Jurgen Klopp is wise not to be counting. Not points, not fist-pumps and certainly not his chickens.
After narrowing the gap to Manchester City to just three points, he’s well aware that it could be back to six by the weekend.
“We don’t count these things, we just have to win our games,” he said.
The league leaders visit struggling Everton while Liverpool meet Chelsea in the Carabao Cup final.
The 6-0 demolition of Leeds saw him extend his celebratory fist pumps from a normal three to an extravagant eight.
Maybe it was meant to be one for each goal and, as he said, he “got carried away”.
But he’ll be making sure his team doesn’t as he focuses on the Carabao Cup, a much-maligned trophy yet one that, according to some people, he “needs” to win.
Yup, this tin-pot, runt of the trophy family with its paltry £100k prize money and a place in the Europa League which someone else usually takes.
The reasoning goes like this. For all his legendary status as a Liverpool manager, evoking comparison with the immortal Bill Shankly, Klopp hasn’t won as many trophies as his restoration of the club deserves.
What about the Premier League and Champions League, you may ask?
They are, of course, the crown jewels for any English club and what Liverpool fans, in particular, crave.
You can also include the Club World Cup and UEFA Super Cup but the tally still doesn’t reflect the magnitude of his achievement since arriving in October, 2015.
The club was still reeling from the agony of the Gerrard Slip of 2014 and its limp sequel.
But Klopp, aided by some stellar recruitment, gradually worked his magic.
He rebuilt the relationship with the fans as well as the team and restored the club to where many think it belongs – at the pinnacle of English and European football.
But his six and a half years haven’t all been plain sailing and domestic cups have taken a back seat.
Successive final defeats (to Manchester City in the Carabao Cup and Sevilla in the UEFA Cup) and missing the title by a single point (2018/19) had critics suggesting the German was not a winner.
They pointed to his seven and a half years at Dortmund where he won the Bundesliga just twice and was a runner-up again – to Bayern Munich in the Champions League final.
Yet he was worshipped by Borussia fans as if he was a footballing messiah.
Ditto Liverpool. At both, he was up against a vastly richer and more powerful juggernaut – for Bayern read Manchester City.
And at both, his numerous individual awards are a more accurate gauge of his standing.
Klopp doesn’t “need” to win to share the podium with Shankly and Bob Paisley, but right now he badly wants to maintain the rampant Reds’ momentum.
Making full use of a squad he’s called “my greatest ever”, Liverpool are still in everything.
They’ve almost caught City, won every Champions League game and are in the fifth round of the FA Cup as well.
Any time soon, it could be don’t mention “The Quad”.
Although Liverpool are favourites, Chelsea are a cussed team at the best of times and, under Thomas Tuchel, like the Reds, have won both Club World Cup and the Champions League.
And in the two league games this season – both draws – Chelsea probably nick it on points as they survived a half at Anfield with 10 men.
But, unlike Klopp, Tuchel is now struggling to get the best out of some expensive attacking recruits.
Romelu Lukaku’s troubles are well documented and for £97.5 million, he cannot be considered anything other than a flop – so far.
The German pair, Timo Werner and Kai Havertz are fine players, but for a combined £130m have not delivered as expected.
Christian Pulisic was supposed to be the first world-class American striker. He’s half-decent but hardly that.
Then there’s Hakim Zyech who has only lately begun to show his Ajax form.
Altogether, it adds up to around £330m but all signed before Tuchel arrived.
For a similar outlay, Klopp has brought in Sadio Mane, Mo Salah, Virgil van Dijk, Alisson, Fabinho, Diogo Jota and Luis Diaz.
Chelsea do not “need” to win to confirm their current status as a cup team, but it would be a little consolation for falling away in the league after a promising start.
For Liverpool, defeat here could have a knock-on effect and dent confidence that they can catch City. So, Klopp will be keen to keep feet on the ground.
Victory in a domestic cup competition is long overdue. The last was the League Cup, on penalties against Cardiff, a decade ago.
Only Liverpool fans of a certain age can recall the days when they used to win everything and Wembley was referred to as “Anfield South”.
Whether the Kop colonise it on this occasion or not, Klopp’s standing is such that whatever the records say, future generations will revere him just as today’s reveres Shankly.
The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.