KLOPP
The record books will show that Liverpool lost at home to
Wolverhampton Wanderers of the Championship in the fourth round of the FA Cup
in 2017. But those who were there will know that's not what really happened.
If reserve teams as we once knew them still existed, then
Jurgen Klopp fielded one at Anfield on Saturday. This was the team that lost to
Wolves. It was not a weakened team or an under-strength team or a team with
regulars absent.
It was a team of prospects and fringe players and the
decision to field it is the one that Klopp must accept and deal with as he
attempts to put the broken pieces of Liverpool's season back together against
Chelsea in the Premier League tomorrow night.
So we are back to an old topic, that being the way that some
managers in the top division view the FA Cup. However, Klopp's decision on
Saturday is more pertinent to the health of Liverpool than it is to a
competition that will doubtless survive without the seven-time winners between
now and this year's final in May.
We know what Klopp's logic was in choosing this team. The
meeting with Chelsea has a 'must win' feel to it and the Liverpool manager
obviously wants to throw a fully rested and restored first team at Antonio
Conte's league leaders.
However, there was a clear flaw in his approach. The team he
picked on Saturday had already shown itself to be promising and absolutely no
more this season.
A similar group of players had already struggled against Leeds
in the EFL Cup (Leeds lost, but were the better team that night), Plymouth in
the FA Cup and, of course, over two legs of an EFL Cup semi-final they lost to
Southampton more comprehensively than a 2-0 aggregate scoreline suggests.
So why would anybody expect them to do any better against
Paul Lambert's perfectly competent Wolves team on Saturday? There should have
been no surprise to see Liverpool lose. Again.
Klopp should not worry too much about accusations of abusing
the image of the FA Cup. His first responsibility is to his club. However, the
German has seriously under-estimated what an FA Cup triumph would have done for
his club and indeed his own standing at Anfield. Liverpool are a club that
needs a trophy. Any trophy.
Only once in the last 10 and a half years have Liverpool won
one. They have had some close moments such as last season's Europe League, but
they haven't won anything. For a club of their size, that must change.
Comparisons to Manchester United never go down well at the
westerly end of the East Lancs Road but this one is valid. Liverpool's great
rivals have endured some fallow years of their own since Sir Alex Ferguson
retired in 2013. Even as we stand today, a betting man would probably wager
that Liverpool will win the league before United do.
However, during this time United have won an FA Cup and are
favourites to lift the EFL Cup next month. If they do so, their return from
three-and-half difficult years will be two trophies. Not bad, considering.
It is this that sustains clubs like United and Liverpool as
they rebuild. It is this, no doubt, that persuaded Pep Guardiola to field a
Manchester City team that included players like David Silva, Raheem Sterling
and Yaya Toure in their cup game at Crystal Palace on Saturday.
So by putting his club's place in the FA Cup at risk at the
weekend, Klopp has denied his club — and indeed himself — an opportunity.
In Klopp's eyes, victory tomorrow may justify the method.
But would it? It would still leave Liverpool seven points behind Chelsea. They
would be on the outer fringes of the battle for Premier League success, but no
closer than that.
Meanwhile, they are very much out of the FA Cup.
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