After the double Red Cross, it was the Merseyside derby, and this scene, for the Red Army, was familiar and even unforgettable.
In the 2018/19 season, Manchester City and Liverpool fought fiercely for the Premier League title, and finally Manchester City won the championship with an unprecedented 14 consecutive wins in the closing stage, and defeated Liverpool with a one-point advantage to defend the title, delaying Liverpool's first Premier League title by one year.
If you want to look at the reasons for Liverpool's loss of the first title that season, although the loss in direct dialogue with Manchester City is a turning point in the fortunes of the two sides, the two consecutive draws can be described as the culprit - in the 27th round, Liverpool visited Old Trafford 0-0, and the lead was reduced to 1 point; in the 29th round, Liverpool visited Goodison Park and played 0-0 with Everton, which was overtaken by Manchester City.
It can be seen that the difficulty of finding a victory and losing 4 points in the contest with the two mortal enemies is the fundamental reason for Liverpool's loss of the championship, and the 2 points lost after being forced to draw with the same city rival Everton are the last straw that crushed Liverpool.
Both Liverpool and Everton see each other as the number one enemy, and every season the Merseyside derby is fiery and conflicting. Last season, the reason why liverpool, the defending champion, collapsed in the middle of the season and finally fell into the situation of desperately fighting for four, and the culprit was Everton.
The Merseyside derby became the premier league era, and both sides were determined to win, and the pair fought a vicious 90-minute battle at Goodison Park to finally play 2-2 and score one point each.
But if Klopp had known in advance what the price would be paid for that 1 point, he would have preferred not to! During the match, Pickford faced a van Dijk flying shovel inserted in front of him, resulting in a knee injury to the Dutch centre-back, and the season was directly reimbursed. Van Dyke's reimbursement made Klopp's tactics lose its fulcrum, without the command and dispatch of the defensive leader, and the power of the Red Army's offensive and defensive ends was reduced by more than one notch.
Although Klopp constantly sought changes to compensate for Van Dijk's absence, the Reds eventually collapsed, suffering a six-game losing streak at Anfield. And Everton then won the First Merseyside Derby in 22 years at Anfield, all of which made Liverpool feel relieved!
Of course, since they are mortal enemies, after hating, they will be as usual. However, this season, when Liverpool's title battle with Manchester City entered a critical stage, Everton came out again.
The wrongdoer is the narrow road. Compared with 2 years ago, the background of this Merseyside derby is more complicated - Liverpool need 3 points to bite Manchester City and maintain the suspense of the title race; Everton need 3 points to open the gap with Burnley, after all, only 1 point ahead is not safe; it is a matter of title competition and relegation, even if the game is at Anfield, how dare Liverpool be careless?
In addition, the champions league semi-final and Villarreal's first leg of the match is just around the corner, although the industry is unanimously optimistic that Liverpool will easily reach the final, but Villarreal is after all a series of defeats of Juve and Bayern rivals, how dare to take the enemy lightly? If there is a slight miss in the first leg, the second leg is forced into a desperate situation, not to mention, it will also affect the Championship battle between the Premier League and Manchester City.
So, in this Merseyside derby, Klopp also has to think about a few questions: 1. Is the rotation? 2. Desperately? 3. Be careful? Villarreal gave up La Liga directly in this round, anyway, it is also desireless, but it is better to let go of the top stage of world football to make a happy history.
Speaking of Everton, the desire to survive under the pressure of relegation is bound to make the players more desperate, and with Everton's strength, it will not fall to relegation at all, but Everton in this state will be the most dangerous - if Liverpool pushes too tightly, according to Everton's fierce style of play, and the hatred between each other, it is not good to be on the horse, and the situation is tragic.
This will be the most variable and dangerous game on the road to Liverpool's four-time champions, and there seems to be no suspense to win, but the loss must be controlled, otherwise it may not be worth the loss.
When it was time to test Klopp's art of conducting, it was time...