Roy Keane was furious with Liverpool boss as Premier League manager concedes the title
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Roy Keane once called out Jurgen Klopp for conceding the Premier League, just as Enzo Maresca has done this season.
Despite being just over a month into the campaign, the Chelsea boss appears to have given up hope of his side adding the league title to the Club World Cup crown they won in the summer.
Reigning champions Liverpool are already five points clear at the top after five wins from five, while the Blues, in sixth, are seven points off the pace following Saturday’s 2-1 defeat at Manchester United.
Despite both sides having a whopping 33 games left to play, Maresca reckons the Reds, who spent more than £400million on new recruits in the summer, are too strong to reel in.
The Italian, whose side visit Lincoln in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday night, said: “If they continue in this way, I think it is impossible to catch them, not just for us, but for all the clubs.
“They have been doing a fantastic job since last year, and the players they have decided to buy shows the intention of the club to go again for the Premier League and the Champions League, and that is quite clear.”
Klopp made similar comments in February 2021, when the German conceded that Manchester City, who were 13 points clear of Liverpool at the time, were too far ahead to catch.
We are not worrying about the title, we are not silly.”
That kind of defeatism didn’t sit well with Keane, who slammed Liverpool for making excuses following a spate of injuries and calling them “bad champions.”
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“They are making a lot of excuses.
But despite making a reasonable start, it seems Maresca already believes a title challenge is beyond them.
He is not the first Chelsea boss to concede the title, although Jose Mourinho's admission that it was all over for his side during the 2013/14 season came in March, not September, following a defeat at Crystal Palace.
It had been a three-way fight with Liverpool and City, who were grateful to the Blues for winning at Anfield a few weeks later in the match infamous for Steven Gerrard’s crucial slip, which let Demba Ba in for Chelsea’s opening goal in a 2-0 win.
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