NFL play never ends. Before European group stages, Covid-afflicted calendars and winter World Cups, Brian Clough despaired of the endless churn and the feeling that you could never celebrate a victory because there was always another game at Liverpool. There are constantly new ideas and methods to undermine the established ones. Peter Reid once said, “Standing still is going backwards.”
Because of this, Béla Guttmann, a double European Cup winner from Hungary, said that a coach’s third year is his or her demise. Your comments lose impact as your players grow accustomed to you, and tiny irritants may escalate into huge grievances.
Other teams develop ways to counter you as they become accustomed to you. Failure is familiarity, which is stagnation. Because of this, the top managers—or at the very least, those who want to establish a dynasty—are always evolving.
This past Saturday was the seventh anniversary of Jürgen Klopp’s hiring as Liverpool’s manager. The fact that he has flourished well beyond Guttmann’s limit is a testimonial to his talents and appeal. Only Bill Shankly, Tom Watson, and Bob Paisley have overseen more Liverpool games than him, and he has been the club’s manager for the fourth-longest period of time overall in the league. He has been in charge of more Premier League games than anyone else.
Even while the idea of a seven-year itch may be alluring, there are obvious disparities between the clubs. Football has a way of rejecting simple explanations. Budget-constrained Mainz were demoted from the Bundesliga in Klopp’s sixth season, and he left after failing to guide them to promotion in the following year. Dortmund’s seventh season got off to such a bad start that they finished seventh in the Bundesliga after rising from second place at the start of the break.
This was Liverpool’s sixth unsuccessful season. The quadruple seemed probable until the final weekend of the season, making the seventh almost extraordinary. Perhaps it was inevitable that people would be upset after coming so close and only getting two domestic cups.
However, the 2020–21 campaign is what partially explains what is taking place. Liverpool’s press lost its focus and vigour back then, as it does now. Why is the question. Similar to that sixth season, this one too had a shortened close season and a condensed schedule, with games taking place nonstop from weekend to weekend to midweek. Because of how physically and mentally taxing that is, Liverpool hasn’t been able to dominate opponents like they did at their best.
