What's the difference between confident and tentative?

Jurgen Klopp has a right to ask that question because at the Emirates on Friday went from one to the other in the space of barely a minute.

In fact, they went from swaggering control, to shambling nervous wreck with just one goal, and it was painful to watch.

I asked myself afterwards how it happened. How could a team in total control, who should have been five ahead at half-time, got from a match-winning position to trailing in the space of five minutes?

The answer must be mentality...and sadly it looks like Liverpool are beginning to actually believe the criticism that was so viciously aimed at them earlier in the season.

If you look at what happened, Arsenal were all over the place, they were outplayed and looked scared to death of Liverpool’s pace and movement.

Liverpool dropped two points at Arsenal (
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Action Images via Reuters)

In fact, they seemed to spend virtually the first hour lumping long balls forwards because they didn’t want possession. One goal should not change that situation.

If you were Liverpool at 2-0 and then you concede, then you have to believe you are so much the better side you can go down the other end and score again. At will.

Instead, they seemed to collectively say, ‘here we go again’, just because they conceded a goal.

That’s a problem, because no side – not even Manchester City at the moment – go through matches without conceding.

The top teams concede all the time, but back themselves to score again. Liverpool seem to think one goal against them spells trouble. And again, I can only assume that’s a mentality thing.

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Arsenal FC)

They had only conceded three goals in their last eight games, and two of them were dodgy pens. In fact, the third was a fluke. So confidence should have been higher than the Emirates roof.

Maybe people have been saying it so much about them, that they are fragile, that they make too many mistakes (and yeah, the keeper should have done much better for the second goal) it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, even after such an impressive defensive run.

Didn’t Liverpool have the best defensive record of all the top teams over the past two months, even City?

You’d never have guessed it, and I think that’s ­because it always lurks there deep in the mindset once something has been exposed.

I’ve been there myself. When I was at Liverpool in the 90s, we had a team that was a match for anyone, anywhere. We could always beat the top teams, we were so attractive to watch and at times we scored goals for fun.

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But we seemed to always throw a performance in where we were cruising, just as Liverpool were on Friday, and then blow it.

I remember a game at Chelsea in the FA Cup back in 1997. Honestly, we were so much in control I had my slippers on. I scored early, Stan Collymore scored before half time, and we should have been six up by the break. Sound familiar?

They brought on Mark Hughes at half time, we conceded one, started to panic and eventually lost 4-2. It was one of the most frustrating afternoons of my life...just stood there up front watching the carnage, knowing there was nothing you could do as a forward to change it unless they gave me the ball.

So it’s been going on for 20 years or more. It was similar at times in the Brendan Rodgers era. I don’t know why, and maybe it’s just a co-incidence, but it certainly is a mentality thing.

I would say this. Liverpool should have smashed Arsenal by half time, and it was always a problem they were only one up at the interval. You kind of sensed they’d pay for those misses.

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IAN KINGTON/AFP/Getty Images)

But I will never moan at players for missed chances. Two of the best opportunities fell to Mo Salah, and who can criticise him this season? He’s been awesome.

Reminds me of me sometimes (especially that pace!).

Klopp (below) said recently that his sides will always play fair, that he wants to win in the right way. He said he’d never resort to gamesmanship, or ‘game management’ as it’s called these days.

But maybe he should reconsider that.

Liverpool should not only have won at the Emirates, they should have recorded one of the great victories.

Instead they dropped two more points, and they’re so far behind in the title race they need snookers.

Perhaps it’s time to start changing the tempo after they get leads, not changing their ­mentality.