Lack of Anfield crowd is the biggest plus point for Liverpool’s Premier League rivals next term

Liverpool have all the advantages going into the new season except for one thing. The crowd. Support has been a huge factor in the success of Jurgen Klopp’s team. The way they draw energy from the supporters gives real meaning to the phrase “on song”.

This week it was announced that the Community Shield against Arsenal will be played in front of empty stands at Wembley on August 29. The British government and the football authorities are keen to get people back into the stadiums but it will not be an easy process. A number of clubs conducted feasibility studies earlier in the summer that suggested it would take around four hours to funnel 25,000 fans into position to watch Premier League football live. Getting them out after the final whistle presented even more difficulties.

That was in a period of stricter lockdown limitations on movement and social distancing but uncertainty over the pandemic’s direction means it is hard to imagine returning to pre-Coronavirus conditions any time soon. Football will be a largely televisual sport for some months to come.

Every club in the top flight suffers from the lack of atmosphere but Liverpool are arguably the worst affected by the absence of supporters. This is not because of the legendary Anfield roar. It is a particular quirk of Klopp’s side that they feed off the noise and excitement from the terraces. There have been Liverpool teams over the years that seemed oblivious to the tumult around them as they went about their business with dispassionate efficiency. These title-winners are more emotionally tuned in to the mood on the terraces and are visibly influenced by the bedlam around them.

Compare the champions with Manchester City. Pep Guardiola’s men have a different approach. They operate as if games are a training session. Their lockdown football had the same vitality and vim as when the Etihad is full. Opposing fans sometimes mock City supporters but there is little basis for such criticism. They are as passionate as any of their rivals – although the layout and acoustics of the Etihad do them no favours. It is just that Guardiola’s side perform with a different temperamental perspective. The crowd does not seem to influence their tempo – at least in a positive manner. The opposite has sometimes occurred, as at Anfield in the first leg of the quarter final of the Champions League two years ago, where City froze in the frenzy and were beaten 3-0.

This year’s Champions League mini-tournament in Lisbon with its one-off ties and spectatorless stadiums is set up for City. No team is more suited to take advantage of the situation. If the English side beat Lyon on Saturday, they face Barcelona or Bayern Munich. With home advantage removed Guardiola has the edge over both of his former clubs.

The antiseptic nature of the games in the Portuguese capital would not suit Liverpool. That has ramifications for the coming campaign. Everything is set up for the team to repeat their title-winning feat. Klopp has the best balanced first XI and is the only “big six” manager who can be confident about his defence. The 53-year-old can afford to tinker with his squad rather than rebuilding. While Manchester United are embroiled in another long-running transfer saga trying to prise Jadon Sancho away from Borussia Dortmund, Klopp was able to shore up the left back position by signing Kostas Tsimikas from Olimpiakos. The Greek defender may not be the most exciting summer addition but the German does not need game-changers. Liverpool already have plenty of them.

Effectively winning the league before the Coronavirus-generated hiatus began meant that June and July could be treated as an elongated preseason. The Liverpool manager had one eye on September while his main competitors were still going flat out. City’s final game of 2019-20 could be the Champions League final a week on Sunday, a mere six days before the Community Shield signals the start of the new campaign. The Kop could not wish for a better set of circumstances.

But when the fixtures are released – some time before August 21 – the pack trying to chase down Liverpool will hope the computer sends them to Anfield in the autumn before anything like normality has been restored. Quieting the crowd is an essential component of away games and it is even more vital in the case of Klopp’s team. Visiting sides will regard it as a bonus if they do not have to think about dampening the atmosphere.

The German is fond of calling his players “mentality monsters” because of their refusal to submit in games that appear to be beyond them. He will work on getting their mindset right for the new conditions. Yet there is an almost visceral zest about Liverpool when the atmosphere boils up. The players embrace the mania and, in response, feed the clamour. The symbiotic relationship between the team and the supporters is more pronounced than at any other club in the top flight. Bill Shankly talked of the Kop “sucking the ball into the net” but this is different. The regularity of Anfield’s fission reaction makes it unlike anything experienced in the club’s history.

Liverpool should start the new season well prepared and in perfect shape. Klopp has shown he can get a tune out of these players. The best hope for the rest of the division is that in the emptiness of early-season stadiums, the games will be like a musical without songs for the champions. The bad news for the rest is that Liverpool never do anything quietly.