[ad_pod ]
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp hinted in his pre-Arsenal press conference that his side now have a winning mentality that could mean they are ready to challenge for the league title.
What did he say?
“Playing for a massive club like Liverpool means that you go into pretty much each game with a big chance and for sure with a big wish to win it. That doesn’t always make life easy but we have learned to deal with that again after maybe a few years where it was not that obvious that the players can cope with that situation.
“We (the team) have grown together, we still like working together and we want to go for it together. For whatever, we don’t know.”
What did he really mean?
Last season, Klopp’s side were well known for their blistering starts to matches and free-scoring approach. However, the defensive errors and lapses in concentration meant that the Reds finished fourth, 25 points behind champions Manchester City.
This season though, Liverpool are still unbeaten in the Premier League and they have shown far more resilience to grind out results when they aren’t playing well, the 1-1 draw away at Chelsea being a prime example.
Liverpool have scored seven less goals than City in their first ten games this year but crucially they are level on points, and by saying “we want to go for it” Klopp may have let slip for the first time that his side have eyes on a title challenge.
Change in focus
There has certainly been a change of focus at the Anfield club this season, the pressing game is still there but it is not quite as frantic, and Klopp has clearly worked hard on his back four.
Big-money signing Alisson has also made a huge difference, and has conceded just four league goals so far. This focus on the defence does perhaps make the football less attractive at times, but it was necessary in order to instil that winning mentality that Klopp feels his side have lacked for the previous few seasons.
[brid autoplay=”true” video=”326185″ player=”12034″ title=”Watch Fixture in Focus Arsenal vs Liverpool”]