Everyone connected with Liverpool has waited 30 years for the club to be crowned champion of England for the nineteenth time.
The celebrations that are currently underway have taken a long, long time.
And while no one will want to interrupt the party, the club will soon have to focus on retaining its Premier League title in 2020/21.
Gone are the days when Ronnie Moran put the medals in a box and told players to take one if they thought they had earned it.
The legendary Reds coach would also remind them that the previous season doesn’t count for anything once the next season begins.
However, those were the days when Liverpool was used to winning the title year after year.
There is very little of that experience on the current team. James Miner could have won the Premier League twice with Manchester City, but not in consecutive seasons.
Fortunately for Liverpool, there is one man at the club who has retained a league title: Jurgen Klopp.
The German coach led Borussia Dortmund to the title in 2010/11, then led them to a league and double the cup the following year.
So if someone in Anfield knows what is in store and the best way to negotiate it, he had better be the only man who ultimately directs what goes on in the field.
Not that the challenges are identical next season as they were in Germany nine years ago, of course.
As unlikely as it sounds now, Dortmund’s main rivals when Klopp won his first title were Bayer Leverkusen instead of Bayern Munich.
Jupp Heynckes replaced Louis van Gaal in the summer of 2011 and Bayern improved the following year, but was unable to close the gap with Dortmund entirely.
While management changes are unlikely at Manchester City, as things stand, the deposed champions will not be playing European football next season.
They will be desperate to regain the league title and may have fewer distractions than normal.
Klopp has generally handled his resources incredibly well between national and European affairs, but he may have to do even more skillfully in 2020/21 to keep City at bay.
Dortmund exited the 2011/12 Champions League in the group stage, which, while disappointing at the time, would have helped their title challenge.
Liverpool will probably have to balance the demands of the two main competitions for much of next season.
In preparing to defend his Bundesliga crown, Dortmund did not do much transfer business. Key man, and future Red, Nuri Sahin went to Real Madrid, while the low-cost incoming men were Ilkay Gundogan and Ivan Perisic.
It seems that Klopp was interested in not interrupting a successful team too much. He did the same last summer, and Liverpool have certainly reaped the rewards.
However, two of the key players in Dortmund’s title defense had signed shortly before the first season of the title.
Robert Lewandowski had scored a modest eight league goals in 2010/11, making 18 of his 33 appearances off the bench.
All of that changed the following season when he played the second highest number of minutes of any of the Klopp players, and scored 22 league goals.
Shinji Kagawa was also a bigger part of the title defense as he suffered a metatarsal injury during his first season at the club.
Is it impossible to think that Takumi Minamino could emulate his compatriot and become more important during his second season in Liverpool?
Since the club is unlikely to spend large sums on the transfer market this summer, it would certainly help if it could.
While they look somewhat similar, the challenges of defending the title in Dortmund and Liverpool will be different for Klopp.
Their German champions won their first title despite losing points in 11 of their 34 games, and had to improve to contain a rejuvenated Bayern Munich.
By contrast, the Reds couldn’t have won many more games even if they wanted to in 2019/20, and simply staying close to the same level next season will be difficult to accomplish.
But from what you learned in Dortmund, don’t bet on Klopp handling it.
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