Is the pressure of trying to win the club’s first league title since 1990 getting to Jürgen Klopp’s team?
Steve McManaman
Liverpool 1990-99
I think it’s nonsense, I really do. If Liverpool win by five against Bournemouth you aren’t going to talk about pressure, are you? These players have played in World Cups and Champions Leagues. Mo Salah carries his country on his own shoulders. I think you’d probably find more pressure on a Scouser because of the history of the club, but the front three are from different parts of the world.
When you have a history as long and varied as Liverpool you’re going to get this. Liverpool will be scrutinised more than Tottenham. Man United will be scrutinised more than another opponent because of their marvellous history. Until Liverpool win something it will continue. Everybody knows that. The manager knows it and all the players probably know it. They need to get over the line somewhere, don’t they?
Michael Owen
Liverpool 1996-2004
You don’t think about pressure. I certainly didn’t. When I look back on my career, I think: wow, I was the goalscorer for Liverpool and England, playing in World Cups and FA Cup finals. The prime minister is probably under most pressure but, after that, there is not much more pressure than being a top player at a top club going for the title or in a final. Half the world are watching. When you look back, then, of course there is pressure, and there is pressure from the outside looking in, but not when you are playing. This is what you do, this is what you are brilliant at.
If you look at all the great sportsmen, Tiger Woods with a six-footer on the last green, you know they are enjoying it and are thriving on the pressure. That is their life. It’s not a choice and it is not just happening for a day. They live like this. It works the other way round, too. When you retire and you don’t have that pressure, you can go a bit doolally, because you almost feel you have no purpose in life. They won’t be feeling pressure or losing any sleep.
Alan Kennedy
Liverpool 1978-86
One of the West Ham players said Liverpool were showing a few nerves on Monday. Liverpool’s record over the last 10 games is better than Manchester City’s, so who is feeling the pressure? This team has been at the top very early and, in my day, we used to make a surge around Easter. We built up a head of steam then. I think today’s players have a good attitude. Maybe we haven’t done as well in the last couple of games, but Bournemouth is the next game now. Win that. Don’t look too far ahead. If Liverpool win every game, they win the league. That is what their mindset should be.
Robbie Fowler
Liverpool 1993-2001 and 2006-07
I really don’t get what people are talking about. Liverpool are level on points at the top of the league with a game in hand. You would have taken this all day long at the start of the season. There are loads of positives. Of course there is pressure, but there is pressure on players from the first game of the season. When you want to win the league and you haven’t won it before, it might be a different pressure but pressure is always there. The lads at Manchester City know they are under pressure to deliver, too. The pressure isn’t different on Tottenham and Manchester City compared to Liverpool. It will be there all the way until the end of the season.
You were part of the Liverpool team that were top with 10 games to go in 1996-97 (following the 4-3 win over Newcastle) but finished fourth. Did the pressure tell then?
SM:
It certainly wasn’t pressure on my part, and when I looked around the dressing room I don’t think it was pressure. I just think we had a little less quality than the opposition at times in big games. I made my debut in 1990 with everybody who had won it [previously]. At 16, 17, I was with them all the time in the dressing room, seeing them win titles, not being a part of it but being the 15th or 16th man. I felt as if it was just the norm. It didn’t bother me, the pressure of tense games or needing to get over the line, because I was used to it. I was used to speaking to John Barnes, to Alan Hansen, to Kenny Dalglish, to Roy Evans and Ronnie Moran, who had been through it loads of times. It was easy for me. This is a different group of players 29 years later. They seem fine and are saying all the right things. They need to win today, and as soon as they win, it banishes all the talk for another week, and puts pressure on the opposition.
Jason McAteer
Liverpool 1995-99
It is similar to what I went through. There is a way of doing it and once you have done it you know what to expect. The last 10 games of the season, the pressure is hyped up and it is like in any sport – if you are a golfer trying to win your first major, going down the stretch with three holes to play with a two-shot lead, all kind of thoughts creep into their heads. It is human nature. It is elite sport. Leading from the front is very difficult. For me, Coventry and Wimbledon [2-1 defeats during the run-in] stick in my mind 22 years later. It is a very difficult time, and these days, with social media, it is very difficult to escape the pressure.
A side of former Liverpool players will play a Milan legends team at Anfield on March 23rd. Proceeds go to the LFC Foundation and Fondazione Milan. Tickets can be purchased on Liverpool’s website. – Guardian
