'Cherish every moment of this' - the press on the Premier League champions

A club-record 99 top-flight points ensured the Reds claimed their first title for 30 years to follow up last season's Champions League triumph.

As part of our ongoing celebrations of the feat of Klopp's class of 2019-20, we got the views of many of those who have reported on the team throughout the campaign.

The Athletic's James Pearce, Chris Bascombe from The Telegraph, Melissa Reddy from the Independent, The Mirror's David Maddock, David Lynch from the Evening Standard, Dominic King from the Daily Mail, Ian Doyle from the Liverpool Echo, and Neil Atkinson from The Anfield Wrap dissect and describe the title triumph below...

Liverpool are champions again after a 30-year wait - just how good a team are we witnessing here?

Pearce: The best I've seen since I started watching Liverpool in the mid-1980s. This is a special team with an incredible manager. It's got the perfect mix of youth and experience and it's got quality in abundance. Their hunger and desire is off the scale and they are bound together by a real spirit and sense of camaraderie. Just look at all the records they have broken this season. They have won the title with seven games to spare and they lead the way by 18 points. That's complete and utter domination.

Bascombe: As good as any Liverpool team I have seen. The strongest XI is the best in the world, freakishly brilliant in every department. Every side they face knows they must give the performance of a lifetime to get a draw. When teams have success against Liverpool, increasingly rare, they now celebrate it like the greatest moment in their modern history. Those are the standards Klopp has set.  When they click, games can look like a non-contest. We should savour this while we can. Teams like this tend to come along once in a lifetime. They are young enough to dominate the Premier League and Champions League for the next five years.

Reddy: No team has won the Premier League with seven games to spare. Liverpool's excellence is in danger of being normalised because of how consistent they are, but we are witnessing greatness. This is a team that has played in consecutive Champions League finals, won the club's sixth European Cup, got 97 points last season and have posted domestic numbers in this campaign not seen around in Europe's top five leagues. They are extraordinarily resilient and relentless - the 'mentality monsters' tag couldn't be more apt - and have shown extensive variability in how they win.

Lynch: The players and manager that ended Liverpool's long wait were always going to go down as legends at Anfield, but this team is so much more than just that. They are not just the new Premier League title-holders, but also still the reigning European and world champions - and every single one of those achievements has been fully merited. We are watching one of the truly great Liverpool sides in action, which, considering everything that has gone before, is just remarkable. Fans should cherish every moment of this.

Maddock: They've achieved what no other Liverpool team - no other English team - has achieved in football history, holding the Premier League, Champions League, World Club Championship and Super Cup trophies at the same time. So we are witnessing a very special team. It is potentially one of the greatest in Anfield history. I would already rank them up there alongside some of the very best Liverpool sides, and if they keep winning, then there will be players in this team who will rate alongside the greats in the club's history.

Atkinson: I think they could be the greatest ever Liverpool side and that, by extension, would place them high in the running for greatest side of all time. They've taken on a brilliant Manchester City team and in the end, perhaps for one year only, dismantled them. The way Liverpool won the title - putting in a big performance and then watching as Manchester City got beat - demonstrates that.

Doyle: I will defer to my dad for this answer, who has been watching Liverpool for an awful lot longer than I have. I asked him on a podcast in January how good this team was, and without hesitation he said: "If Liverpool go on to win the league this year, they will be the best team the club has ever seen. They are doing things none of the past teams have, and they are playing the kind of football that is a pleasure to watch." So yeah, what he said.

King: Comparing teams from different generations can be like trying to compare apples with oranges. What I can say with absolute certainty, however, is this squad deserves its place in the highest bracket of Liverpool title winners. They are absolutely exceptional. A record number of points, 32 wins from 38 games, world-class quality all over the pitch... I just hope everyone can appreciate it all and not think that this is normal. We are watching a once-in-a-generation team guided by a manager whose name will span the ages. Savour every minute of it.

What has been the key to Liverpool winning the title?

Pearce: Shrewd recruitment has been the biggest factor. It started with the appointment of Jürgen Klopp in 2015 and continued with the players brought in since then. The signings of Virgil van Dijk and Alisson were huge. They took Liverpool to the next level. They were the final pieces. Klopp's ability to get the best out of people is remarkable. His man-management is second to none. Also key has been the tactical evolution - being a bit less expansive but playing with much more control and maturity. This Liverpool team can win games in so many different ways. They have so many match-winners. That has enabled them to be so consistent.

