Monday 31 October 2016 06:59, UK
Jurgen Klopp has formed the best Liverpool team since Roy Evans was in charge, according to the Sunday Supplement panel.
Despite twice being pegged back by Crystal Palace after going ahead, Liverpool ran out 4-2 winners in a thrilling game at Selhurst Park on Saturday, leaving them level on points with Arsenal and Manchester City at the top of the Premier League.
Liverpool are now unbeaten in their last 11 games in all competitions and are the joint-highest scorers in the top flight with Manchester City, prompting comparisons with Evans' Liverpool side, which was regarded as one of the most entertaining teams of the 1990s.
"When he [Klopp] went to [Borussia] Dortmund he hadn't won titles, he hadn't reached Champions League finals," said The Sun's European football correspondent Antony Kastrinakis. "He had done great work at Mainz but he wasn't the Klopp that came to England.
"He came with an aura, a mystique of genius, and he has proved it. I mean the way they play now, the best Liverpool I have seen since Roy Evans.
"You now know it is not the consequence of extremely talented players like [Luis] Suarez, no it's the manager's work. That's the massive fundamental difference."
The Times' sports writer Alyson Rudd believes Klopp is pulling off a masterstroke by convincing his team to play in a way that suggests they are not favourites for the Premier League title.
Having not won the league since 1990 it was hoped Klopp's arrival would bring silverware back to Anfield, but Rudd reckons the secret to them actually winning the title will be down to their projection as "underdogs".
"He seems to have this ability; it's one thing to say publicly 'I want the players to enjoy themselves', but he's somehow managed to make the players feel that as well," said Rudd.
"They do seem to play as if they're not in a title race, as if there's no expectation they're playing for the mighty Liverpool."
"They do seem to play as if they're not in a title race, as if there's no expectation they're playing for the mighty Liverpool and should now be, at last, winning a Premier League title.
"That is one hell of a trick if you can pull it off, this sense of freedom. He's got an incredible personality, it's seeping out of him and onto them.
"They play as if they're underdogs. If you're Liverpool and you can play as if you're underdogs, with freedom, without pressure, if they win the title that will be the reason why. It will be the sense of not crumbling under the 'oh my goodness we're supposed to be better than we have been for the past 25 years'."
