Former Liverpool midfielder Didi Hamann believes that manager Jurgen Klopp needs to bring silverware to the club or he will risk the atmosphere turning sour at Anfield.
Klopp has been riding the crest of a wave of supporter emotion this season as his side mount a Premier League challenge, while they are one game away from booking their place in the quarter-finals of the Champions League.
The Reds take a scoreless draw to Bayern Munich in their Champions League last-16 clash next week, while in the Premier League they have slipped from top spot and now trail defending champions Manchester City by a point.
Hamann has been impressed by the work that Klopp has done in rebuilding and strengthening the Liverpool squad over the last few years, however he now claims that it’s time for the manager to bring home a trophy.
"I think it’s clear that they have been improving," he said, speaking on RTÉ’s Soccer Social programme.
"They’ve bought well with a goalkeeper which has been an issue for a number of years. Van Dijk was probably the biggest difference when he came in 14 or 15 months ago and in Fabinho they brought in a player that gives them a bit more defensive stability.
"Yes I think they have improved but at the end of the day the measure of Liverpool will always be trophies and they’ve had a lead of seven points. At the moment they’re one behind.
"They’ve still got a chance to win the league, I think they have a slightly easier run-in and in the Champions League they’re still there so it’s all to play for.
"But it’s all well and good improving the team and getting better, and I think they have come on a lot in in the last 18 months, but at some stage you have to win a trophy.
"I think Liverpool have assembled a squad now that can compete in two or three competitions and certainly in the Premier League and expectations get higher."
Klopp has huge support from the Anfield crowd at the moment but having brought Liverpool to three finals and having lost all three, Hamann does not believe he can take that support for granted.
Under the German manager, Liverpool lost the Carling Cup final in 2016 and the Europa League final as well as last season’s Champions League final to Real Madrid.
It’s now seven years since the Reds last lifted a trophy and for Hamann, that’s too long.
"I think [the fans] get a bit impatient because they’ve been to three finals with the manager, have lost them all and at some stage the problem or the fear is at Liverpool that it’s black or white, there’s no in between.
"The atmosphere and the way that people feel about the club could change very, very quickly if they were to go out in Munich and in the league if they were to go further behind.
"Everything, the passion that really drives the club, which has made him a success in the last one-and-a-half or two years, that could count against them, that’s my biggest fear for Liverpool."
