Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp needs to find a cure for collywobbles fast, says Alan Smith

Title pressure? Liverpool looked nervous in the 1-1 draw with Leicester last week
AFP/Getty Images
Alan Smith4 February 2019

Encouragingly for Liverpool, they have knocked four goals past West Ham in each of their last four games. But under the circumstances, I’m not sure that dominant record counts for much on Monday.

This is another high-pressure game for the would-be champions now that the gap at the top of the table is down to two points following Manchester City’s easy 3-1 victory over Arsenal at the Etihad on Sunday.

If Liverpool are going to win their first title in 29 years, they’ve got to cope with this kind of situation when the world is watching to see how they fare.

Jurgen Klopp will certainly be hoping his team play with more freedom and flair than they did in their previous game when they drew 1-1 with Leicester City. The Reds looked tight and tense in that game at Anfield, a pale imitation of the side that normally performs with an easy going swagger.

It looked like the pressure was getting to them — not a great sign with 14 games left of the season. I mean, those kind of collywobbles don’t usually appear until Easter when the finishing line is actually in sight. To be tightening up now, if that was the case, doesn’t bode well for the proper run in.

Mind you, the Liverpool lads for this one will be pleased to get away from Anfield, where increasing levels of expectation and excitement can easily suffocate. Rather than gee you up, the home crowd’s fervour can prove too much if the opposition decide to be annoyingly stubborn. I’ve been there with Arsenal. You start trying too hard and forget to relax. What came naturally before suddenly proves elusive.

At the London Stadium, however, the visitors will just have a pocket of travelling fans in the corner in an atmosphere dominated by West Ham supporters demanding much more than the sorry display against Wolves last Tuesday.

That performance at Molineux at really was awful, the way the side crumbled, failing to register one single shot on target in the 3-0 defeat.

In Pictures | Liverpool vs Leicester | 30/01/19

1/24

Almost lost for words afterwards, Manuel Pellegrini will hope his players can raise their game on Monday like they did for the visits of Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal. In that last fixture, they played superbly well, backing each other up like a proper unit.

Against the Gunners, Marko Arnautovic waved farewell to the crowd in the firm belief he was off to China. The fact he has stayed must be deemed as good news, even though his egotistical streak sometimes creates a rift with team-mates. That said, this is his kind of game. Is it Liverpool’s?

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT