This, then, was another dramatic weekend for Liverpool. Without an inferiority complex, with apt tactics and lurking on the counter, Wolverhampton Wanderers took on and conquered their illustrious opponents from Anfield Road in the fourth round of the FA Cup, the oldest club competition in the world. Manager Jurgenn Klopp stood alone as his team had once more been defeated. Whispers of a season unraveling grew.
Some 6,300 kilometers away, in Franceville, in the southeast of Gabon, another drama unfolded. Africa’s most expensive player Sadio Mane walked slowly towards the penalty box, placed the ball on the spot and struck it with his right foot. Young Cameroonian goalkeeper Fabrice Ondoa saved his poor penalty and, in agonising fashion, Senegal exited the African Cup of Nations. The pre-tournament favorites had fallen at the first tough hurdle.
As Hugo Broos, Cameroon’s coach, and his players sprinted in celebration and near delirium towards their new-found hero Ondoa, Mane collapsed in tears. The Liverpool striker was inconsolable. The game had been a copy of Senegal’s lost 2002 African Cup of Nations final. A baffled Aliou Cisse, Senegal’s coach, picked up his player and consoled him.
Deep-lying problems
Mane was then fast-tracked back to Merseyside, courtesy of a private jet chartered by Liverpool, for the game with league leaders Chelsea. His club have struggled in his absence. The Senegalese has been Liverpool’s leading goalscorer. He may offer short-term salvation, but Liverpool’s problems run deeper.
When Klopp arrived in the north of England, Liverpudlians were delirious, a prolonged trance of bamboozling euphoria ensued: landing Klopp had been a coup. The much-heralded German was Liverpool’s new messiah, tasked with delivering salvation for a club in decline, a club for too long indolent and inert.
Last season, Klopp led Liverpool to the Europa League final. This season, at the halfway-stage, Liverpool had amassed 44 points. That was an achievement. If last season was about cosmetic changes, this one is about fundamental restructuring. It is part of the ‘Kloppo-paradox’: his teams play feverishly, with his famed pressing, but Klopp, in spite of his charism, wit and smile, doesn’t represent an instant path to success.
Klopp needs more time
He needs time, both to reassess and adjust. At Borussia Dortmund, his heavy metal brand of football came to the fore after a few seasons of mid-table finishes and tweaking squads. Klopp is a zealot in advocating a zealous style of play – ‘Gegenpressing’, but that brittle ‘footballistic’ ecosystem requires nurturing, honing and fine-tuning over a number of seasons.
This January, Klopp has been destabilised by Mane’s venture with Senegal. From a tactical point of view his reaction has been poor: he failed to replace the striker in a meaningful way and the German also moved Adam Lallana and Robert Firmino, players who have greatly improved under his coaching, from their best positions. In short, the German’s man management has been inadequate.
In the league, Burnley, Bournemouth and Swansea all pierced the frenetic Liverpool bubble. Is Klopp one dimensional? His Chelsea counterpart is not. The irascible Italian altered his tactics midway a 3-0 drubbing at Arsenal, and ever since – it seems 237 years ago – Chelsea have steamrollered the competition and never relinquished the lead. They have an aplomb and the tag of invincibles.
Fearsome Chelsea
Upon dissection, Chelsea are an absolutely fearsome unit. Conte has built a defensive bulwark, made of multiple parapets, ramparts and revetments. David Luiz, the ‘Mineirazo’ maniac, has become the centerpiece in a three-man rearguard, shielded by the indefatigable Ngolo Kante and the ever-dependable Nemanja Matic, arguably the two best defensive midfielders in the Premier League.
In Hazard, Chelsea posses a brilliant Belgian, prone to irregularity, but when convincing often of match-deciding impact. Hazard already has nine league goals from midfield this season. His qualities and performances have a major influence on Conte’s team.
And, then, there is the ever-if-not-entirely-China-bound Diego Costa, the bull in the porcelain shop, or, in England, the maverick and self-evident antagonist, who infuriates opposing clubs and relentlessly bullies defenders all over the Premier League. Costa is Chelsea’s wrecking ball and swung from the dizzy heights of Chelsea’s ever-lengthening superiority he may well be too much to handle for Liverpool’s defence.
That defence will have to resist Chelsea and Costa if Conte and his team are to be stopped. In the weekend, the Londoners face city rivals Arsenal, the last obstacle of palpable resistance before Chelsea stroll in almost a droll fashion to an acclaimed Premier League title.
