The vacuum that had to be filled after a sea of nothing in 90 minutes on Sunday meant that the atmosphere at Anfield became a talking point after Liverpool’s dismal goalless stalemate with Manchester United.
However, the Reds’ impressive League Cup home win against West Ham United on Wednesday night in front of a lively home crowd meant that there was not a hint of debate about the atmosphere. Everything looked good again.
Well, until Jurgen Klopp faced the media shortly after the final whistle.
“I thought the boys played really outstanding in the first half, but I have to say I wasn’t too happy with the atmosphere behind me,” said the Liverpool boss. “I asked the people, what do they want? We changed a lot of things and at West Ham we dominated like crazy and missed chances. If I was in the stands, I would have been on my feet, 1000%.”
It emerged that Klopp was upset during the opening part of the match at the lack of audible support for his players’ efforts from those housed in the lower tier of the main stand, closest to the touchline, and made a visible attempt to encourage them. Not all supporters were happy with this, which could be seen as a belittling of their support.
Klopp’s appeal to the Anfield crowd to turn up the volume is, of course, nothing new, especially when it comes to such an important match as Arsenal’s away game on Saturday, which is at the top of the standings. However, his comments were a little premature and have further exacerbated a debate that was only sparked by the lack of action on the pitch on Sunday.
His criticism was in fact a bit harsh, especially considering that the vast majority of fans responded to Virgil van Dijk’s pre-match call to make noise against Kladivar. However, Klopp’s insistence that fans who are not in “the right shape” should give up their seat to someone else has angered those who regularly have to negotiate their way through the labyrinthine ticketing process.
To be fair, Klopp has enough to do without understanding the machinations of ticket allocation at Anfield. His team’s current development will be put to the ultimate test at the weekend when a win over leaders Arsenal will return Liverpool to the top before Christmas and offer further proof that it should be considered a serious title contender.
In April, Liverpool came from behind in this encounter to draw 2-2, but last season it took an exchange of words between Klopp and angry Arsenal man Mikel Arteta to bring Anfield and the home team to life as the Reds eventually triumphed 4-0.