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We have waited a short life to see what Liverpool would be like as Premier League champions. On Sunday against Chelsea, we got a glimpse of him in the best possible light: confident, confident, bordering on arrogance, the good kind of arrogance; won arrogance.
These are the champions and that it was the performance of a champion. Jurgen Klopp’s team beat Chelsea with the skill and will that defined their winning season. Crispy with the ball, relentless without it.
There was no truce. In possession, it was the same as always, the same as always. The rhythm of the ball, the tenacity, the invention, the moves, the tricks, the two, the triangles, the switches, all the carefully constructed game patterns were in full effect and at the peak of efficiency. Crack. Crack. Crack. The ball bubbled at a rate that has been lacking for six months.
But that’s the easy part. It is comfortable to play with the ball, especially when you know how good you are. The key was when Chelsea took possession, and in that, we saw a return to the Liverpool of yesteryear: Predatory instincts; herd hunting; a feeling that they should have more men on the field, even before Frank Lampard’s side was reduced to ten men.
The flow of the game told us everything. When Liverpool had the ball, it moved clearly and safely. By contrast, Chelsea was choppy, looking like a group of disparate parts rather than a team. The ball was sliced and chopped and bounced in the air. They were screaming for someone, Jorginho, Mount, Havertz, anyone, to put their foot on the ball and control the flow of the game. on the floor. But they were never allowed to adjust to their natural game.
It was the performance of a champion on Klopp’s side. A dominant performance. There was, in many ways, a mid-Fergie-United feel to the whole thing. The ego. Disdain. All the pre-game talk about new Chelsea signings and a possible title challenge. No. This is ours. This is our moment. Sit down and wait your turn.
A “championship performance” is often described as those early Fergie-United years: the title-winning team plays at a frantic or laborious pace. Something feels wrong. They don’t play well. But somehow, through the sheer force of championship will, they prevail, whether with a sloppy goal, a last-minute winner, or a series of timely defensive stops.
That may have been true in the late 90s and early 2000s, but as we get closer to 2020, it’s wrong. This is the era where 98 points are not good enough, with 100 points being the goal; anything else and you risk falling short. In the era of the Super Club, a champion’s performance means going off to a potential title rival and firing him with all the snobbery that an elite team would display mid-table also ran. We will not bend or adapt to you. This is our game, try to stop it.
Liverpool was in cruise control from the beginning. They played with certainty of their superiority. The red card changed things, but only a little. The side controlled the pace of the game almost indifferently: we will go through the gears and advance when we see fit. The smiling side of the murderer of Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mané was in sight: Laughing at his own brilliance; sure another chance would come.
This, of course, is the other side of the fluke that was widespread against Leeds on the first day of the season and bogged down the side after they closed the title on the back end of last season. But it’s the kind of drab greatness that turns those who once challenged and won the title into serial champions.
If Leeds represented the team that was shaking off the rust, then Chelsea represented the team getting back on track. There is no complacency. A title is not enough for a team that has reached this level. Saturday was Liverpool’s best game since Crystal Palace at home last season. It was a performance that exudes class and that the most bland of football terms “you win.”
But you could sensation that. You could see dripping through the screen. There is an ego in this team, the belief that they are above potential contenders like Chelsea. No one will cheer up more than Klopp. You can preach on how to avoid complacency, you can take steps to mitigate it, you can believe that you, your team, and your staff won’t succumb to it, but will only know it when they see it.
We have waited forever to see Liverpool perform as champion. And for the first time since the team lifted the trophy in July, they delivered.
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