Paul McGrath: Erik ten Hag got rid of showboaters and now has Manchester United playing as a team

But I will just say this in the wake of their 5-2 thrashing by Real Madrid last week – that either the spark has gone out of Jurgen Klopp or the spark has gone out of the players.

Klopp just doesn’t seem to have the fire or passion anymore.

At each of the two clubs he managed to serious success before Liverpool – Mainz and Borussia Dortmund – he walked away rather than start a rebuild when that success had run its natural course.

The sort of rebuild that Alex Ferguson achieved, time and again, at Old Trafford.

Has the German just had enough, in mind and body, of the struggle to keep up with Manchester City with nothing like the transfer funds Pep Guardiola enjoys?

Or is it that the players have had enough?

Turning one draw into a win last season would have won the Scousers the Premier League title and they only lost in the European Cup Final itself.

They were two more wins away from an incredible four-timer.

But since then many Liverpool players have been to a World Cup too.

Have they just had enough? Top Liverpool players looked weary and worn on Tuesday night.

Whatever it is, surely, surely, the very minimum is that there have to be many new bodies on the playing staff at Anfield next season.

Whether there is a new manager in the dug-out will be down to Klopp alone.

Today Liverpool will hand over one of the trophies won last season, the Carabao Cup, to either Manchester United or Newcastle United at Wembley.

The clubs come into the game off very different backgrounds.

The Magpies were shot down in their last match by Liverpool in a humbling manner – the Red Devils go into the game off the back of a brilliant defeat of Barcelona that has ignited their season.

Reduced to playing Loris Karius in goal, the odds are surely against Newcastle.

They will run into Manchester’s Marcus Rashford in sizzling form and into a United side buzzing with confidence.

Former full-back Luke Shaw is a player reborn since Erik ten Hag turned him into a centre-half – and certainly the whole United side is now unrecognisable from the team of early this season.

They are now one win away from a first piece of silverware since 2017.

That is surely down to Ten Hag taking control of the dressing room, and getting rid of the likes of Paul Pogba and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Pogba can be a great footballer, Ronaldo IS one of the greatest ever, but too often the concept of ‘team’ was lost on the pair of them.

Manchester United are a team now – and are all the better for it.

They are still in the running for three cups this season and for the minimum of fourth place in the Premier League that would be a passport to next season’s Champions League.

And being in that place allows you to buy the very best players.

But Newcastle, even without Nick Pope available in goal, will not go down easily.

The club last won a trophy, the equivalent of the now-Europa League, in 1969 – and since then have lost six finals.

Their supporters are fanatics, who yearn for a slice of glory, and many neutrals will be willing them to a famous victory this afternoon.

They do have a strong defence and Allan Saint-Maximin, Joelinton and Callum Wilson are three very dangerous attackers.

Saint-Maximin, in particular, will be very much at home on the big Wembley pitch today.

The more space for him to try his wing-wizardry the better.

While Brazilian midfielder Bruno Guimaraes has been a revelation this season – and he is back this afternoon after missing the Liverpool loss because of a suspension.

Eddie Howe has done brilliantly as the Newcastle manager, there is no doubt about that.

It is one thing to get a load of transfer money from a wealthy owner, it is another thing altogether to use that windfall wisely – and that is what Howe has done.

His defence has been mean all season and they will need to be once again today.

You just can’t see 90, or maybe 120, minutes of the final passing without Rashford, Casemiro, Bruno Fernandes or Alejandro Garnacho getting the one chance of the goal that might win it all for United today.