Klopp and Liverpool reload for their best tilt at title for years

by Renny Thomas

Premier League: 4th

FA Cup: 4th Round (Lost vs West Bromwich Albion)

Carabao Cup: 3rd Round (Lost vs. Leicester City)

Jurgen Klopp heads into his 4th season as the Liverpool manager hoping to build on the momentum of last year’s run to the 2018 UEFA Champions League Final in Kiev.  While their 3-1 defeat to Real Madrid eventually failed to net the coveted title, they also made little progress towards the aim of finally achieving the title that has eluded all other recent Liverpool squads: Premier League Champions.

With the summer reinforcements to the squad coming in the form of Naby Keita, Fabinho and goalkeeper Allison Becker joining a talented Liverpool attack, the Reds have added the depth, flexibility and a certain bit of toughness to help manage the difficult grind of the 2018 Premier League season. With talent and depth rivaling current champions, Manchester City, will this be the year that Liverpool Football Club take the next step?

Summer Transfer Season

Liverpool’s run through the UEFA Champions league tournament showed that the Merseyside club were on the cusp of being one of the truly elite football clubs in the world. Their defeat to Real Madrid in the final however showed exactly why they still needed a bit more work to get to the levels of Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and the like. Klopp. Liverpool’s front office spent around £170 million to bring in reinforcements to help close that gap.

The club have fortified their midfield. Monaco’s defensive midfielder Fabinho and RB Leipzig’s Naby Keita have joined, the latter after agreeing to terms for the midfielder almost 12 months ago. Fabinho’s signing should provide much needed stability in front of Liverpool’s back four and should be an upgrade over captain Jordan Henderson, once he gets acclimated to life in the Premier League.  Fabinho’s incessant work rate and keen defensive instincts will allow Liverpool to keep their trademark aggressiveness without suffering defensively.

Naby Keita’s long awaited addition to the team should be for Liverpool’s midfield what Mohamed Salah’s addition was to Liverpool’s attack last year.  Keita’s creativity and playmaking ability in tight spaces should matter when Salah and the rest of the attack are denied space to run into. Keita and Fabinho’s presence will allow Liverpool to score more goals from outside their big three of Sadio Mane, Roberto Firminho, and Salah and possibly allow the Reds to be a more multi-dimensional club.

Liverpool’s efforts to stabilise their weaknesses this summer included spending a record breaking £65 million acquisition of Allison Becker from Roma, the most expensive fee for a goalkeeper ever. Following incumbent goalkeeper Loris Karius’ nightmare match in the UEFA Champions League, the Reds sought to shore up one of their points of uncertainty by bringing in the Brazilian keeper. Becker will be a considerable upgrade over both Karius and the Red’s third keeper, Simon Mignolet.  

Becker’s 79.3% save percentage is in line with some of the best at the position in the world (Manchester United’s David De Gea save percentage comes in at 80.3%). Allison’s distribution is just as effective, allowing Liverpool’s counterattack to be that much more effective.

While some of Jurgen Klopp’s summer acquisitions may garner more of the headlines,  the £13 million acquisition of Xherdan Shaqiri may end up being the best signing of the summer. The Stoke winger will provide some much needed quality off of the bench and will serve as a nightmare for opponents as a 70th minute super substitute.  The questions surrounding Shaqiri’s desire and focus still exists but Klopp may be the manager to tap into the potential that Shaqiri’s pace and skill allude to.

What to expect this season

Liverpool is a club built to compete for the Premier League title and Jurgen Klopp’s offseason moves have put the club in a position to legitimately challenge Manchester City for the title.  Mane, Firminho and  Salah will look to bring back the ferocious attack that paced the Reds last year and the new additions will allow this trio the freedom to play a little more naturally in attack.  

With some of the other major clubs like Manchester United (management/chemistry) and Chelsea (new talent) having serious questions surrounding them, the stars are aligning for Liverpool to finally win the Premier League title.

Players In: Fabinho (Monaco, £40m), Naby Keita (RB Leipzig, Undisclosed), Xherdan Shaqiri (Stoke City, £13m), Alisson Becker (Roma, £67m)

Players Out: Yan Dhanda (Swansea City, free), Ovie Ejaria (Rangers, loan), Emre Can (Juventus, free), Jon Flanagan (Rangers, free), Jordan Williams (Rochdale, loan), Adam Bogdan (Hibernian, loan), Harry Wilson (Derby, loan), Ryan Kent (Rangers, loan), Danny Ward (Leicester City, £12.5m), Shamal George (Tranmere, loan), Ben Woodburn (Sheffield United, loan), Taiwo Awoniyi (Gent, loan), Paulo Alves (Wolves, free), Andy Firth (Barrow, undisclosed), Allan (Frankfurt, loan), Danny Ings (Southampton, loan)

Predicted Finish: 2nd