Liverpool can dominate but Jurgen Klopp must forge Bob Paisley’s mean-eyed attitude to winning
[article]The time to strengthen is not when you are struggling. It’s when you’re on top. Jurgen Klopp must build on success this summer.
The Liverpool manager knows this. It was the policy used to create Anfield’s periods of domination in the past and the 51-year-old is ideally placed to replicate those glory days. Winning the Champions League is a beginning, not an end.
Klopp has a fine squad and should have even more options next year. The defence is solid and Joe Gomez’s return to full fitness after fracturing his leg will give the German greater depth at centre half. He does not need to do much tinkering at the back.
If Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain comes back from his cruciate ligament injury anywhere near his best the midfield will take on a much more dangerous look. The 25-year-old provides thrust going forward and will add goals to a unit that is sometimes shot-shy. James Milner, Georginio Wijnaldum, Naby Keita, Jordan Henderson and Fabinho contributed just 12 goals in the Premier League last season (three of Milner’s were penalties) and that is not enough. Manchester City’s midfielders got 29. Adding firepower in this area is crucial.
Oxlade-Chamberlain has an eye for goal and provides a link between the front three and the midfield. Keita, who was bought with a view to scoring from deep, has not yet settled into Klopp’s team. Fabinho, too, is some way short of his full potential. Both will be expected to show more in the coming campaign but Oxlade-Chamberlain’s return is provoking the most excitement.
Daniel Sturridge’s departure underlines the need for more cover up front. The sentimentalists will look at Divock Origi’s vital interventions last season and be content if the Belgian stays at Anfield.
Klopp may not see it that way. Goals against Everton, Newcastle United, Barcelona and the killer strike that made it 2-0 against Tottenham Hotspur in Madrid cannot disguise Origi’s limitations. The 24-year-old is not mobile enough to suit Liverpool’s style. There is too much of a drop off when Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane or Mo Salah are injured. Xherdan Shaqiri is not the answer, either. Klopp’s biggest problem this summer is to find a player who can slot into the front three and maintain the standard.
An argument can be made that Liverpool do not need to buy. The morale of the group is sky high and bringing in newcomers always runs the risk of disrupting the chemistry. The counterargument is simple: in football, you never stand still. You are always moving backwards or forwards. New faces ensure there is no complacency.
“Bob Paisley was a master of freshening up the squad,” Graeme Souness, the captain of Liverpool’s all-conquering early 1980s team, said. “He was always thinking ahead. Within about 20 minutes of the last game of the season – even if it was the European Cup final – the staff would collect all the medals and put them in a box. They were last year’s. It was time to think about next season. We’d get the medals back in preseason. The next trophy was always the best.”
Liverpool have a chance to enter a period of domination. Manchester City are English football’s best side but are about to be sanctioned by Uefa over breaches of the Financial Fair Play rules. The Premier League are also investigating City’s spending. Next season is likely to be overshadowed by appeals to the Court of Arbitration for Sport and, if that fails, the Swiss legal system. The turmoil this will cause cannot fail to have an effect on the performances of Pep Guardiola’s team.
Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea are rebuilding from a position of weakness. Spurs have a core of good players but a thin squad. The price of moving to the new White Hart Lane is that there is less cash to spend in the transfer market and Mauricio Pochettino has more holes to fill than Klopp. If Liverpool can strengthen judiciously, they will be in position to go one better in their title battle with City.
Fenway Sports Group, the owners, came to Merseyside nine years ago with some wild ideas. The Americans thought they were cleverer than most people in football and believed that they could find talent cheaply and develop young players at Anfield. The results were patchy. Youngsters with potential found it hard to grow in teams that were struggling to make an impact.
Now, though, the policy can work. Players with room to blossom can be eased into Klopp’s plans. Anyone joining the club now does not have to make an immediate impact. Michael Edwards and his recruitment team are no longer looking for saviours.
High-class, expensive signings work, as Virgil van Dijk and Alisson Becker show. In their present position, Liverpool need only one player of proven quality – up front – and can then afford to look for bargains. Money will be available. They cannot sit still.
The next step in the team’s progression will be to forge the sort of mean-eyed attitude to winning their 1980s predecessors developed.
“When we turned up for the preseason team photograph and there was only one trophy on it we were disappointed,” Souness said. “We wanted lots of silverware.”
Klopp wants a bigger haul of honours, too. The Champions League trophy is just a foundation. The building must not stop.[/article]
