OK, so the collapse is complete. Not to rub salt into the wounds, but you have to say - if football gods were hell-bent on designing the most painful possible way to end Klopp’s tenure, they couldnt have come up with anything a more exquisite torture for the fans - raise expectations, write three quarters of a great story that gave every hint of a triumphant ending… then cue the sudden inexplicable collapse. Our best players all turned into donkeys, all at once. Klopp’s decision-making over rotation and squad selection turned to shit. And our bitterest rivals gleefully delivered the killer blows, first United, then Everton with the kill shot. We were the envy of the league for most of the season, but suddenly we’re so poor and hapless that some rivals maybe even feel slightly sorry for us.
By the end it feels like almost all Klopp has built over 9 years came crashing down. We’re back to being doubters. One of the first things he managed to change at LFC in his first season is to train the crowd and the players to know that as long as there were seconds on the clock, we always had a chance to get a positive result - no one dare to leave until the final whistle! Against Atalanta, Palace and Everton, every dog in the ground knew we’re not scoring no matter how much time is left, we didn’t even manage to mount any semblance of a final push, the belief completely drained from players and fans. You look at the players you think you know well, the manager you know and they still look physically the same - but they no longer behave in the way you expect, it’s like you’re caught in a bad dream and in that dream your family turned into zombies.
It’s really fucking painful to accept and still defies explanation as to how everything could have collapsed so quickly at rhe final stretch of a historically great and often heroic season. Maybe the upcoming documentary (which no one except masochists and rival fans will watch now) will shed some light on what was happening in these last few weeks, what was the exact trigger for this collapse. In the meanwhile we need to get at least one win and a draw in the last 4 games to protect our 3rd place and ensure that we can start from a clean slate in the Champions League next season. Now that there is no more any pressure, let’s try to get some positivity back.
