Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool have been a team which have impressed us so far with their offensive quality this season. Last season, Klopp took the job of managing Liverpool in October, after the club decided to part with Brendan Rodgers. Liverpool had a mixed season and finished 8th in the league but fared well in the League Cup as well as the Europa League, reaching the finals of both the competitions.
Even though they lost on both the occasions, the progress which the team made under the new manager was evident. It is always difficult to inherit any team midway through a season, without having the required time to get to know the strengths and weaknesses of the side while trying to play with the system a manager wants his team to play.
Klopp during his time at Mainz and Dortmund impressed everybody with the attacking football and applying a particular brand of Counter Pressing system off the ball, which came to be known as ‘Gegenpressing’.
This season, the German manager has had a chance of assessing his team and prepare them in the pre-season. There was also a good amount of money spent on the transfers as the club added a bit of pace and experience to his squad for the new season. Sadio Mane, Joel Matip and Ragnar Klavan have all made impacts since their arrival. The attacking players have gelled in really well giving the Merseyside club one of the best attacking line in the league.
Liverpool have scored 16 goals already in their 6 Premier League matches but there have been some problems in the defence which have seen them conceded 9 goals.
Klopp has taken a very realistic approach and the German pinpointed some of the things which needs more attention. Recently, when asked on what he thinks about the bookmakers making The Reds, the second best bet to win the title at 5/1, only behind Manchester City who are priced at 8/13, Klopp said, “I don’t understand the numbers, I know where I come from, you keep your money, you don’t do something like this! It is not important for me but it is better to have an optimistic mood around. It’s nice to see [the table] but the one problem is the number, it is six games now so it’s at an early stage which is the only problem. I’m happy about this but I know there is a long way to go.”
Trying to break into the Champions League places rather than winning the title is a much more feasible aim, which Klopp seems to have at the moment as he tries to take it one step at a time.
In all fairness, Liverpool do have a very good squad with a very good forward line and multiple options in the midfield as well. The full-back positions might be looked at again in the January transfer window but overall there is depth in the squad, which sets it up perfectly for a good season for Liverpool compared to their last one in the Premier League.
The red half of Merseyside certainly have the ingredients to break into the top four for this season and then take it forward from there methodically just as their coach envisions.
