Jurgen Klopp Right to Calm Liverpool Title Talk

It's a question reporters first put to Jurgen Klopp following his side's 3-1 win at Chelsea in October: Can Liverpool win the Premier League this season?

"Are you crazy?" was Klopp's replied. "You think after one win at Chelsea we should think about this?"

This was, after all, his first league win in charge of the Reds.

"We don't think about this. We have to think about the next game, about improving our game and our style. We can do much better than today."

Five weeks later, title talk has become a more legitimate conversation on Merseyside, following the impressive performances against Manchester City and Southampton. Klopp's side have won seven of their last eight games in all competitions.

The hard-fought 1-0 win over Swansea City last week saw Liverpool move up to sixth in the table, just four points off fourth place and only six points off the top of the table—which is a point closer than they were at this stage two years ago, when Brendan Rodgers' side came so close to winning a 19th league title for the Reds.

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Such form has seen fans and media start to ponder Liverpool's chances. The Telegraph's Alistair Tweedale even listed "10 reasons Liverpool can win the Premier League."

He cited the improved morale and good feeling at the club, the fact the Reds have played all of the top six away from home already, that their rivals are failing to dominate the league, squad depth and Daniel Sturridge's return, among other reasons.

These are indeed plausible reasons, but Klopp again calmed title talk following the 6-1 demolition of Southampton in the week. “I don’t think about this,” he said, via the Mirror, adding:

"

People can talk about this but we just have to play football.

We don’t have any ideas yet about where we can get to – it’s a fantastic football club and everyone here loves working at this club and everything is really good.

But you need to have luck with injuries to be challenging, so we can’t get carried away and look too far forward – we are only in sixth place.

That is all we look at and that is what football is all about. We know we can get better, and we know there is still a long way to go.

"

There is indeed a long way to go—24 games (72 points) over the next six months.

Klopp is right to calm title talk, but that doesn't mean that supporters shouldn't be entertaining it. This is, after all, what supporters live for—to see their club winning.

Klopp is hardly going to say anything else. He's not exactly about to come out and say his side are aiming for the title, heaping on the pressure for his young, inexperienced squad. There will be no such talk from the experienced German.

He does, however, provide quiet confidence and desire to win. "We expect to win all the time," said Klopp in his pre-match press conference ahead of the Newcastle United match on Sunday.

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This is what fans want to hear: the manager saying that the expectation is to win every game. There is no point entering a game if you don't expect to win it. Fifth is not par; finishing as high as possible is always the aim. That should go for any football club.

For all the many reasons that Liverpool should be included in the conversation about potential title challengers, it does seem a little premature to begin discussing it too much. But with very favourable fixtures over the coming month, the New Year could see title talk become more legitimate.

Klopp's side face Newcastle, West Bromwich Albion, Watford, Leicester City and Sunderland before the end of 2015. Win all those, and they will be right among the top four.

By the time Arsenal and Manchester United arrive at Anfield in the same week in mid-January, we could be looking at two games which bring back memories of the Man City and Chelsea games in late 2013/14.

Win those (or at least win one and draw the other), and Klopp's Reds will be right in the mix for the title.

For now, though, Klopp is right to calm title talk and keep his players focussed on the next game and challenge at hand.

Supporters don't need to have such focus. They can enjoy this run of form and should always be dreaming of what silverware might be won in May.

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