20 Nov 2017 12:40:52
Four wins on the trot really changes the atmosphere doesn’t it? Bearing in my mind how negative everyone was a month ago (me included) it’s actually reflects brilliantly on Klopp that we find ourselves right in the chasing pack behind the breakaway Man City. I’m not going to talk about the game because I only saw the highlights but there’s a number of general points worth discussing.

Klopp – A month ago the manager was under pressure, a run of one win in 8 games was not good enough and there was a genuine danger of our ambitions being sunk just three months into the season. Luckily we hung onto the coattails of our rivals over the period and now that our forms improved we’re right back in it, Klopp gets huge credit for recovering the situation. That doesn’t mean those questioning Klopp were wrong, he has targets that he has been hired to meet and if we end the season missing those targets his position will be under threat but as of today he’s sitting pretty.

Salah – I had a debate the other week with Ed1 about whether Salah was our best player, the bone of contention was whether Salah’s form had been maintained long enough to take that accolade. I’m still not convinced of the answer but it’s all a bit irrelevant, the fact is that he has been sensational this season. There are very few strikers who wouldn’t be jealous of his strike rate and his work rate and movement are phenomenal, to be playing so well so quickly is astonishing. I thought Mane had had a brilliant debut season last year but Salah is blowing him out of the water, long may his form continue.

Coutinho – There is something deeply unpleasant about how quickly fans have turned on Coutinho and the talk before the Southampton game was absurd. I’d prefer him to want to be a Liverpool player but I completely understand why he wants to play for Barcelona and I won’t blame him for having personal interests that clash with his employer’s. I don’t know what’s happened behind closed doors, I only know what he’s doing on the pitch and on the pitch he is working for the benefit of the team which is all we should ask of him, as long as Klopp is happy to select him I’m happy to see him in a Liverpool shirt. For the record I’m also confident that Coutinho will be a Liverpool player in February.

Our rivals – Football fans have a strange tendency to undermine the qualities of their rivals. Guardiola is just a check book manager, Mourinho just parks the bus and Wenger is passed it. Right now Guardiola is creating something brilliant at City, yes he’s spent money but football management is a lot more complicated than just putting 11 good players on the pitch, as far as I’m concerned Guardiola is currently demonstrating why he’s the highest profile manager in the world. Mourinho gets an incredible amount of stick but his team have scored more goals than us and conceded a lot less, now that Pogba’s back they’re only going to get better. As for Wenger his team dominated a Spurs side who humiliated us, he has trouble with consistency but his team are sensational on their day. My point is that there are a number of posters who seem to think that we’re now the best team in the country because of our recent form, that’s hugely arrogant. We’re still going to have work exceptionally hard to get top four this season and a bad result against Chelsea on Saturday (who themselves are in great form after their own wobbles) will take us back to square one. We know how quickly things can change in football, we mustn’t get complacent.

Our ceiling – Having said all that we have every reason to be optimistic, we played our four star attackers together for only the second time this season, Lallana is almost back, AOC and Studge are showing form off the bench, Henderson’s getting back to his best and there’s green shoots of recovery in our defence. At the start of the season I thought we were good enough to challenge for the title, that ship has sailed but we can still have an excellent season, I want us to focus on the FA Cup but no one will want to play us in the CL and we can still have our best premier league season since 13/ 14.

1.) 20 Nov 2017
20 Nov 2017 13:00:01
Putney - I think you raise an excellent point about Klopp. Someone's ability to answer questions being asked do not make the questioner wrong. Klopp was gathering doubters because he was not taking control of an escalating situation. He then provided a satisfactory response to most of those doubters. Valid questions can have positive responses and that is a good thing.

2.) 20 Nov 2017
20 Nov 2017 13:06:16
You are without a doubt one of the best poster on the site and I loved reading this one. I completely agree with you on Coutinho. There is no way I believe we will offload him in January!

3.) 20 Nov 2017
20 Nov 2017 13:31:44
Klopp has done well to change it around and players coming back from injury has helped this, but I am still unsure of his capability to bring us to the next level. We will do very well to get top four this year when we have to compete with Chelsea and Arsenal for 4th with the rest picking themselves so far and without the well needed defensive signings in the summer transfer window we are looking like the underdogs.

As for Salah I was very excited when we turned our attentions to him after missing out on Brandt in the summer. He has everything it takes to be a world class player for us. Again It is important we evolve as a team and begin to start challenging properly to make sure he does not want to leave for anywhere else.

Coutinho I disagree with you on. We need players that are 100 percent concentrated on playing for us. Yes he has moments of magic but sometimes I think he holds the rest of our talented players back by shooting whenever he gets within 35 yards of goal or looking for the ball all the time instead of letting the other players express themselves as well. Sooner he is gone the better, I think we will be much more better of with Keita instead of him when he arrives.

4.) 20 Nov 2017
20 Nov 2017 13:33:18
Awww, thanks Harry, love you too bud.

5.) 20 Nov 2017
20 Nov 2017 13:45:14
one of the best read on the site for a while. i could not have said it better and you showed a touch of class by maintaining your humility and not getting carried away by the 4 conscutive wins we have.

6.) 20 Nov 2017
20 Nov 2017 13:52:50
Really well constructed post. Disagree on some points, but also you make some great points. We'll done Putney. Enjoyed reading that one.

7.) 20 Nov 2017
20 Nov 2017 14:56:05
good read putney but the coutinho thing is really easy to explain in my opinion, its not like it was years ago where you heard basically nothing of what happens behind closed doors (and im not having a dog at the eds or macca) but in todays world fans just know too much details of what is happening behind closed doors for better or for worse, some are like me and when a player don't want to play for your club he should be moved on getting the best deal for your club. a lot of fans hear about the sulking etc and see the guy is sick but plays for brazil and it don't matter what he does they can't see past it just my opinion butt as i said good comprehensive read.