Diego Forlan writes a weekly column for The National, appearing each Friday. The former Manchester United, Inter Milan and Atletico Madrid striker has been the top scorer in Europe twice and won the Golden Boot at the 2010 World Cup. Forlan’s column is written with the assistance of European football correspondent Andy Mitten.
I’m in Mumbai waiting for Mumbai City’s ISL semi-final first leg against Atletico Kolkata at the weekend. Kolkata is a football city and we’re expecting a very passionate crowd. I live for games like that.
We won the league stage and things have been going well. The team are confident, we’re all staying in the same hotel with our families. The mood is excellent.
Team spirit is vital to success. One of the best which I experienced was with the Uruguay national team. The players knew and respected each other, we trusted the manager too. We were bound by nationality and an “us against the world” mentality. I wouldn’t say that we felt unbeatable because over-confidence is a dangerous emotion.
I watched Liverpool lose at Bournemouth last weekend. It was a surprise. Liverpool are near the top of the Premier League and they looked to be coasting as they led 3-1 with 15 minutes to go. Then Bournemouth scored three for one of the best comebacks and best matches of the season.
Liverpool should bounce back from it. Free from European commitments, their players went to Barcelona to watch Barca midweek. It was a good idea – a nice city, a change of scene and a chance to see their old teammate Luis Suarez, plus Barca's brilliant other players.
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Jurgen Klopp is big on togetherness and it’s clear that the players buy into their manager’s methods, which breeds confidence. They train very well and the results are clear – Liverpool are considerably better than when Klopp arrived and they’re serious title challengers. My friends in Manchester tell me Liverpool have not won the league since 1990. That’s a huge amount of time for one of the great clubs of world football.
Liverpool played well at Bournemouth, but lost. It happens. They conceded great goals and Bournemouth are a decent side. They’re tenth in the table, only three points behind my old club United, who are struggling to win league games.
All teams lose but even some of the best struggle to bounce back straightaway. Look at Barcelona last season when they nearly lost the league after a dip in March and April.
I've been in a surprise 4-3 defeat. It was the second game of the 2011/12 season and I was at my new club, Inter Milan. We were putting in a good performance at Palermo and were leading. We'd won our first game of the season 4-1. That was expected of Inter, a team that had been European champions the previous year and were the reigning world champions.
We played a 3-4-3 system which initially worked, yet we lost 4-3. It was a thriller for the home fans, a shock for us and we struggled to get over it. We drew our following game 0-0 at Roma, then lost the fourth game, 3-1 at Novara. That was a really bad result, on a small artificial pitch against a small team. Our coach, Gasperini, was sacked.
The defeat at Palermo had knocked us out of our stride and we couldn’t recover easily and quickly enough. Inter finished sixth that season, not what was expected.
Liverpool didn’t even make the top six in England last season, but I think they’ll be top four this term. They can concentrate on the league and it is Klopp’s second season and he will know what to expect.
The players understand what the manager wants and you can see a confidence in the team. Klopp is experienced and smart. He’s created a united team and has several top players who are in form.
When I was at Inter, one of the best young players was Philippe Coutinho. He was still a teenager and we got on well, but he suffered badly from injuries and couldn’t play many games in a row. He’d be excellent for a game or two, then miss three or four. It was really frustrating for him because it was clear that he was a fine footballer.
He was quick, he went past players and had a fine technique, with very good feet. He can dribble, he scores, he provides assists. He’s versatile, too and can play as a second striker or on either wing. Off the pitch he was a quiet, pleasant, lad.
The move to Liverpool in 2013 really worked for him. Sometimes a change does that. It’s not Inter’s fault that he struggled there, but logic doesn’t always apply in football. For all the bad fortune he suffered in Italy, his luck has turned in England. In Italy, he was on the fringes of Brazil’s Under 20s team. In England, he’s a starter for Brazil’s national team and scored a great goal against Argentina recently. Brazil v Argentina in a World Cup qualifier? You don’t get much bigger than that.
Coutinho’s getting better each season and is now one of the very best in the Premier League. He’s still only 24. Liverpool has been great for him, just as it was for Luis Suarez, though Luis was already standing out at his previous club, Ajax. The fans love Coutinho, Liverpool’s a massive football city and he’s playing every week in an improving side.
There are other players who impress me at Liverpool, mainly another Brazilian, Roberto Firmino and a Turk, Emre Can. Liverpool have an irresistible attack and they’re the league’s top scorers.
With all that quality and with Klopp impressing as he did at Dortmund, I think they’ll be OK this season, starting with their game at home to struggling West Ham on Sunday.
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