Reds, proceed with caution in Champions League: Richard Buxton
Some pundits suggest that Liverpool can go all the way in Europe, but Klopp's men are not invulnerable
Liverpool's Champions League thrill-seeking has taken on a completely different form.
Before yesterday morning's (Singapore time) goalless stalemate with Porto, continental nights beneath the Anfield floodlights had rarely passed without permutation and nail-biting tension.
Perfunctory, rather than panic, has become the order of business for Juergen Klopp's side.
Where the onus was previously on the Reds and their home crowd to deliver in the return leg of their Round of 16 ties, they moved to the quarter-finals with minimal fanfare this time around.
The hard work had been done three weeks earlier with a 5-0 demolition of the once formidable Portuguese league leaders at the Estadio do Dragao - yet it does not detract from Klopp's ability to turn back the clock to Liverpool's heyday among the footballing elite.
He was able to rest Mohamed Salah until the final 15 minutes of a drab encounter, while four other changes pointed to forward planning for Saturday's trip to Manchester United without watering down the overall quality of a team which has plundered 99 goals this season.
Not since Joe Fagan sat poolside in Rome 1984, reclining in a deckchair and flanked by a fourth European Cup, have Liverpool enjoyed such a leisurely experience in this competition.
But the favourites' tag still sits uneasily on the Champions League's highest-scoring team.
Narrow margins became a staple of Liverpool's most recent exploits on the European stage; both Gerard Houllier and Rafael Benitez preferred to exercise a safety-first approach which often led to games being played on a knife-edge rather than in relative cruise control.
Klopp has yet to demonstrate such conservatism, preferring to follow in the footsteps of his most recent predecessor, Brendan Rodgers, by preaching an attack-heavy philosophy.
It is why only 31 of his 141 games in charge of Liverpool have been victories by single-goal margins.
When it works, it is flawless. Few teams are able to repel the prolific trident of Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino, propped up by an increasingly resolute defensive framework.
The problem, however, is that it is not immune to susceptibility during opportune moments.
For every comprehensive and fluid account of themselves, there is often a polar opposite.
In the EPL, just as it has been in Europe's elite club competition, the growing list of stellar, high-scoring games continue to be offset by both backline fragility and profligacy.
Harnessing the emotion of the Anfield faithful has allowed Klopp to take Liverpool to familiar heights, yet a measured approach rather than hot-headedness is now urgently required.
The giddy expectations of pundits and a fan base that has been starved of any major success since the 2005 Champions League win will invariably be dealt a reality check amid the euphoria of a potential meeting with the likes of Barcelona, Bayern Munich or Real Madrid.
Stopping Salah and his front line cohorts remains key for Liverpool's next challengers but preying on their vulnerabilities offers another potential route to victory for whichever opponents are paired with them in next Friday's draw for the last eight.
Lionel Messi would not flinch at the prospect of pulling apart Dejan Lovren and company in the same way that Klopp's side were able to tear through Porto.
Likewise Cristiano Ronaldo, Kevin de Bruyne and Robert Lewandowski.
Pundits such as Rio Ferdinand have suggested that Klopp's men can go all the way, but they should not be mapping out the route for an open-top bus parade just yet.
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