Liverpool news: Jurgen Klopp says title success with Borussia Dortmund helps to keep the nerves at bay

Anyone watching Jurgen Klopp on the touchline for the 90 minutes of a match may find it hard to believe, but the Liverpool manager insists that he is not a ‘nervous person’.

While he is obviously excitable on matchday, Klopp is bringing logic and calm the rest of the time as he attempts to be the man to lead Liverpool to the promised land of Premier League glory.

The German does not need telling that it is 29 years since the club was last Champions of England – two years even before the creation of the Premier League. A whole generation of Liverpool supporters have never been able to celebrate a title success.

So the weight of history brings both pressure and expectation, and that will only increase on the run-in. Liverpool’s advantage currently stands at five points but it could have been seven as they only drew 1-1 at home to Leicester on Wednesday after nearest rivals Manchester City had been beaten at Newcastle the night before.

The title race could be in for a defining few days as City play Arsenal at home this afternoon before facing Everton at Goodison Park on Wednesday, whereas Liverpool travel to West Ham tomorrow night. What happens in these three matches could give us a clue about what is going to play out in the final three months of the campaign.

Thankfully in Klopp, Liverpool have a man with previous in title races, thanks to his two Bundesliga crowns with Borussia Dortmund.

It all means there is a matter-of-factness about him, a most German quality, which enables him to keep a lid on the excitement which is undoubtedly swirling around the red half of Liverpool. And because we are only just into February, Klopp does not want to engage in title talk just yet.

“It’s not important,” he says. “We are first in the table. We don’t have to come into work every day and point. We want to finish the season as good as possible and it looks like we could do something special. Of course we don’t talk about it because it makes no sense.

“A marathon runner in April doesn’t talk or think in the race he is running now about the Olympic Games because he has to run this step by step. Win that race, try with everything you have and then we will see. Stay healthy, stay fit, try as good as possible and smile afterwards.

“It is a help to have won titles at Dortmund but obviously I was pretty skilled before I won that first one. The only thing I always knew is to do the right thing as often as possible, stay focused on your own way and don’t think about the other things around.

“Then if you are good enough, it will happen. If not, it will not happen. That is pretty easy.

“I am not a nervous person, so I was never nervous before that first title. That’s how it is. Experience showed me that the way I did it in the past worked, so I never changed.

“Our tool to sort the situation is football. That is the only thing we can do. Yes, there is pressure but there was pressure last year when we played Man City away in the Champions League, there was pressure at Rome and in so many moments in the Premier League.

“Will there be nervous moments? Yes, for sure. But don’t make them bigger than they are because there were nervous situations last year, two years ago, three years ago.

“The people here really, really want it and that’s how it is. They want it with all they have. I get that and we will try with all we have. But there are no guarantees.”