It is quite something to hear the Head Coach of Plymouth Argyle interviewed before a weekend’s game and refer to the opposition as ‘the best team in the world’.
It is even more startling to consider the fact that he may well have a point.
It is not a metric one can easily prove, but if you consider, as many do, that Europe is the centre of footballing excellence on the planet and, if you consider, as many do, that the Premier League is the strongest league in Europe, then the fact that Liverpool are top of the Premier League – comfortably – and topped the new UEFA Champions League table, then it is a strong argument to put forward: Liverpool are the best team in the world.
No pressure, then, for an Argyle side bottom of the Sky Bet Championship, 43 places below the Reds. For Miron Muslic, a man who is a big fan of his Liverpool counterpart, former Feyenoord boss Arne Slot, it all about striking a balance, on two fronts.
In isolation, the Liverpool challenge: enjoy it, but give them a game. On the biggest picture, do what you can against Liverpool, but consider that a league game against Millwall, three days later, could well be more important in the long term.
“Right now, Liverpool are the best team in the world, so we are very much looking forward to having them here at Home Park,” said Miron.
“We deserve this as a club, as an organisation. The Green Army deserves to have this kind of game, against the best team in the world.
“This is not exaggerating, if you can dominate the Premier League, and if you can dominate the Champions League like they are doing.
“For us, we need to enjoy playing against the leader of the Premier League, to feel also what it takes to be on that level. That's experience we want to gain. We want to learn from this game, and we want to enjoy this game.
“It's about finding a good balance between going fully and enjoying this game on Sunday, and being super competitive, trying to represent Argyle as best as possible.
“But, just three days later, we face another very important game, against Millwall. That's a task for us as a staff to find the right balance, to enjoy and go fully on Sunday and to be ready and competitive to get the three points on Wednesday.
“We will not go outside and surrender from minute one. We will go outside from the first whistle and say: ‘Okay, this is Liverpool. This is potentially the biggest club in the world right now, but we are here to challenge them - and we will try.’
“I mentioned in several interviews how I admire Arne Slot. I was in Rotterdam two times in the last two-and-a half years to see them play, to see him coaching. I just think Slot is a complete coach.
“We are speaking about a world class coach, so I have to come up with some solutions, I guess.”
Argyle do come into the game with a bit of momentum, having played two of the stronger teams in their own division, and emerged with four points. A 2-2 draw at Sunderland was followed by a 2-1 win against West Bromwich Albion, both results laced with performances of grit, heart and courage.
Muslic said: “Sunderland was a huge confidence boost and, against West Brom, we felt how it is to win a game after a long, long time.
“Finally, we rewarded ourselves with three points and, finally, we rewarded the Green Army - they suffered a lot, so the joy was visible. You can hear it; you can feel it.
“On those moments we have to build and to carry on, not only against Liverpool, but what happens afterwards, because the challenging days are after Liverpool. I will put the priority to make us as competitive as possible so in the end we can also achieve the big, big goal we have: to stay up.”
