Jurgen Klopp against historical comparisons with Liverpools of the past, but what is the state of play at Anfield?

Are the Reds now going backwards under Klopp or is he still on track?

Klopp has a contract with Liverpool until 2022 (Getty)

Jürgen Klopp’s endearing capacity for limitless exaggeration meant it was difficult to tell whether he was joking again or whether he was offering an insight into the deepest anxieties of Anfield when he answered a question about Mohamed Salah: would he continue as the team’s penalty taker having missed Liverpool’s third in succession at home, this time against Huddersfield Town?

Klopp had thought it made sense to give Salah the responsibility after he scored from the spot in the 95th minute earlier this month against Congo to secure his country’s passage to their first World Cup in 28 years. “The pressure is bigger in Liverpool than in Egypt!” Klopp suggested, releasing an enormous laugh.

That World Cup, of course, was in 1990 – which also happens to be the year Liverpool supporters reel back towards, especially when they analyse the very source of their frustrations, which contributes greatly towards the entire mood of a club; a club that has not been English champions, indeed, since the month before Egypt last performed on a global stage.

There might be a wider perception that the Liverpool manager’s job, because of the long wait for glory, makes it less relevant in European football than it has ever been. Yet it is fair to propose that the reality is the opposite: no club is captivated by its history as much as Liverpool and equally no club in the country gets as carried away by the joy of victory or as sunken in the despair of defeat. We have now reached the situation where if a manager makes progression one season and does not start the next as promisingly, Liverpool are again reeling backwards, as thoughts meander to 1990, and suddenly he is not the messiah everybody but himself claimed him as at the point of his arrival.

It is an appropriate week to analyse Liverpool’s current state because a year ago next weekend, they reached the summit of the Premier League, an achievement that is relative and as Klopp warned at the time, was not anticipated by him. Set that against the mood versus Huddersfield at half time: when it was 0-0, the players were booed off, and Liverpool were set to remain in mid-table; all of this six days after a 4-1 battering at Tottenham.

Klopp sees it as part of his job to bring balance to the discussion. Just as Liverpool being top at the start of November didn’t mean Liverpool would be champions again last season doesn’t mean that because they are currently sixth this time around, Klopp will follow the route of his predecessors and cave in. He is trying to remind that football does not always follow a linear path: that also, just because Liverpool did not win the league last season does not mean they were destined not to in the first place.

“Yes, we were ahead of schedule – that is clear,” he reflected. “But everything could have happened from this point: no injuries…

“We are able to perform on the highest level,” he continued. “But now we have to find consistency. The problem is here. The moment things don’t work out, we get compared with the past. Immediately, what you said before the season is immediately the truth: we need to fix the defence, etcetera. Yeah, but it’s the middle of the season! We can only fix it on the training pitch. How could I talk about it? The only thing the people around do it weaken the players by saying, ‘You are not good enough.’ It’s a little bit of a problem.

“Tottenham, I’m not sure if [Mauricio] Pochettino has spoken about similar things. But Harry Kane not involved, losing two in a row: things like this, that’s how it happens. Two weeks ago, it wasn’t a Harry Kane team and now it is a Harry Kane team. We all have problems. That’s how it is – apart from City obviously at the moment. At the moment, they are the best team in the league.

“Do I still think it’s possible (to be top)? Yes, 100 per cent. But I know too it takes time. That’s it.”

Naby Keita will arrive a year after Liverpool wanted him (Getty)

Klopp will get time from Liverpool’s owners, Fenway Sports Group. He is under contract until 2022 and he receives their total support. That relates to the prickly topic of transfers and funding too. It is appropriate to mention the issue on this week of anniversaries because Michael Edwards, the sporting director, is approaching a year in the job. Any discussion about injuries relates to transfers and the deals Liverpool have not done because Klopp has been five players down for most of the current campaign and more efficient recruitment in the summer would surely have alleviated this problem.

Through injury, Adam Lallana has not played a game and has been missed terribly. Sadio Mané missed three games through a controversial suspension and then got injured while on international duty. Philippe Coutinho was absent for weeks while Barcelona chased his signature and now he is injured too. Klopp has also been without Virgil van Dijk and Naby Keïta, two players earmarked as priority signings. While the pursuit of van Dijk ended in embarrassment, increasing volume of the debate about the fragility of Liverpool’s defence, Keita – whose presence would surely have directly negated the loss of Lallana – would eventually sign, but ultimately not arrive 2018. Though the deal was advertised and in many cases received as a coup, in recruiting the Guinean midfielder, Liverpool must be one of the first clubs to sign a player for a premium but only get him after they really want.

There was a sense a year ago that Edwards’ appointment was a strategic announcement. He had essentially been filling the role without having a title for the previous 18 months. Because Liverpool were doing so well, they could push forward on all fronts from a position of strength. There is a difference, though between the art of negotiation and the interpretation of statistics in relation to scouting, where Edwards’s background is - especially when everyone suddenly now knows what you are up to.

Klopp certainly has questions to answer over results, team selections, tactics and substitutions but where is Edwards? He does not have a profile on the club’s website, a platform where his words have not appeared since 4 November 2016, and he seems to be able to go about his work, which is crucial to Klopp’s future, without any of the recriminations when it goes wrong.

For Bob Paisley – Liverpool’s most successful manager – the trophies went to the football clubs that simply “bought and sold the best,” but this might be another reminder that no club is imprisoned by its past like Liverpool.