Thiago remains the cool ball-playing scamp whether Liverpool are hot or cold

There was a good Jürgen Klopp moment during Liverpool’s win at Southampton on Tuesday night. Nathan Redmond had just opened the scoring. The goal had come after a collision with a Liverpool player, drawing a minor wave of protest from the bench. Klopp has a standard move in these touchline moments: a bark of rage, a sudden pirouette, a flurry of air-punches like a man whirling around to fend off a late night pickpocket.

This time he did something new and much more haunting, standing totally still on the touchline and simply pointing at the referee with a long bony finger – and then carrying on pointing for what felt like ages, eyes ablaze, coat tails billowing, like some terrifying medieval woodcut called The Guilt of Man.

It seemed fair enough. There are no specific FA regulations outlawing sorrowful, haunting looks. Plus this was never likely to matter much. It always seemed likely that Liverpool would win at St Mary’s, that this wasn’t the story here, and that the title race would come down to the final round of fixtures this weekend.

Let’s face it, despite our best attempts to find clear air between them, these are two remarkably well-matched modern juggernauts. Both managers have claimed to be underdogs in recent weeks: Pep Guardiola because everyone supports Liverpool (narrator: everyone doesn’t support Liverpool); Klopp because of having to play so many games in all these damn tournaments we keep winning.

Tactically Liverpool are still seen as a “hot” team, a feral, frantic thing, playing on the edge of their own emotions. Whereas City are often portrayed as a cold, frictionless entity, wearing their opponents down with their beautiful geometric patterns, their slow-burn migraine-football.

Has it really been like