What to expect from Liverpool this season, then?
After three years of smooth sailing, Jurgen Klopp’s side found the waters a little choppier last time out, the Reds’ Premier League title defence unravelling in quite remarkable fashion.
That they were still able to rescue their campaign and finish third – ahead of European champions Chelsea, it should be noted – says plenty about the spirit, and the quality, which remains within Klopp’s squad.
So, with big players returning, and fans back at Anfield, can the 2019-20 champions put their struggles behind them?
“Yes, of course,” says midfielder Fabinho. “This is Liverpool Football Club – we will always play to win trophies.
“The last season was difficult, but we are still confident we can win important things with this team.”
Certainly, Liverpool will hope for more luck. Klopp’s side was ripped apart by injuries last term, particularly in defence.
Virgil van Dijk missed nine months and Joe Gomez eight. Joel Matip played his last game of the season at the end of January. Jordan Henderson went down in March and even Ozan Kabak and Ben Davies, signed mid-season to alleviate the crisis, ended the campaign on the treatment table.
It meant Fabinho spent more time at centre-back than in his favoured holding role, with the rest of Liverpool’s team suffering as a result. Having been top of the table at Christmas, they found themselves eighth by March.
It took a run of 10 games unbeaten (eight wins and two draws) at the back end of the campaign to ensure Klopp’s men secured Champions League qualification.
Things should be a little less frantic this time, although the injury bug has already bitten, with Andy Robertson ruled out of the start of the season with an ankle problem, suffered in Sunday’s friendly with Athletic Bilbao. Curtis Jones, the promising midfielder, will also miss the opener at Norwich due to concussion.
The return of Van Dijk and Gomez, though, as well as Matip, will make Liverpool a far stronger proposition, while the arrival of new £36 million ($50m) signing Ibrahima Konate means Klopp should have four high-quality centre-backs to choose from. The knock-on effect is that Fabinho should spend his season in midfield.
“That is where I most enjoy playing,” the 27-year-old says. “Hopefully, with the boys back, they won’t need me to play in this position [centre-back]. But if I have to, then I have no problem.”
Fabinho is one of a host of Liverpool first-teamers to have signed a new contract this summer, as the Reds look to tie down their key players.
Goalkeeper Alisson Becker and right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold have also committed their futures, with Van Dijk, Robertson and Mo Salah likely to follow in the coming months.
In terms of transfers, it has been a quiet window so far. Konate joined from RB Leipzig in May, and should prove a smart purchase, but Liverpool have so far resisted the urge to make further senior additions, instead choosing to focus on offloading a host of fringe players.
That hasn’t gone down particularly well with supporters, although Klopp insisted in an interview with Norwegian channel TV2 this week that his squad is well-stocked.
Liverpool lost Gini Wijnaldum, a Klopp staple, to Paris Saint-Germain last month, and have long struggled to adequately cover for their brilliant attacking trio of Mo Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino – although Takumi Minamino has impressed during pre-season and Diogo Jota, signed from Wolves last September, is already a firm favourite.
Jota will challenge Firmino for a starting role this season, though Klopp will hope the dips suffered by both the Brazilian and Mane last year were only temporary.
Firmino and Mane two managed ‘only’ 25 goals between them, having contributed 34, 42 and 47 in the previous three campaigns. Salah kept his levels up, netting 31 in all competitions, but it was a lack of goals, as much as any defensive upheaval, which cost them as their campaign fell apart after the New Year.
It will be interesting to see how Liverpool’s midfield functions without Wijnaldum, who made more appearances last season than any other player besides Salah. The Dutchman will be missed, make no mistake. It is up to others to show they can be as consistent, and as durable.
Naby Keita remains an enigma, his wonderful talent weighed against a worrying fitness record. The Guinean managed only nine starts last term but has looked good in pre-season and brings a drive and a creativity that would add plenty, were it available for any prolonged length of time.
The same goes for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who started only twice in the league last season. Jones, 20, came on well last season and should be even better this time, while Harvey Elliott, back from a loan spell at Blackburn, has played his way into contention with Klopp this summer. The 18-year-old, who can play in midfield or out wide on the right, is an Anfield star in the making.
It is Van Dijk’s return, though, which should make the biggest difference to the Reds’ chances of success.
“He is the best defender in the world,” says Fabinho. “When we have him, we know we have a leader in the team and a player who will win almost all the balls in the air, who has a lot of quality with the ball at his feet and who can find a long pass or a pass in between the lines.
“We have confidence in the other players, but Virgil is a different player. It is really good to have him back and, hopefully, he will find his highest level.”
David James, the former Reds goalkeeper, agrees.
“The two key factors are Alisson and Van Dijk,” he tells Goal. “I don’t think Van Dijk’s absence last season was the only reason Liverpool didn’t reach the same levels, but with him fit again and playing, they should be able to re-establish that stability they had in defence.
“Once you get him back playing, and if you have Alisson at the level we saw at the back end of last season, then all of a sudden you say Liverpool are capable of challenging Manchester City again.”
With Chelsea and Manchester United also strengthening significantly, the stage looks set for a four-way title race, rather than the procession we have seen in the past two campaigns.
Exciting times for the neutral, then, and for Liverpool fans. After the trauma of last season, the Reds are ready to roar again.
With Van Dijk back, you wouldn’t bet against them.
