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the times | Saturday September 12 2020 2GS 5
The wilderness years
Leeds finished in the bottom half of the Championship in eight of 16 seasons since they
were relegated in 2003-04. They also spent three of those seasons in League One.1st4th8th12th16th20th24th
04-0505-0606-0707-0808-0909-1010-1111-1212-1313-1414-1515-1616-1717-1818-1919-Championship League OneJürgen Klopp has warned Leeds United
to expect “the most intense game” they
have ever encountered on their return
to the Premier League tonight.
Klopp also underlined how he will
not allow complacency to creep into
Liverpool’s defence of the title by insist-
ing that for “as long as I breathe” the
club’s focus will not be swayed.
Those tub-thumping soundbites set
the tone for what he hopes will follow
from his players at Anfield against
opponents who will be appearing in the
top flight for the first time since 2004.
While Klopp joked that Liverpool
had not seen “any suspicious people
around our training ground this week”
— in reference to the Spygate saga of
last year, when a member of Leeds staff
was caught watching a Derby County
training session — his admiration for
the principles that Marcelo Bielsa has
imposed in reviving Leeds’ fortunes
was clear.
Bielsa has already stated that
“Anfield is only Anfield when it is full”
in an attempt to strip away some of the
mystique surrounding the venue of the
club’s first Premier League game in
5,964 days, but Klopp has vowed to
make it a daunting experience, despite
the continued absence of supporters.
“I know Marcelo said Anfield is not
Anfield without supporters and he is
right, in one way,” Klopp said.
“But it is still Anfield, by the way. It
is our home and we are Liverpool.
That should not sound like a threat,
but they did not play us very
often before and it should
feel different for them as
well.
“We are ready to work
hard and make life more
uncomfortable for them than
any team last year could
against them. If we do not, we
will suffer. That is what we
have to know.
“It is the first game of the
season and it sounds like it is
a big advantage for Leeds
because they waited so long
for the Premier League.
Now everything is new and
they are fighting forGet ready for hardest
match of your lives,
Klopp warns visitors
everything and we are champions, [and
people think we are] leaning back, and
we all look at what Leeds are doing.
“We were not doing this and, for as
long as I breathe, we will not be like this.
That is the thing we have to make sure
of in this game.
“It must be the most intense game
Leeds ever had, otherwise we will have
more problems than I want to have.”
Leeds’ 4-1-4-1 system and desire to
control the ball makes for an intriguing
contrast in styles and it has meant that
Klopp has had to prepare his players for
a distinct challenge.
After the international fixtures, he
had his entire squad together for the
first time on Thursday. “We used that
session to make clear to the boys the
special aspects we have to consider in
this game,” Klopp said.
“Usually the boys respond really well
with that kind of information. We will
work again to make sure we are as ready
as possible.”
Georginio Wijnaldum, who will hope
to start ahead of James Milner, held
talks with Klopp on Wednesday.
The Holland midfielder, 29, who
moved to Anfield from Newcastle
United in 2016 has entered the final
year of his contract and has been linked
with Barcelona, although the Liverpool
manager was not forthcoming on the
topic.
“You think I will say here what I said
to Gini Wijnaldum? No,” he said. “I said
nice things to him because I was
happy that he was back and
healthy after two games.”
Barcelona have yet to make
an approach. Rather, Klopp is
more concerned with when
football edges back to
normality, amid the Covid-
19 pandemic.
“I really hope that this
will not be a season with-
out supporters,” Klopp
said. “It’s not the most
important thing in the
world but it’s important
that, between all the
worries and uncertain-
ties we have, we give
the people the oppor-
tunity to go back to a
football stadium. It is
part of our life. I hope
it will happen sooner
rather than later.”
In the meantime,
Liverpool must generate
the noise themselves.Paul Joyce
Northern Football CorrespondentTThewild
L
i
cKlopp has briefed his
players on how to cope
with Leeds’ 4-1-4-1 systemLORNE CAMPBELL/GUZELIAN FOR THE TIMESand off the field. You see artwork all
over the city now, the Hyde Park
mural is going up, there’s poetry and
music. It’s down to him. You’d get
ripped off paying £30 to watch Leeds
before but I’d pay £100 to watch
Bielsa in the Premier League.”
Beyond Billy Bremner’s statue and
past McDonald’s, a man has parked
his blue van, bedecked by The Who
and Bielsa stickers. Andy McVeigh is
better known as the Burley Banksy
and is painting a Leeds shirt on an
electricity box in Beeston. His designs
are scattered over the city. He started
out doing Peppa Pig on Kirkstall
Road as a tribute to his niece, Grace,
who died before her first birthday in
- “It was Christmas and I didn’t
think about anything for three hours,”
he says. “It was therapeutic.”
He made the news last year when
someone started painting over his
Leeds boxes in black. “They also sent
heart in your mouth, but when it
comes off is unbelievable.”
Leeds is a natural fit for Bielsa with
its working-class roots. Cussen says
Bielsa could never work at Real
because that is more of an enterprise.
“Not passion, just business.”
Whelan gets that. One Sunday in
1995, he took a call from Wilkinson.
“Snowy, it’s the gaffer,” the manager
said. “F*** off, who is it?” he replied.
“It’s the gaffer,” Wilkinson repeated.
He was being sent to Coventry.
“There were tears in my bedroom and
I went to the ground. It was the day of
the Christmas party. I left Howard’s
office and bumped into Billy Bremner.
He saw me in tears and said, ‘You’ll be
back some day.’ ” And so they are.
“Days you can cry your eyes out
and walk on air,” Bremner once said
of the point of football. They will be
watching in Hyde Park, Burley,
Santiago and Buenos Aires.a threatening email to the Evening
Post,” he says. “It was so beautifully
written, with semi-colons and
adverbials, that it was even more
sinister. If he’d just called me a
wanker it would have been better. I’d
love to shake his hand, though,
because I’ve made a career out of
this.”
The Leeds United Supporters’ Trust
is now asking people to pay to have
gable ends decorated. A lettings
company is behind the Hyde Park
mural. The regret is that fans will not
witness the comeback. “We went from
Real Madrid to Gillingham in about
five years,” McVeigh says. “My son
was born when we got relegated and
after all the misery, frustration and
incompetence he’s confused now
because everybody’s happy.”
If this is a more colourful, more
exotic promotion than that secured
by Howard Wilkinson’s team, thereare linking factors. The players care
again. Noel Whelan is a Leeds boy
who played for his home-town club.
“They have got the right human
beings as well as players,” he says.
“Before Bielsa we had players who
would be on their phones straight
after a defeat, laughing away. I
wanted to see them hurting after a
game. I wanted it to be a bitter pill.
The most important thing now is they
have the love for the club.
“Bielsa’s educated the players,
progressed them and brought a
bravery on the ball that has yourPremier League fixtures
Today
Fulham v Arsenal (12.30pm, BT Sport 1)
C Palace v Southampton (3pm, BT Sport 1)
Liverpool v Leeds United
(5.30pm, Sky Sports Main Event)
West Ham United v Newcastle United
(8pm, Sky Sports Main Event)
Tomorrow
West Bromwich Albion v Leicester City
(2pm, Sky Sports Main Event)
Tottenham Hotspur v Everton
(4pm, Sky Sports Main Event)
Monday
Sheffield United v Wolves
(6pm, Sky Sports Main Event)
Brighton & Hove Albion v Chelsea
(8.15pm, Sky Sports Main Event)In the way they work
you can see physical
similarities with Don
Revie’s Leeds team