Now that...

The dust has settled and the alcohol has worn off.

Firstly thanks to everyone associated with Spurs. Gracious in defeat even after being on the wrong end of a softish penalty (Sissoko's hands should never be stretched like that though). The rivalry on JA is ridiculous at times but I'd like to think there is a lot of respect between both clubs. Both are going about their business the right way and building their clubs within their means. You have to respect that. Spurs have to build on this though if they want to play in these types of games again. Last season we lost our final and immediately announced the Fabinho signing. A holding midfielder that we've been crying out for since Mascherano left the club. That set the tone for what we've come to expect this season. Will Spurs follow the same ideology?

About the game itself, for the neutrals it must’ve been the most boring final ever…but both teams were not there for the neutral fan so you guys opinions will always fall on deaf ears

For Spurs they are probably thinking well we dominated the ball and had more shots. So how did we lose? Well we kept you pretty well contained in the spaces where you could never really threaten us. We’ve done this to you for the past 2 years. The penalty changed the complexion of the game and if anyone has watched us this season they would’ve known that we would defend that lead first. We’ve been weighing down teams all season long. In fact I’ve even complained about it at one point in this season, during our Jan & Feb months when we were drawing with almost every team. At times it can seem flat but in a CL final, flat is more than acceptable to get the result.

On to us…
That’s been the biggest improvement from this team. It’s the maturity…from both the players and Klopp. Coincidently it was the 4-1 loss against Spurs last season that birthed this more ‘reserved’ approach to our game. No longer are we relentlessly pressing on the front foot for 90mins flat. Unless we really need to like against Barca at home. Nowadays we are more than happy to let the opponent have the ball. We’ll drop back and invite them onto us because this is the only way for us to create space behind them. The press is still our number one creator of goals but it’s much more structured now than an all-out rampage. There’s more intelligence to this side’s in-game management. Another massive improvement that we’ve been working on since that 4-1 loss.

Just makes me think Spurs are quite a pivotal side in Klopp’s reign thus far. His first game in charge was against them. I’ll never forget that little quip Poch made after that game. The reporters spoke about Klopp’s pressing tactics in that game and Poch replied saying that Liverpool have been playing this way for 3 years under Rodgers…hinting that Klopp hasn’t brought anything new with him. Then you get the 4-1 loss that woke something up in Klopp and the players and it’s kinda ironic that Klopp’s first trophy comes against them.

Everything about the club seems to moving in unison these days. You have to respect and appreciate the way Klopp has unified the fans, the team, the owners and everyone else behind the scenes. I mean some of us just learnt the other day that there are astrophysicists employed as part of the statistical analytics team. Just how deep is our research of players?

Which brings me to our other major improvement that’s been so pivotal in our team. Player recruitment has been out of this world since Michael Edwards has been made the Sporting Director. The only flat out flop I can think of is Karius and he cost what £4.6m?
In my opinion we have an unprecedented success in the transfer market as of lately. What a benchmark we have set for ourselves
Van Dijk, Alisson, Robertson, Wijnaldum, Fabinho, Mane & Salah. All ridiculous buys that weren’t even our first choice in some situations.

I dislike when people say that Van Dijk and Alisson have been the difference. Don’t get me wrong both are massive signings and have become integral players in a very short space of time but Trent and Robertson have very much been part of this ‘difference’. They often get overlooked even from our own fanbase and it always irks me a bit.
From having one of the best attacks in the league to having the best defence in the league is a testament to everything that’s been a work in progress since last season.

Away from the CL win for a moment, we’ve been here before though. Two of our previous managers had terrible follow ups to their title challenging campaigns. Always looked like a case of what goes up, must come down. Whenever we look on the cusp of something, we end up falling even further behind. Though you don’t get that sense this time, we have to keep ourselves on the ground and not take our eyes off the ball. Keep focused and keep improving and enjoy every moment.