Jurgen Klopp has instilled a mental strength within his Liverpool players that was lacking during Brendan Rodgers' time in charge.
That's according to former Liverpool midfielder Paul Ince, who has praised the way Klopp has assembled a powerful unit at Anfield.
Rodgers came close to winning a first Premier League title with the Reds in 2014, only to be pipped to the post by Manchester City. Liverpool fell away in the next season, and Rodgers was ultimately sacked.
Klopp, too, came very close to winning the title last season only to again be beaten by Manchester City.
But the German's Liverpool team put their disappointment to one side and went on to win the Champions League, before taking the Premier League by storm this campaign.
Ince has praised Klopp for changing the mentality at Liverpool, hailing the way in which his Reds can bounce back after taking "punches to the stomach".
Ince told Planet Football: "They won the Champions League in June and have kicked on from there. They are hungry, they are ready for it and Manchester City have not been up to the task of sticking with them this time.
"I give all the credit in the world to Klopp and his players. They had a massive high winning the Champions League and that came on the back of the massive low of losing out in the title race after getting 97 points and losing just one game all season.
"You look back to 2014 and the last time Liverpool nearly won the league, they fell apart the next season and Brendan Rodgers ended up getting sacked because they took one too many punches in the stomach, but this Liverpool team are made of stronger stuff.
"Klopp has built them superbly, piece by piece. He has bought a spine in Alisson, Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah, with players like Jordan Henderson and Sadio Mane improving so much since he arrived at the club."
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