GLEN JOHNSON: Brand Ambassador Glen Johnson plays down Liverpool’s defeat to City midweek and instead looks at the exciting prospect of Thiago potentially moving from Munich to Merseyside.
City defeat nothing to worry about for Klopp
I don’t think many saw Manchester City beating Liverpool as comfortably as they did on Thursday night and although it’s never nice to lose in that fashion, I really don’t think it’s going to have much bearing on things moving forward.
If the match was played a couple of weeks ago, there’s no way it finishes 4-0 and it’s pretty obvious plenty of the Liverpool players were still on cloud nine after winning the league last week.
You can’t ignore it totally because Liverpool were hammered, but if anything it should act as a reminder to Jurgen Klopp’s players of just how good City are.
We haven’t seen anyone do that to Liverpool in a long time, but in the context of next season and looking ahead, I don’t think the result will have much bearing on things.
Loss could be a good thing for Liverpool
Many might think City’s win will act as motivation for them ahead of next season and might well do, but I actually think it might not be a bad thing for Liverpool.
It showed they aren’t invincible and teams can cause them problems which I think will remove any inconsistency that might creep in. All they’ll need to remember in pre-season is that game and that will give them all the motivation they need.
It’s totally understandable that some of the Liverpool players weren’t on top form at the Etihad. They’ve every right to celebrate the title win and it was just unfortunate the first game after it came against City, who, as we know, can put any side in the world to the sword.
In terms of overall motivation, I don’t think Liverpool’s players will struggle for the rest of the season because at the end of the day losing matches isn’t much fun and it’s a bad habit to get into.
When we won the league at Chelsea we played Charlton in our first game after being crowned champions and we absolutely hammered them.
Of course you’re going to celebrate in the few days after and your motivation might wander slightly, but in the grand scheme of things, these are professionals who want to be winning football matches not losing them.
City defeat doesn’t change anything for Klopp
I don’t think Thursday’s loss will change anything for Klopp in terms of his transfer plans. He and the Liverpool board have shown how competent they are in the market in recent years and one loss isn’t going to make them totally change the plans they had in place.
They’ve been linked with Bayern Munich’s Thiago and of course he’d be a serious addition to that side. He’s been top-class for a number of years in both Spain and Germany and he’d be a very good signing if he did move to Anfield.
If there was one area Liverpool could perhaps strengthen it would be in midfield and Thiago is definitely the sort of player who would do that.
Hoping West Ham can kick on now
It was impressive to see another of my old clubs, West Ham, do the double over Chelsea. They are an incredibly frustrating side because they seem to turn up against the bigger sides, but are awful against the sides they should be beating.
I’m just hoping the win will act as motivation for the rest of the season because the quality of their squad is far too good to go down.
A lot of players prefer it when they are the underdog as opposed to being the favourite because there is much less pressure and if they lose people don’t get on their backs. If you’re the favourite, you’re expected to put on a show and get the result which a lot of players struggle to do.
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