Bascombe: A world-class goalkeeper, a world-class centre-back, world-class full-backs, world-class midfield performances, and world-class strikers. That helps. Klopp has put the spine of the team in place, and tactically there is a way of playing which is identifiable but almost impossible for an opponent to stop when executed well. Combine that with confidence, trust and the emotion of an Anfield matchday, and suddenly it all looks easy. As we know from 30 years in which many seasons were wretched, it is the hardest task in football to make it appear so simple.

Reddy: Shared experiences under a certified elite manager, under the club's one vision policy. Every setback - the 2016 League Cup and Europa League finals, Kiev, missing out on the league crown by a point - has primed Liverpool to grow into the strongest version of themselves. It generated belief in the players that they deserved to be at the top table, with those journeys reawakening the fanbase. That has created a powerful force, harnessed by the man who made it all possible - Jürgen Klopp. The first call Fenway Sports Group made to the German in 2015 set this whole process in motion and with the help of Michael Edwards, Mike Gordon, sensational staff at Melwood and a superb group of players, Liverpool have swaggered over the line.

Lynch: The incredibly talented players, brilliant backroom staff, and fantastic supporters go a long way, but it feels like none of this could have come together without the manager. In my eyes, Klopp is a modern-day Bill Shankly - not only is he a remarkable manager, he is a man whose principles dovetail perfectly with this club. Liverpool are so lucky to have such an inspirational figure in charge.

Maddock: Oh lord, where do we start? Consistency, relentless, mentality, spirit. Probably, though, above all else they have a sense of team unity that I've never seen before in the three decades I've been covering the club. The bond between the players has never been better, in my experience. We often hear about 'team spirit', but in this case, the way they support each other, work for each other, and genuinely seem to appreciate each other is special. All those old cliches about no 'I' in team and all that stuff? Well, they've proved it's right.

Atkinson: The sheer unrelenting focus on three points. Basically winning. I mean, there is something to be said for just deciding to win every week. But within that focus there is tremendous shape, there is constant support for teammates.

Doyle: We could talk about the recruitment (which has been excellent), the team spirit (which has been tremendous), the coaching staff (who have been superb), the unity with the fans (which is unparalleled), the backing of the club's owners (who have done what they said they'd do), the desire of everyone to succeed (which remains unquenched) and the ability of the players to deliver consistently their talent while realising the game plan (which has been remarkable). But really, the absolute key is down to one person. Jürgen Norbert Klopp. There's a reason why he was in tears on television directly after the title was secured. It's because he has put every single ounce of his being into helping the club become a success, and he's done that with talent, heart, empathy and a total understanding of what it takes to be the manager of Liverpool Football Club. Those tears were through joy and sheer relief. Liverpool have done it. And it's largely down to him.

King: Apart from outstanding players, there are a few key ingredients: relentlessness, hunger and the willingness to go the extra mile. The thing about this group is they are never beaten, in the tight games you always think they will nick a goal late on. During autumn, they won five games and drew another with goals after the 80th minute. That is not fortune. That is a sign of a team that believes it will win. 

• Premier League champions: Liverpool's class of 2019-20

Any standout game or performance that made you think this team were going to win the Premier League title?

Pearce: Leicester away on Boxing Day was massive. I feared for Liverpool that night after all the travel and getting home from winning the Club World Cup in Qatar. But they produced arguably their finest performance of the season to win 4-0. It was a real statement win. When Mohamed Salah scored late on to wrap up victory at home to Manchester United in January, that was the moment I truly believed the long wait for the title would be ended.

Bascombe: I think Leicester away was a real statement, especially after coming back from Qatar. There was a run of games either side of Christmas when, if it was going to get tricky, that was the moment. Liverpool blew Leicester away, and rather than being pulled towards the chasing pack, sprinted into the distance.

Reddy: The 4-0 win over Leicester, then considered title contenders in December, showed that this team were operating on a completely different scale. The victory over Manchester United at Anfield felt like taking a gigantic step towards the Holy Grail, but it was the battling performances that told the story of how much Liverpool wanted to be champions: 2-1 at Wolves, the reverse fixture against them, the ugly win at Tottenham. They kept turning up with the intention to show how serious they are about the title.

Lynch: Those two late goals at Aston Villa were a major turning point in terms of pulling away from Manchester City, but that visit to Leicester City on Boxing Day was the moment I truly thought the wait would be ended this year. All that travel from Qatar, the fact it was the team second in the league, and that it was away from home - I don't think anyone would have judged Liverpool too harshly had they slipped up. But they didn't, they produced arguably the club's best league performance since that famous 5-0 win over Nottingham Forest back in 1988. I remember looking round to a fellow journalist at full-time and he just shook his head at me in disbelief at the brilliance of what we'd seen. That about summed it up.

