Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho believes Liverpool “are trying to buy the title”. United finished above Liverpool last season, runners-up to distant Premier League champions Manchester City, and spent just over £70million in the summer.
Liverpool, who finished fourth, spent twice as much and ended the summer as the top-flight’s highest spenders.
Mourinho has been eager to point that out at numerous times over the past few months, and did the same before a directionless United lost to Brighton on Sunday.
“I think Liverpool are trying to buy the title, but when I say buying I mean ‘buying’ with amazing investment,” Mourinho told Sky Sports.
“Chelsea has a fantastic squad, City have a fantastic squad too.”
“And Tottenham made an incredible investment too by keeping their players.
“That’s the best investment they could make because they could be having to spend £200million if they lose Harry Kane and Eriksen. The biggest investment was keeping their players.
“Arsenal will be better too, despite losing their first match. I think it’s going to be a very hard season.”
As Liverpool enjoy the present and look forward to the future, first they must deal with a ghost from their not-so-distant past.
The Reds can cement a good start to the new Premier League season when they take on Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on Monday evening. In their way stands their former boss; perhaps the worst in the club’s 126-year history.
It is hard to reconcile the optimism and excitement of the Jurgen Klopp era and its free-wheeling, eye-catching football, with Roy Hodgson’s ill-fated, six-month stint at the Anfield helm.
Was it all a dream? It felt like a nightmare for Reds fans. If appointing Klopp is the best decision Liverpool owners Fenway Sports Group ever made, then removing Hodgson from the job seven-and-a-half years ago must rank a close second. It was their first big call, and they got it spot on.
It was January 2011 and Liverpool were 12th in the Premier League, playing the kind of disjointed, pallid football which turns supporters away. Hodgson’s last home game in charge, a win over Bolton, featured around 10,000 empty seats. The previous one, a defeat to Wolves, had seen The Kop openly mock their manager, singing ‘Hodgson for England’ and chanting for Kenny Dalglish to replace him. It couldn’t go on.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing, of course, but it is hard to imagine a poorer fit for a club of Liverpool’s size and values, to lead a fan base like theirs, than Hodgson. Imagine Klopp leaving tomorrow and Sam Allardyce being installed as his replacement.
Adding context is fair. Hodgson entered a club at war, its owners feuding and its finances crashing. Funds were limited and minds were distracted. It wasn’t an easy job, by any means, but having been asked to steady the ship, instead he guided it perilously towards the rocks.
By the last day of October, he had them in the relegation zone.