EPL TALK: Don’t lose your heads now, Liverpool, giddy chaos won't win you the league title

DARWIN Nunez epitomises the latest incarnation of Liverpool Football Club, chasing after lost causes like a dog in search of its own tail. The striker appears to have only two settings: manic and more manic. He’s not so much the headless chicken as he is the demented farmer, brandishing a bloody carving knife and standing over the remains of a dozen headless chickens. He could win the English Premier League title. He could lose it. His enthusiasm will remain just the same.

All that’s missing from the wild Uruguayan is a post-match rant, straight down the camera and shouting, “I’d love it if Manchester United beat Arsenal at Old Trafford. Love it!”

But he’s too young to remember Kevin Keegan’s public meltdown, back in 1996, as the Newcastle United manager allegedly succumbed to Sir Alex Ferguson’s trolling and the Red Devils pipped the Magpies to the title. In truth, it’s become a bit of a myth that Keegan fell for Fergie’s mind games. He didn’t really. His players did. As Les Ferdinand pointed out on The Overlap podcast recently, Keegan knew how to win titles. His players didn’t. Newcastle blew their challenge on the pitch, not in a post-match interview.

And Nunez and company are looking a little – just a little – like the faltering Magpies in the spring of 1996. Emotion can win games, but they can also throw them away. Liverpool had 28 shots to Manchester United’s 11 at Old Trafford. The Reds produced the first 17 shots of the contest. Their dominance was total enough to make Erik ten Hag’s optimistic analysis of proceedings sound ridiculous. United should’ve been blown away.

But Liverpool’s forward line were left blowing in the wind, a concerning trend of late. Mo Salah is enduring his customary post-African Cup of Nations dip in form, which is understandable (but isn’t being replicated by Son Heung-min at Tottenham Hotspur, despite the South Korean’s Asian Cup exertions.)

Luis Diaz and Nunez combined for their usual frenetic display, but their performance was akin to Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels in Dumb and Dumber: physical, relentless and always fun to watch, but light on substance. At a time when Liverpool really needed the experienced, studied concentration of Robert de Niro and Al Pacino sitting at a diner in Heat, they effectively had Carrey and Daniels squirting ketchup and mustard at each other.

The Reds are giddy chaos.

Nunez, in particular, is once again veering towards caricature. He makes a mess up front. He gets stuck in. He invigorates the crowd. He does all the old-school things expected of a No.9, the definitive people pleaser. But how often did he look like scoring against United? Data geeks love expected goals – a dubious stat at the best of times – but Liverpool do have the best xG in the English Premier League and still didn’t beat United. They create plenty. They miss plenty. It doesn’t feel sustainable.

Klopp exit a colossal burden to shoulder

That old chestnut about missing chances being better than not creating chances only holds up if the occasional one is put away. Two goals from 28 shots are not reassuring odds. Jurgen Klopp later suggested that his players were “rushing things”, which certainly explained Jarell Quansah’s shocking pass to Bruno Fernandes, but the Liverpool manager was arguably addressing something deeper. Quansah’s error shouldn’t have mattered. The Reds had to be out of sight by then. But they were all “rushing things” as cool heads appeared to leave the building. Even Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister’s distribution was strangely erratic. Adrenaline can fuel a campaign, but it can’t control it.

Klopp’s exit announcement initially galvanised the squad, particularly the academy graduates who revere their departing leader and were eager to please. They had nothing to lose. The seasoned pros do. They are being expected to lead Klopp to his Kop destiny, a final title for an icon, a fitting send-off, but it’s a colossal burden to shoulder. And it’s getting closer. Just seven games left. And those Newcastle-esque moments are popping up in the wrong places. Passes are misplaced. Shots are snatched. The Reds are spinning around like a misaligned kaleidoscope. The patterns are not quite matching.

So if Liverpool are starting to look like Newcastle in 1996, then it’s only appropriate that Klopp begins to sound like Keegan. He’s taking a stab at the mind games, trying to get into the heads of rivals and playing the "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" card. He’s goading United, reminding them not to take it easy against Arsenal.

“Arsenal are a good football team,” he said. “If (United) play like today, Arsenal will win the game, I am 100 per cent sure. I am sorry to say that.”

Are you listening, United? Are you going to take that, United? Do you even care, United? Who knows? The influence of mind games has long been disputed, a titillating tabloid distraction to indulge those who believe in Jedi mind tricks. Ferdinand is adamant that Newcastle blew their campaign on the pitch in 1996 and insisted that Keegan’s psychological tussles with Ferguson had little impact. Maybe that’s the point. Maybe Klopp isn’t talking to Manchester United or Arsenal. He’s talking to his own players.

He’s sorry to say that about United because Liverpool couldn’t win. The inference is clear. When United play that poorly, title-challenging opponents defeat them. But the Reds couldn’t. They dropped two points. It happens. But it can’t happen again, not in those circumstances. Much has been made of the terrific comebacks this season and rightly so – Klopp’s battlers have collected 27 points from losing positions – but there’s been less emphasis on why the comebacks were required. The scattershot approach in attack was jarring against United.

The difference between a restless forward line and a reckless forward line may well be the three extra goals scored that currently separate Arsenal and Liverpool.

It’s a wafer-thin margin, perhaps even an unfair one, considering the Reds’ extraordinary progress in a transitional campaign that has often relied on new recruits and academy kids to get by. But muscles and nerves are clearly being shredded. A little calm would be handy in the remaining games.

Whatever happens, there’ll be no shame in finishing second. But it’ll be disappointing if Liverpool lose out only because they lost their heads.

Neil Humphreys is an award-winning football writer and a best-selling author, who has covered the English Premier League since 2000 and has written 28 books.

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