Maddock: For me, the win at Villa in November was a game where I stopped and said, 'Hang on, something's happening here.' They were three points clear at the time, and found themselves 1-0 down with three minutes to go, in hostile conditions. Lose, and questions would be asked, City would be breathing down their necks, and December with 12 matches in a month would look daunting. Somehow, they found the reserves to not just draw, but win with Sadio Mane's 94th-minute header. That was the moment when I thought it really could happen.

Atkinson: Leicester City away. But sort of Wolves away last season in a strange way. Then I thought, 'This side look like Premier League champions.'

Doyle: Leicester City away on Boxing Day. A clash of the top two, with Liverpool coming into the match having been in Qatar for the best part of a week while winning the FIFA Club World Cup. Leicester weren't just beaten - they were completely outclassed, Trent Alexander-Arnold posting the best performance by any Reds player this season, which is some going. The following day, Manchester City lost at Wolverhampton Wanderers. In reality, that was that.

King: Two: James Milner's penalty against Leicester on the first Saturday in October was celebrated as if it was the final week in April. It felt like a huge moment and the noise was absolutely incredible when he converted it. The other was Sadio Mane's header at Aston Villa in November. I was in the press box at Villa Park that day and the scenes in the away end were extraordinary, the players would have jumped in with the fans if they had been given the opportunity! When they followed up against Manchester City eight days later, they were effectively over the hill and far away. 

Sum up the job that Jürgen Klopp has done here since he was appointed as Liverpool manager...

Pearce: Magnificent. I don't think anyone has had a bigger impact on the club since Bill Shankly. Kop icons like Bob Paisley and Kenny Dalglish inherited successful squads and ensured the glory kept coming. From the moment he arrived, Liverpool have been on an upward curve. He galvanised the dressing room and the fanbase. He's the perfect fit for Liverpool with his charisma, his passion and his brand of attacking football. He has built an incredible team and helped each of these players maximise his potential. Winning the Champions League and then becoming the manager to end Liverpool's 30-year title wait puts him in the same bracket as Shankly, Paisley and Dalglish for me.

Bascombe: I wrote it after the title was confirmed. Before Klopp, Liverpool had spent 30 years searching for the next Shankly or Dalglish. The next Liverpool manager - and hopefully there will not be a new one for many years - will be compared to Klopp.

Reddy: It has been a complete metamorphosis. He has built Liverpool into a domestic and continental powerhouse again. Apart from the on-pitch progression, there's an incredibly strong unity flowing through the club and a happiness to be involved under him. There has also been important developments with the Main Stand, the new training facility, the Anfield Road development - Klopp is ensuring the impact of his tenure will be felt at Liverpool long after he leaves.

Lynch: I've said it earlier but, for me, comparisons with the great Bill Shankly are fully merited. That he has done all this with a net spend that is utterly dwarfed by the club's rivals near the top of the table says everything about his genius.

Maddock: Again, where do we start? He's proving to be the manager of his generation, isn't he? To take a team and win what he has in four-and-a-half years is pretty amazing. To do it on a net spend of less than £100m, against sides who have spent many times that, is remarkable. I think you sum up what he's done by pointing out fans from other clubs like him too. That's almost unheard of.

Atkinson: I think managers, especially at a club like Liverpool, set the mood music. And Klopp has done that to marvellous effect at Liverpool. He has created a culture of excellence but also a culture of openness, a culture of respect and one which emphasises collaboration. The whole club has been lifted by him in every way and everyone associated to the club is a credit to both it and to him and that matters immensely. He's obviously planned brilliantly but what he has also done is not back down from the challenge. It would have been easy to look at Pep Guardiola and Manchester City and plan for the day he leaves. Some of our rivals have done that, I'd argue. Not us. We've stepped up and up and up until there have been no more steps to take.

Doyle: It's one thing to come into a club and tick emotive boxes by saying you'll turn doubters into believers while removing the backpack of history. But it's quite another to actually then do it. What has been interesting for me is that Klopp has been allowed to fail. Liverpool didn't win the League Cup final in his first year. They didn't win the Europa League. They didn't qualify for the Champions League. They didn't win the European Cup in 2018. And they didn't win the Premier League the following year. That might have been too much for most leading clubs. Klopp, though, has managed to embrace those disappointments, use them instantly as positives and shown that even when ultimately losing, Liverpool remained on the right track. He kept everyone - the players, the fans and, of course, the owners - onside throughout that period. And now the reward is here for everyone to see.

