What do Liverpool aim for this year?

Interesting times over on Merseyside this year. Liverpool are fresh off the back of their worst finish since Klopp’s first season in charge, leaving them without Champions league football for the first time in 6 years. Couple this with also losing huge figures in the dressing room and on the pitch such as Henderson, Milner, Fabinho and Firmino to name just a few and you would be reasonable as an outsider to think that optimism must be  hard to come by for one of the Countries biggest clubs. So is the season over before it’s even begun? Or will the new faces brought in inject a much needed fresh dynamic back into this Liverpool side. 

We know that the bare minimum that should be expected from any side that has Jurgen as their manager and players like Van Dijk, Allison and Salah amongst their starting 11, should be reaching the Champions league. Football isn’t always as simple as that, as last season showed, but the Liverpool fans have an unwavering support for their team and their players and they will be expecting a swift return to Europe’s elite competition. Fortunately for Liverpool and the rest of the EPL, new changes to the qualification means that the English league will more than likely receive a 5th UCL spot for next season, so in a worst case scenario even if Liverpool were to match their poor season from last year it would still be enough to qualify for the UCL. But is that enough for the fans? Is that the aim this year? We mentioned the many changes that the team has already gone through so maybe it is realistic to just aim to stabilise the club and view this season as more of a transitional year. 

But with the previous players mentioned, alongside a couple of new ones, Liverpool are still one of the most dangerous sides in world football, however it’s impossible to ignore glaring holes in the squad. The players brought into the midfield so far, along with emerging talent such as Bajcetic will help mix some fresh legs with the extremely experienced senior players already in the squad. The first 11 only feels like two players off being complete and ready to compete with City, Arsenal and any other team that is up for the title charge. A new midfielder to replace the surprising departure of Fabhino, and a left sided CB to play alongside Van Dijk. Liverpool have clearly earmarked Southampton’s Romeo Lavia as the ideal replacement to play in that midfield role, and with the two clubs seemingly only 4 million apart in their negotiations it will surely be a matter of when rather than if that deal goes through. But news regarding a new CB has been worryingly quiet and FSG’s reputation of being excessively prudent with new signings, coupled with a lack of top left footed CB’s on the market, is leaving Liverpool fans with a worrying prospect. One target that was linked to the side earlier in the summer has recently been announced as a Spurs new signing Van Der Ven, but perhaps the Liverpool board thought he was not the right fit (bulked at the 40 million fee).

But it’s not just the first 11 that will dictate how Liverpool do this season, the size of the squad is considerably smaller than last season with 6 permanent outgoings compared to the 2 that have come in through the door. So will it be enough to just sign a minimum of two players for the first team? Despite no Champions League football, they will want to treat the Europa League with a level of seriousness especially if they manage to reach the later stages but with the current squad size that would be a tremendous amount of football for the current squad especially when you consider some of the players are starting to get on the wrong side of 30. Simply put, Liverpool need faces through the door if they are to compete in 4 competitions this year, or risk burn out during the second half of the season, especially with how Klopp likes to have his sides play.

We are now days away from the start of the new season and there may be some cause for concern amongst fans. But the transfer window has plenty of time left before it ‘slams’ shut. There is without a doubt enough quality for this side to get off to a good start without any new signings, but if they are to seriously mount a title challenge, they will surely need to bring in another 3-5 players. Whether or not that happens remains to be seen, but with FSG’s track record it is a worrying thought. Ultimately the league needs a strong Liverpool side, they are one of the most attractive teams to grace the competition and the EPL will be undoubtedly poorer to not see Salah and Van Dijk go toe to toe with the league’s best. But saying all that, if anyone can work miracles… it’s Klopp, but he doesn’t mean he should always have to!