Jurgen Klopp has urged Liverpool not to panic even if they don’t beat Manchester City to the Premier League title, as the final two weeks of the season are not a case of “now or never”.
The Premier League title race is pushing new boundaries this season in terms of excellence and consistency as City and Liverpool battle it out, with the former’s 2-0 victory over neighbours Manchester United at Old Trafford on Wednesday night seeing them leapfrog Liverpool to go one point ahead at the top with just three games remaining.
Klopp knows that three wins from the final three games still may not be enough to end the club’s 29-year wait to be Champions again, even with a colossal 97 points.
But unlike their title challenge in 2014, when they were overtaken by City in the final three games, the German is certain it’s not the be all and end all for his exciting team.
“However we end up, it’s only the first step,” he states. “We are not the finished article. We started this year with this team and we will carry on.
“We made our own experiences in the last three-and-a-half years. We had a lot of difficult moments. But we learned a lot of things and we trained a lot together.
“The boys are at a brilliant age in their mid-20s. It’s the best age for football players. It’s cool.
“They are already at a really high level and they have a lot of space for improvement. You know what you do and you are not surprised anymore.
“If we win the league, it’s only the first step. If you don’t win the league, it’s still only the first step as we started this year.”
City’s win at Old Trafford was the 28th time the lead has changed hands this season at the top and that is expected to become 29 tomorrow night when Liverpool welcome bottom-of-the-table Huddersfield to Anfield.
Given that the Terriers have just 14 points and lost 11 out of 12 under manager Jan Siewert, most would have this down as a home banker for Liverpool to go two points clear once again.
But even with a Champions League semi-final against Barcelona on the horizon next Wednesday, Klopp refuses to countenance the idea of resting any of his star names.
“This would probably be the last game to overthink anything,” states Klopp. “The situation Huddersfield are in, things people think of this game is already enough bad preparation.
“I won’t push that wrong mindset with a strange line up. No chance.
“We have had enough time to recover from the last game and we have enough time to recover for the next game, so Barcelona has nothing to do with the game tomorrow night.”