King: I was looking through some files the other day and found some written after the Europa League final in Basel four years ago. A few words jumped out of one thing I had written: "a big opportunity missed". I struggled to think that Liverpool would battle for big titles any time soon but the following four years have proven to be almost faultless. The game that made me think Liverpool would win big trophies under Klopp was the nine-minute spell against Manchester City, in January 2018, when they went from 1-1 to 4-1 up in the blink of an eye. He has given Liverpool supporters a reason to puff out their chests and feel absolute pride. I can't find any higher words of praise. 

Liverpool player of the season?

Pearce: Jordan Henderson. There are so many contenders. Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah have been sensational, while Virgil van Dijk, Alisson and Trent Alexander-Arnold would also be in the mix. But the captain has been at the heart of this title triumph. His game went to the next level on the back of lifting that trophy in Madrid. It's been great to see Henderson finally get the wider credit he has long since deserved. The reason why the dressing room is so close-knit is down to him. He's a true leader, a model professional and the perfect role model for the youngsters coming through. But what this season has proven beyond doubt is that he's also a dynamic, top-class midfielder. His form has been tremendous. He deserves it.

Bascombe: There are so many. Personally, I think Virgil van Dijk has been the most consistent player, so good his brilliance is possibly underrated. Look at how many games Liverpool have won narrowly, and how many clean sheets kept. Obviously Alisson takes credit for that, but he is so well protected. However, Henderson will get my vote simply because - symbolically - it feels right. Jordan represents the evolution of the team, an example of what is possible if the raw talent is combined with application, professionalism, a willingness to be the best you can possibly be, while also embracing the responsibilities of being Liverpool captain. Henderson has been the full package this season. But you can name five players of the year. What about Sadio Mane? How can anyone ignore Trent Alexander-Arnold? Or Mo Salah? As Klopp says, they are 'a proper team'.

Reddy: This is such a difficult decision, because the collective truly is the star of this machine. Henderson has set the standard for this team, dragging them over the line in tight games and dictating matters in others. He has led with authority and with a tirelessness that has become a marker of this side. Trent Alexander-Arnold has said Liverpool do not get to this point without their captain and who would argue with that?

Lynch: This title win has been all about team effort, so it feels quite harsh to single someone out... but if I had to, I'd say Sadio Mane is my player of the season. There have been periods of this campaign when he has bordered on completely unplayable, and I love the fact that his game combines individual skill with self-sacrifice for the team. He's just brilliant.

Maddock: Henderson. For me, he sets the tone which drives the players, which underpins the team mentality. His influence on and off the pitch is massive, and without the standards he sets, I don't think there would be this level of success.

Atkinson: So many candidates but in amongst that we run the risk of overlooking Virgil van Dijk, who I think is an undisputed world leader in his position. He isn't just the best centre-back in the world, he's the best by a considerable distance.

Doyle: At times it has appeared Henderson was on a crusade to win the Premier League title. He remembered what it was like in 2014, and obviously he was skipper when 97 points wasn't enough last year. He has been consistently the best for the Reds and he deserves to be the one to pick up that trophy. A genuine Liverpool legend.

King: Easiest question of them all - Jordan Henderson. I keep hearing that one of the reasons he won the FWA Player of the Year is because he does lots of good work off the pitch. That may be so but let's not forget that he's been outstanding and in the finest form of his career. He's the glue that holds the team together. If he plays well, Liverpool play well. He might not get headlines but watch him closely and see how the team functions with him. He's been brilliant. 

Three trophies won this season, the Champions League last term, how does this side rank for you in terms of the great Liverpool teams we have seen over the years?

Pearce: I loved watching the Liverpool of the late 1980s and Rafa Benitez's side of 2008-09 was probably the best I'd seen at Anfield since then. But what Klopp has assembled surpasses anything I've witnessed from a Liverpool team in my lifetime.

Bascombe: It is unfair to compare different eras. Teams and players have more meaning to those who accompanied them on the journey to the first FA Cup in 1965 or European Cup in 1977. Until recently, the 1987-88 side was the one fans of my age would regard the greatest. But Klopp's men have attained a level of consistency over the last two years which no other at Anfield achieved. You must also consider the strength of their direct opponent, Manchester City. Some performances have been flawless. Wherever this team is eventually ranked in terms of greatness, the fact it will be part of the discussion alongside the best of Shankly, Paisley, Fagan and Dalglish is complimentary enough. We are talking elite levels here. Even those who dreamed of the next title could never have imagined it would be won in such a dominant manner, with players who sit alongside the greatest to play for the club.

Reddy: Consecutive Champions League finals, the benchmark-setting league hauls and the gathering of silverware puts this team right up there with the very best in the club's history. The scale of competition now, the financial might of rivals as well as the course correcting Liverpool had to do to return to this point should not be understated. Since Kenny Dalglish's first departure from the hotseat, every manager has struggled to overhaul Manchester United and then the new behemoths of Chelsea and Manchester City. Klopp has proven it's not about who has the most financial muscle, but the right structure, recruitment and collective aim.

