Liverpool’s recent loss to Napoli is now necessarily catalytic for change for Jürgen Klopp as he engages in deep introspection to get a proper fix on things. Just like what Pep Guardiola did in 2020.
The Premier League title that had eluded Liverpool for close to 30 years was finally won by 18 points by Klopp and his valiant men in 2019/20. It’s one that most certainly will not be forgotten by supporters after their long and painful wait for success.
Despite Manchester City actually managing to score more goals that season, Klopp’s men dominated from the get-go that year. After 38 matches, the Reds had notched 85 goals compared to the impressive total of 102 posted by Pep Guardiola’s outfit.
The fact that the Reds won the title despite such a gap in goals clearly highlighted Manchester City’s lack of balance in comparison to Klopp’s side, for all of their firepower up front.
Noticeably Guardiola had begun shifting from his controlling principles to an approach that was more of an all-out attack, where his players went one-on-one with their opponents for the entire duration of the match.
That was how Manchester City started the campaign in the same manner in 2019/20, lacking balance as they went too hard in the final third. Guardiola won only five games through the first 12 matches, drawing the last of those fixtures at the Etihad against West Bromwich Albion, who eventually ended up in 19th place.
That particular fixture totally revamped Manchester City’s season and their playing style, with Guardiola forced to take a deep look in the mirror after the disappointing result.
City placed ninth in the table following that game, and their struggles were the catalyst they needed for a change.
“After that game I had a feeling this isn’t a team I can recognise, I didn’t like what I saw,” said Guardiola, never one to stay down for long.
“We talked with Juanma [Lillo], Rodolfo [Borrell], Manel [Estiarte], Txiki [Begiristain] and I said we have to come back to our first principle. Our positional play, move the ball quicker, do more passes, stay more in position, run less with the ball. We started to reconstruct the team from that point.”
The trademark signature trait of Manchester City being able to stay in control on the pitch has ong since been restored since then. They went on the win the Premier League later that season without any more further upheavals, and won it again last year ahead of Liverpool in second place.
Klopp would do well to bear in mind City’s turnaround story, considering their current plight due to the current form of the Reds, as they are obviously not performing to their usual high level at present. After having played eight matches in all competitions this season — including the Community Shield — Liverpool have only won just three of them.
With their most recent outing being a shambolic 4-1 loss at the hands of Napoli, the significant Champions League defeat should be sufficient motivation to push Klopp into making a decisive change comparable to that put into place by Guardiola back in 2020.
Liverpool need to quickly rediscover themselves again and with the most recent batch of Premier League matches cancelled due to the demise of the Queen, Klopp and his coaching staff will have had the benefit of valuable time on the training ground over the past few days. Like the German himself says during his post-match press conference, there is now a need to ‘reinvent’.
The season is far from lost, that’s for sure. But it’s clear Liverpool must go back to basics.