da luck： Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool revolution is beginning to show signs of improvement. After a flat league campaign last season and a dodgy Europa League final performance, the German has had the summer to build a squad and impose his tactical demands.
da cassino： It has worked wonders, at points. Successes against Leicester and Arsenal showed a team capable of reinventing the wheel, while a shambolic performance at Burnley looked like a Liverpool side who were still crippled with the pressure and disappointment of the Dalglish and Rodgers stints.
The excuses are in short supply this season. Klopp has very little to fall back on should they suffer another upper mid-table season, with everything seemingly in their favour. Squad depth means that injuries are hardly going to damage them, unless they lose four forwards long term, and the manager has had his time.
What is the best they can do this year? Top four? A shock title?
Well, anything less than top four is a failure…
Brexit-dreaming
Leaving Europe wasn’t popular in Liverpool. This season it could be very, very popular.
Just as in the great nearly year under Rodgers, there is no European distraction for Klopp’s Reds. No long trips on Thursdays, no tricky two-legged ties in the second half of the campaign could prove to make a real difference. It did for Leicester.
The energy required to play in the line-breaking, counterpressing Klopp system can see teams suffer severe burnout. Without the physical and mental stresses of many multiple game weeks, it should give the squad a real edge.
Big game, big name
As they have already shown against the champions and the perennial nearly men, Liverpool have a squad capable of playing the best off the pitch. The greatest challenge will naturally come against the two Manchester clubs, but they have already given an indication of their capabilities.
An ability to out score any opposition makes Liverpool a consistent threat. Through the quality of their forwards, they can produce some unstoppable performances. Pace, chemistry and laser-accurate shooting make for a pretty devastating combination.
Winning big games is not only a boost to their position in the table, but will get the Kop dreaming and we saw in 2013/14 that momentum can Liverpool a long way.
One of the best
Jurgen Klopp is one of the best managers in world football, it is that simple.
With such prestige, however, comes great responsibility. Where lesser managers could down talk any expectations, Klopp was brought in to take Liverpool back to the good old days and he must get that time machine cranked up sooner rather than later.
The bedding in period has previously taken the German a while, but there is no such patience with Liverpool. This year, even if a title push is a step too far, a top four finish will be seen as the bare minimum for a club who have invested so heavily in their squad.