Jamie Carragher expects Liverpool to wrap up the title quite quickly once Premier League football resumes, though he believes his former club might have had to wait even longer than 30 years but for Sir Alex Ferguson stepping down at Manchester United in 2013.
“Sir Alex was a genius,” the Sky commentator says of the manager who did more than anyone else to ensure that he and Steven Gerrard completed successful careers without winning the league. “Liverpool finally look like they are back on their perch now but it is only since Ferguson has gone that clubs other than United have been given an opportunity.”
Carragher began his first-team career in the mid-90s but he was on the club’s books when Liverpool won their last title in 1990. “It was no big deal to be honest,” he says, “because it happened all the time.
“Ferguson found it difficult at United at first because Liverpool success seemed to be set in stone. It was self-perpetuating. Ferguson wanted to buy Peter Beardsley and John Barnes but they ended up at Liverpool. These things make a huge difference and it is well-documented that Ferguson found it tough at United at first, but you only have to look at what he achieved with Aberdeen to know he is a quality manager.
“When Liverpool began to show a few signs of weakness – Kenny Dalglish going, losing the title to Arsenal in 1991 – he scented blood, took the opportunity and never gave Liverpool the chance to get back. Liverpool didn’t give him a chance when he arrived in 1986, not even a little sniff of the title, but once United started winning they had a manager who knew how to keep it going.”
Liverpool were on course to break all Premier League records before their unexpected defeat at Watford at the end of February. Few imagine they will be quite so unstoppable once the season resumes behind closed doors, but Carragher, for one, is unconcerned.
“The title is a formality,” the Sky commentator and former Liverpool defender says. “I don’t think there will be too much disappointment about the stadiums being empty, Liverpool fans just want to see the title won in the right way. No one wanted to be given it, as has happened in other leagues, and I don’t think many people are too bothered about breaking any records, either. Even before the Watford game, before the lockdown, I didn’t have the feeling that everyone was talking about becoming invincible, this season has been all about ending that 30-year wait.
“Maybe if we had won two or three titles in recent seasons there would have been more focus on going unbeaten, but records are a secondary consideration now. If I were in Jürgen Klopp’s position I would start thinking about next season as soon as the title is clinched.
“There will be a quick turnaround and it would make sense to use the remaining games to prepare for the next campaign. I’m not talking about him playing his Carabao Cup team, but he has the opportunity to give the likes of Naby Keïta, Takumi Minamino and Divock Origi more minutes. That would enable Liverpool to have their best 15 players in peak condition for next season, so they can start really quickly, which might be an advantage if Manchester City find themselves playing Champions League games in August.”
Carragher believes coronavirus has prompted a strategic rethink at Anfield and may explain why Liverpool dropped out of the race to sign Timo Werner, despite Klopp’s evident admiration for his German compatriot. “If the pandemic hadn’t happened Werner would have been a Liverpool player,” he says. “He might not have gone straight into the team, but with the Olympics and the African Cup of Nations there would have been plenty of chances to fill in for Mo Salah and Sadio Mané.
“Now those events are not happening it becomes more difficult to justify spending £50m on someone who wouldn’t be a first choice, especially when Liverpool have a front three that are quite robust. They don’t miss many games, and they have just had a long rest, probably the longest they’ve had.
“I expect them to be really firing next season and maybe something like that was in Klopp’s mind, as well as the financial consideration, because everyone is going to take a hit. It’s all right for Chelsea, because they still have the Eden Hazard money to spend, money they didn’t spend last time because of the embargo.
“Frank Lampard’s not daft, he knows he’s not going to be the Chelsea manager for the next 10 years. He wanted reinforcements and it’s a great coup to get Werner and Hakim Ziyech because those players could have gone anywhere in the world.”
Liverpool built up a 25-point lead over Manchester City before the season was suspended, a cushion Carragher is glad of now games are going to be played behind closed doors. “The Anfield crowd creates a huge impact and Klopp’s football feeds off the energy, whereas Pep Guardiola’s style is a bit more technical,” he says.
“If it was neck and neck with nine games to go I’d probably fancy City to cope better in empty stadiums, but Liverpool will still get a lot of good results because they are one of the best teams. Liverpool might miss their home support more than most but at least they will still have one big fan on the touchline. I imagine Klopp will be even more energetic when he’s trying to make up for the absence of 45,000 people. Goodness knows what he’s going to be doing to try and get the response he wants.”
Klopp no longer has anything to prove. Not to Carragher, not to his players and certainly not to the fans. “They adore him,” Carragher says. “Everybody does. Towards the end of my career, when we weren’t even getting in the top four, I’ll admit I was starting to lose belief that Liverpool could ever win the league again. We were falling further away, becoming a Europa League team.
“We always seemed to be a bit short, financially, in terms of what United or Chelsea could do, and then City came along. We ran United really close in 2009 and everyone thought we had a great chance the following year, but we ended up having a really poor season in 2009-10. When we did have a good season we never seemed to capitalise over the summer in terms of buying players or taking the next step to really go for it.
“ I don’t think we could have done any more than we did in 2009, we just couldn’t quite match rivals who had more money and were more attractive to top foreign players. It seemed Liverpool would never get back on top unless a Sheikh Mansour or a Roman Abramovich turned up at Anfield.
“For Jürgen Klopp to achieve the turnaround he has without that sort of backing is just staggering. I mean look at the managers he’s been up against. He hasn’t just come in and done well in a Mickey Mouse league, he’s had to compete with Guardiola, José Mourinho, Mauricio Pochettino and Arsène Wenger. There are some legendary managers in the Premier League. Considering where Liverpool were and the squad he inherited the job Klopp has done is nothing short of phenomenal. I take my hat off to him.”
The Guardian Sport
