Jurgen Klopp must figure out how to handle the first Liverpool defeat of the season – because it’s coming.
That’s not a slight on Liverpool at all. They’ve won every game this season, after all, and don’t really look like losing right now.
Even away at Chelsea and not looking at their best, they won 2-1 and extended their start to six straight wins. This is a team that will challenge for the title and clearly have a brilliant chance of winning it.
But they’ll almost certainly lose at some point. Arsenal’s 03/04 side remains the only one to ever go through a 3-points-for-a-win season undefeated in England and changing that is unlikely.
It’s an incredibly difficult achievement and one that requires a tremendous amount of luck. Liverpool didn’t have it when they suffered their first and only defeat of last season. Manchester City didn’t have it either when Andros Townsend’s volley flew into the net last campaign and they went down to Crystal Palace.
In all likelihood, no matter how good you are, that defeat will happen. How you handle it makes or breaks the season – and that’s what Jurgen Klopp must deal with.
The longer your winning or undefeated streak, the harder the impact of that defeat. Last season, for instance, the Reds fell off course.
They lost at City and then dropped points against Leicester City, West Ham United, Manchester United, and Everton over the next two months. All four should have been won and all four ended up costing them the title.
Liverpool got back on course and won every remaining game but the damage was done. When the same defeat inevitably comes this season, they must handle it better.
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