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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
Sport
Matt Addison

The undervalued Jurgen Klopp trait proving clichés right as Liverpool drive to Premier League glory

Liverpool are in the running for a number of different trophies this season, and could yet end up with another three being added to the cabinet.

Having got the taste for glory with victories in the Champions League final and the FIFA Club World Cup, Jurgen Klopp's men could win the Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup this season.

"If I sit here in four years, I am pretty confident we will have one title," he said back in 2015 at his first ever Liverpool press conference. And he has already been proven right.

But now, with so much to play for, there are plenty of possible distractions that could get in the way of the team's winning streak.

Atletico Madrid, of course, put them under pressure and ended that run of victories in their clash with the Reds on Thursday night, but the second leg of the game is still to be played, and the tie could quite conceivably be turned around.

On the latest edition of the Poetry in Motion podcast, talk turned to how well focused the Reds have been this season - and how that determination to adhere to the cliché of taking one match at a time is certainly a mantra worth sticking to.

Matt Addison said: "They sort of tend to box games off and treat them as completely separate. I don't think they really get enough credit for doing that.

"They're in a Premier League title race, some of the younger players will have one eye on the FA Cup because that's their competition if you like, and then there's the Champions League to throw in as well.

"There's so many different components to think about and consider and all the team selections - Liverpool focus on each individual game as well as anybody.

Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk in action against Atletico Madrid (David S. Bustamante/Soccrates/Getty Images)

"As much as the staff and the management will look ahead for the next five or six weeks, to be able to keep the players focused on one game at a time is a really undervalued skill."

Host Neil Fitzmaurice added: "It's an amazing thing, isn't it. A lot of that is down to the players as well, and Jordan Henderson as the leader of them, to be able to just calm them down and keep them focused before every game.

"The pressure is [immense] on those players now, just because you know the opponents are going to park the bus and they all desperately want to be the first ones to stop Liverpool.

"They are under intense pressure all the time and yet they seem to be able to pull through."

That will certainly have to continue to be the case over the next few weeks at least, with the Reds set to face Chelsea in the FA Cup eight days before playing in the Champions League for their Anfield second leg against Atletico.

Around those clashes are Premier League matches against the likes of Bournemouth and Everton, two games in which the title could be mathematically confirmed depending on results between now and then.

With so many matches and so many competitions to play for, finding a way to maintain the focus and keep all eyes on the next game is a crucial skillset to have - and Klopp certainly seems to have mastered it.

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