etienne for £200,000.
Yet it i s not merely recruitment that has put Klopp’s Liverpool top of the league with one game to go.
A clearly defined style — t he quick counter-attacks started by goalkeeper Alisson through Andrew Robertson, for instance — underpinned this victory, and Klopp’s man management has produced heroic performances under tremendous pressure. Twice, through Rondon and Christian Atsu, Newcastle came back into the game, but Liverpool found reserves of mental strength to win. The horrid dive by Fabi n h o to win the crucial late free-kick left a bad taste, but Shaqiri’s pin-point delivery and Origi’s header were the epitome of the resilience required to win titles. City must beat Leicester tonight now, if they are not to hand final day advantage to Liverpool.
Yet there is another scenario, in which Liverpool collect 97 points and City, on the final day, 98. Liverpool would then have lost one game all season, and not won the league. They would be, arguably, among the top five teams in English football history — yet not champions.
Psychologically, it could be devastating. Klopp must go into the final fixture at home to Wolves ready to oversee one of the greatest days in Liverpool’s history, but also, on results elsewhere, one of the worst.
Were it the latter, what would he say to his team to inspire them anew and overcome the disappointment? He greeted the question with something close to incredulity. ‘We don’t think about it, why should we?’ he insisted.
‘Before the season, you want to be champions and at the time when you realise that cannot happen you are always disappointed. For some it is the first matchday, for others the last matchday. For us it is clear: we have tried everything we can.
‘We cannot do more. The boys have already done more than I thought was possible. So we don’t prepare for what happens after the game, we prepare for the game, and then we will see. Let’s try to get 97 points and then we are ready for judgment. You think I have thought already what I tell them?
‘I’m not a journalist. I don’t prepare my texts, I just say it. And in my mind, we win it. I know it can happen that we don’t — but, honestly,
I don’t think about that. Negative scenarios are a waste of time. We deal with that when it happens.
‘When I came to Liverpool, I realised we would have to do it the hard way. Luck is not constantly with us. It’s not, “Wow, lucky again”. So the whole club, the boys, are ready. And, whatever happens, it will be a successful season.’
Of course, some will argue against that. No time for losers, and all that rubbish. As if a team with 97 points and one defeat can be considered to have failed. Real Madrid once reached 96 points, at the time their highest total ever in La Liga, and came second to Barcelona.
Manuel Pellegrini, the manager, was promptly sacked. No chance of that with Klopp — but come short by a point and the mental preparation for next season might have to start five minutes after this campaign concludes. Meanwhile, Benitez and the rest of the Premier League will stay focused just on closing the gap on English football’s greatest losers; whoever they may be.