If Jurgen Klopp is looking for reasons to be positive and optimistic about the long term at Liverpool, it might be wise to view Manchester United as a perfect example, however painful it may be.
The Reds manager grew visibly bemused in his Friday press conference as the questions about United's season continued to be peppered at him by the media.
“Do you realise I don’t want to talk about them but I constantly get asked?" he said at one point, sporting a huge grin that did not hide an eagerness to return the topic of conversation back to his own team.
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Despite his reservations over the subject matter, however, it would do Klopp no real harm to take a minute or two to assess the lay of the land over at Old Trafford just now.
As two of the most historic and fierce rivals in all of football, searching for areas for improvement by assessing the state of things down the other end of the M62 is probably best done quietly, wherever your allegiances lie.
For Klopp, though, as he heads into a massive summer that will have a large say on his hopes of building another great Liverpool team, the sizable strides made by Erik ten Hag this term are proof that playing catch-up need not take years.
United's 4-0 thumping on their last visit to Anfield 11 months ago was surely the sorriest display by any Red Devils team on Merseyside, certainly in the Premier League era. It was an evening that left the legendary Paul Scholes wincing all night as he privately declared inside the press box that no United player would get near Klopp's team at the time.
"Imagine being us" a proud banner in the Kop declared pre-match that night on April 19. As for United at the time? Imagine being them. A 9-0 aggregate scoreline across the two fixtures was the biggest ever between the two clubs.
But despite the yawning chasm that existed between the two teams less than a year ago, it is Liverpool whose campaign has been more turbulent and troublesome. Ten Hag, it seems, is finally getting things right after a decade of large-scale underachievement in Manchester.
Sensible, smart and, yes, expensive recruiting last summer has enabled the Dutchman to turn United from the laughing stock of the Premier League to a club who are now having to deal with regular discussions around a potential quadruple this term - however fanciful those may be at present.
It is something Klopp himself had to deal with from the moment his team lifted the Carabao Cup last season, but one he expertly managed for three months before they were pipped to both the Premier League and the Champions League in the final week of May.
For all the angst and the frustration around a Liverpool campaign that has seen them beaten 11 times across all competitions, the resurgence of United from the desperate doldrums of last season is irrefutable proof that a strong summer of investment and a canny eye for talent can help re-establish you as a force when you are an undoubted super-power of the English game. The very same applies for league leaders Arsenal too, by the way.
It's why it should leave those who matter on the inside of the club with no excuse when the subject over the need for significant investment is broached at the AXA Training Centre. Despite the hyperbole and the knee-jerk reactions that have flown forth after every demoralising defeat for supporters, there is no need to rip up the Klopp blueprint.
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