December 13th, 2015: Liverpool hosted West Bromwich Albion, and before the game you expected the Reds to beat a lower-table side like the Baggies. The game, however, was far from straight-forward.
West Brom were resolute, and Liverpool had to rely on a late Divock Origi strike to earn them a point.
What followed later, though, was covered by the media with a sense of misunderstanding, and attacked by the keyboard warriors on social media.
Jürgen Klopp’s arrival from Bundesliga came with certain aspects that only followers of the German top-flight understood. One of them, which was not seen until the draw against West Brom, was the entire team saluting the fans for sticking with the side.
In the same season, Klopp had revealed he felt ‘alone’ as the fans exited the stadium following Crystal Palace’s late goal that handed the German his first defeat as Liverpool manager.
Against West Brom, the fans responded. And that little segment after the game, that many ridiculed as ‘over the top’ as the result was only a draw, perhaps fostered something special for the subsequent years.
Still don’t know what I’m talking about? Just ask Barcelona.
Not everything has to be technical
Sure, the right drills, tactics, pre-match preparations et al. are quintessential to paint the perfect picture on the pitch, but Klopp has managed to bring out the raw emotions at Liverpool, and perhaps in European football like no other manager.
All Blacks captain Kieran Read once famously said,” I prefer a leadership style of working one-on-one and having many conversations with the guys, and finding a way of connecting with every person in the team.
“That’s how I like to work.”
Being skipper of the New Zealand Rugby team comes with humongous pressure. Like Read, Klopp has perfected the art of not just bringing the best out of his players, but connecting with them to such echelons, that it’s almost impossible to think the players will not run through a brick wall for the man.
And the famous Anfield support has played its role. Who is responsible? Again, go back to the West Brom game.
Watching the Liverpool side overturn a 3-1 deficit against Borussia Dortmund (in the Europa League), and a 3-0 result against Barcelona brought tears to the eyes of several fans at Anfield and all over the world simply because football at Anfield is never just a game anymore these days.
When ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ echoes around the stadium before every game, the ground almost becomes a social sharing of emotions between a tight-knit community of match goers.
Klopp has managed to imbibe the raw emotions from the fans into the players, and that has resulted in something so beautiful, that even the absence of a trophy doesn’t seem to affect anyone.
I’ve always thought derby clashes are intriguing. You don’t get games where players relate to the fans more than the feisty local fixtures. The feeling of “We can’t lose to them, imagine what it’ll be like walking on the streets” somehow speeds up the sprints, results in stronger tackles, and the player altercations tend to be more charged.
Watching Liverpool on European nights is like watching your local team on derby day. Everything just has a higher intensity to it, and Barcelona felt it like no other team in the semi-finals of the competition’s history.
No amount of technical brilliance from Gerard Pique, Sergio Busquets, and Ivan Rakitic saved the team from the Liverpool press. Even Lionel Messi, who is arguably the best player of the current generation, failed to have a substantial impact on the game.
Liverpool were just quicker, more alert, and ruthless compared to the La Liga champions who for the second season in a row were at the wrong end of a Remontada.
For Liverpool, regardless of what happens in the final against an equally charged side in Tottenham Hotspur, this season will be remembered as one where they didn’t need a trophy to celebrate everything the team has achieved.
Image courtesy: Mirror