PREMIER LEAGUE THE GOOD AND THE GRATE Klopp delighted and frustrated
THE joy was everywhere to see at Anfield last night after a statement win for Liverpool.
Even beseiged boss Jurgen Klopp managed a smile – but the temptation must surely have been to scream, after watching his stars crush Tottenham to bank their first three League points of 2017.
Klopp demanded a performance to light up Anfield and boy, did he get it against Mauricio Pochettino’s title-chasers.
But after another win against a top six rival, the Kop’s German boss is feeling the frustration of knowing that it will all probably count for nothing when the prizes are handed out in May.
Plenty of title winners take the big prize with a bully mentality. Not too many win it by just being good at blowing away your immediate enemy.
And that’s the dilemma Klopp must solve after his stars once more took apart a big opponent.
Last night Spurs went the LIVERPOOL have joined the race for Middlesbrough defender Ben Gibson, 24. The centre-back will be one of the summer’s biggest transfer scrambles – with Chelsea, Everton and Spurs all admirers of the England Under-21 star. Nephew of Boro chairman Steve Gibson, he is one of the Prem’s mostsought stars – with Jurgen Klopp now wanting him. way of Manchester City,City Arsenal and Chelsea – all beaten by a Liverpool team who have got their number.
But that’s nothing new for Klopp.
He knows his stars can hold their own when the big boys come to town. So do his players – who seem to s ummon s uper- human amounts of speed and energy to swamp the biggest of teams.
So it’s nights like this that make Liverpool’s 2017 collapse seem all the more baffling. Follow F Followw us on Twitter: Twwitwtewr.: @peoplelceosp. Coutinho, Adam Lallana and Roberto Firmino for only the second time since their 6-1 demolition of Watford back in November.
But he wasn’t the only one unhinged by Liverpool’s ferocious gegenpressing.
Tottenham’s defence was sliced open by Georginio Wijnaldum’s brilliant through ball to free Mane and the Senegal star scooped the ball cleverly over Hugo Lloris.
Spurs barely had time to draw breath when they slipped 2-0 down two minutes later. This time Dier was caught in