Lynch: I think we'll only be able to make an accurate assessment on this when this team finally stops winning trophies, and I don't expect that to happen in the next couple of years. Make no mistake, the players who featured in the best sides in Liverpool's history will be looking over their shoulders right now.

Maddock: I think I've addressed that one already - but if they keep winning, then they'll rightly be ranked alongside the greatest.

Atkinson: I think they could be the greatest. They are up against the 1987-88 and 1978-79 vintage. The latter are possibly the best marker point and like this Liverpool side had stiff competition to overcome (in their case, Nottingham Forest) but like this side they just blew Forest away from the start of the season.

Doyle: I refer you to the answer I gave earlier. The best - although 1988 runs them close.

King: As I said at the beginning, it's not easy to make comparisons but what we can recognise is that they have put themselves in a bracket with the group from 1976-79 and 1981-84. They have won the biggest domestic trophy and the biggest one on the continent. If they win either of those titles again in the next couple of years, any doubt that you have been witness to greatness will be removed.

Do you fully expect this team to carry on winning trophies and are we witnessing a special era for Liverpool FC once again?

Pearce: It will be closer next season. Man City will come again, while I'd expect Chelsea and Manchester United to both be stronger. But I don't see this Liverpool team going anywhere. Most of the players are only just reaching their peak. There are some brilliant young players coming through to give the manager more options. The next two or three years promise to be just as thrilling. Everything is in place for this to be a true golden era for the club.

Bascombe: Absolutely, yes. No guarantees of silverware can be made, but going into next season it is already certain Liverpool will be challengers. Only injuries could stop that. As many of us have referenced in recent reports, Klopp and some of his players watched the brilliant sports documentary The Last Dance on Netflix. I was struck by the potential similarities between the Chicago Bulls NBA legends of the 1990s and Liverpool today - that long wait for the first title followed by the hunger to make sure a second and third immediately followed. What drove Michael Jordan? Memories of previous sporting agonies, knowing he and his teammates had to cash in when they knew they were the best, making sure standards never slipped. Nobody felt losing the Europa League final in 2016, Champions League final in 2018 and Premier League title so narrowly in 2019 was positive at the time. But now? I really believe it will help maintain the current level because these players truly know and understand the difference between agony and euphoria - and that keeps the stakes high every single week. Besides, even the ex-Chicago Bulls coach, Phil Jackson, looks a bit like Klopp and seemed to have the same man-management style. I hope we are talking about a successful Premier League defence in a year's time, and then the push for the 'three-peat' in 2022. But maybe I'm thinking too far ahead. For the moment, just enjoy Klopp's first, even though I would be surprised if it is the last.

Reddy: Absolutely. The first thing the manager, Henderson, Andy Robertson and everyone else that has been interviewed has said is this team wants more and that their mentality won't change. The ambition of Liverpool outweighs what has already been secured so strap in for many more intoxicating, trophy-lined adventures.

Lynch: These players don't need much geeing up, we've seen time and time again just how high their levels of motivation are. But they've also got Jürgen Klopp inspiring them day in, day out should they find it hard to go again next season. And so I've got no doubt they have everything in place to continue bringing trophies to Anfield.

Maddock: I don't think you can say you expect it. Dominance by one club seems an unlikely prospect. That is reflected in the fact the Premier League title has only been retained once in the last decade. But I think we are witnessing a special era for Liverpool. An era with some incredible players and a truly great manager.

Atkinson: I do, yes. But it won't be as straightforward as it has become this season. Some late winners may be saved; the ball may not bounce for us and, of course, a side may well go at a quicker rate than City have managed. However, Jordan Henderson is going to keep lifting silverware for a few seasons, so it is good he is the best trophy lifter of his generation.

Doyle: Let's be honest here - there's a reason why this Liverpool team is being celebrated so much. What they have achieved is utterly remarkable - reigning English, European and world champions. It is not going to be easy to maintain that level. In fact, they'll lose two of those titles by the end of the year. But there's no reason why this team cannot keep competing for the next four or five years with this core group of players. There are a lot of very good teams out there. But Liverpool are now the ones to beat. Why? Because they are clearly the best.

King: Absolutely. I would be pretty confident to say the Premier League trophy presentation will not be the last time Henderson gets to perform his shuffle with a piece of silverware in his hands. This group of players and manager haven't finished winning - not by a long way.

All views expressed here are those of the individual contributors and do not necessarily represent the position of Liverpool Football Club.