‘We had to’: Klopp says Liverpool made ‘an agreement’ in early January that has led to nine-game winning run

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Jurgen Klopp says he and his Liverpool players came to an ‘agreement’ in early January that sparked a nine-game winning run. The Reds are flying.

It wasn’t too long ago that Liverpool looked out of the title race. Manchester City had built up quite the lead and didn’t look like slowing down. The Reds, on the other hand, just couldn’t get a good winning run together.

But as we head into the Premier League’s international break, it’s well and truly game on. Liverpool sit just one point behind City – and they’ve still got to play.

Wednesday night saw the team make their biggest statement yet. They travelled to Arsenal – a team who had won five on the bounce – and won pretty comfortably. Liverpool ran out 2-0 winners and you’ve got to say, the Gunners didn’t have many chances.

In fact, their biggest chances came from Thiago’s misplaced pass. Other than that, Liverpool were comfortable and Jurgen Klopp says that’s no accident.

“That’s a clear agreement with us [to focus on defending],” he told a press conference. “A clear agreement. We had to readjust it, to be honest, in early January.

“We have to agree on defence first because otherwise, you are a sub-team. You win or you lose or you win or you lose. Today we won 2-0 but there are games we’ve won 1-0. We wouldn’t have won these games if we are not defensively spot on.

“Last line today [vs Arsenal] was incredible. Ali saved us again but what the two fullbacks did was absolutely insane.”

Jurgen Klopp praises Liverpool defending

The ‘agreement’ shows. Liverpool conceded twice against Chelsea on January 2nd and we can only assume that the Klopp talked to his players in light of that.

Because the run of form since has been extraordinary, with Liverpool winning every game. They’ve kept clean sheets against Brentford, Leicester, Burnley, Leeds United, West Ham United, Brighton and now Arsenal. Norwich City and Crystal Palace got one each but both lost 3-1.

So that’s seven clean sheets in their last nine games after 10 in their first 20 to start the season. That’s a fantastic turnaround and explains why Liverpool closed the gap on City.

It’s more reminiscent of the team that pushed City so close in 2019 and lifted the trophy in 2020. If this keeps up, we’re backing Liverpool to regain the title this season.