Liverpool's 2-0 win over Spurs lifted the pressure on Jurgen Klopp that never should have been on him

It was a little silly both in real time and retrospect. The notion that Liverpool might somehow be better off if Jurgen Klopp was no longer its manager didn’t really sit well with gut feel or logic. Sure, the Reds were living through a tough stretch, failing to win five straight Premier League matches. Creditable ties with Manchester United and league leaders Chelsea had been followed by losses to bottom-feeders Swansea City and Hull City.

Title hopes were evaporating.

[ FC Yahoo: Twitter | Facebook | Tumblr | Blog ]

And giving up seven goals in three games to relegation-threatened Sunderland, Swansea and Hull is intolerable for a club of Liverpool’s stature.

Certainly, Liverpool was in a bad way.

[ Newsletter: Get 5 great stories from Yahoo Sports blogs in your inbox every day! ]

Yet Liverpool is also in the best shape it’s been in for years. Maybe in as long as a decade, when the club last reached the Champions League final under Rafa Benitez – incidentally also the last time the club really mattered, other than the brief spasm of competence during the 2013-14 Premier League title race, before that was frittered away.

Now, the club has a broad and young core of talented players who could stick around for years. It has, at last, regained an identity. And it has a manager with real ideas and a track record of building sustainable success. What’s more, Liverpool has played some of its best soccer in eons this season.

The nature of the Premier League is impatient. But since Klopp is still only a little over a year into the job, dumping him now – after recently signing a new six-year contract, no less – would have been impetuous at best and self-destructive at worst. Liverpool, like it or not, is still very much a rebuilding project that’s simply ahead of schedule in the sense that the team is already competing for things Last season’s surprise run to the Europa League final possibly wasn’t helpful, in that it inflated expectations prematurely.

At any rate, the pressure on Klopp eased considerably on Saturday, after his sixth-placed side finally won its first home game of 2017, on the sixth attempt, in a 2-0 win over fellow Chelsea-chasers Tottenham Hotspur, who sat in second place going into the match.

Mauricio Pochettino’s Spurs made another sluggish start and a vigorous Liverpool put the visitors on the back foot immediately. Where the Reds were spirited and feisty, their opponents didn’t really get going all game long.

Liverpool pressed high, cluttering the Spurs’ midfield and harassing their defenders. Klopp’s team played with an intensity of an entirely different magnitude from their opponents. And in a first half that produced all the major chances – and goals – of the game, that produced a flurry of opportunities.

In the 16th minute, Georginio Wijnaldum sent an inch-perfect through ball for the outstanding Sadio Mane from deep. The Senegalese forward held off Ben Davies and beat Hugo Lloris with a scooped finish as he seemed to stumble.

Just two minutes later, Liverpool broke away again after Eric Dier was caught dallying on the ball in the back. Adam Lallana’s shot blocked by Lloris and so was Roberto Firmino’s. But the French goalkeeper got no help at all from his defense. And so Mane got to volley home with superb technique for his brace.

Klopp, understandably, was as stoked as ever.

In the following minutes, another Spurs turnover yielded a chance for Mane, who hit the side netting. And then Lloris denied his bid for a hat-trick with a good reaction save.

The Spurs only really threatened in the 26th minute, when Heung-Min Son had a look but decided to shoot at Simon Mignolet, rather than feed the wide-open Harry Kane to his right. The Belgian goalkeeper was up to the task. Dele Alli then had a header, but the tricky angle prevented him from getting much on it.

Firmino also declined to score on yet another break. No matter, the expected goals map of the first half told the entire story.

Liverpool required no more goals to coast through the second half, when Spurs couldn’t must a significant offensive either.

And so the Reds vaulted back into fourth place, although fifth-place Manchester City has a game in hand and doesn’t play at Bournemouth until Monday. The Spurs’ loss meant that Chelsea can extend its lead some more at Burnley on Sunday – to 10 or even 12 points.

After a run of six straight wins, Tottenham has now won just once in their last four games. And so, as it goes at the high end of the Premier League, the pressure shifts away from Liverpool and onto another team.

Leander Schaerlaeckens is a soccer columnist for Yahoo Sports. Follow him on Twitter @LeanderAlphabet.