Alf Ramsey, the English manager who led the Three Lions to World Cup glory on home soil in 1966, was once interacting with his players after an England match at the old Wembley stadium.
“I had had a fairly good game and he’s shaking everybody’s hands,” recalled Gordon Banks, England’s legendary goalkeeper who was also part of the 1966 triumph. “All I said, was I put my hand out and said, ‘I’ll see you Alf.’ And he went, ‘Will you?'”
“What he was trying to say to me was, ‘Oh, you’re picking yourself for the next game, are you Gordon?” recalled Banks. “No, I don’t want that. You’ve got to go back to you club and you’ve got to be a 100%, otherwise you know, you don’t get in.'”
Jurgen Klopp, Liverpool’s manager, rightly enjoys a reputation in the modern game as one of the best man-managers in the business. However, it’s hard to imagine Klopp having the kind of conversation that Ramsey did with Banks with many of his own players.
Klopp, ever since his arrival at Merseyside in 2015, has gradually turned Liverpool from an also-ran into a juggernaut that can contend for every competition it enters, as they did last season.
They do have one vulnerability however, and that is a bench that might be a tad too reliant on youth. (This article was written before Liverpool’s UEFA Champions League opener against Napoli.)
This drawback assumes importance because the 2022/23 season promises to be particularly brutal:
- This season will be paused and then resumed to accommodate the World Cup in Qatar
- The English Premier League will resume just 8 days after the 2022 World Cup Final, the quickest turnaround in Europe’s Big Five leagues
- The season will accommodate the entire Group Stage of the 2022/23 UEFA Champions League before the inauguration of the World Cup – 6 matches for each participating team over the course of roughly 2 months, instead of around 3 months
- The traditional festive time fixtures held annually in English football between late December and early January will continue to be played this season too
- Leftover matches of the 2022/23 UEFA Nations League Group Stage will also be held this September
In any ambitious team, a strong squad ensures no one takes their place for granted and there’s healthy competition for places among teammates. It also insulates the squad from the vagaries of injury, suspension and poor form.
Klopp’s current Liverpool squad, while a formidable beast when all its main components are available to the German, does have a few shortcomings that may cost the club dear at the business end of the season after February.
DEFENCE:
Goalkeeping
Alisson Becker is the unquestioned first-choice in goal and Liverpool have one of Europe’s best shot-stoppers in the Brazilian.
In contrast to other areas of the team, where a strong squad will mean no one is sure of their place in the playing 11, having an undisputed number 1 as the starting goalkeeper is imperative for the success of the side.
If there is uncertainty over who is the number 1 pick, it affects the harmony in the team – at least at club level. Just ask Gianluigi Donnarumma and Keylor Navas at Paris Saint-Germain.
The ideal prototype for a backup keeper seems to be a competent, if unspectacular option.
At Liverpool, 23-year-old Caoimhín Kelleher dislodged Adrián as the backup goalkeeper in the 2020/21 season, impressing Klopp with his “natural football playing ability.” The lanky Irishman started the 2022 Carabao Cup final against Chelsea and scored the decisive penalty that won the competition. Though Kelleher is talented and seems suited to Liverpool’s brisk, attacking football, it’s hard to see him challenging Alisson for a spot in the starting 11.
Adrián, after becoming the third-choice goalkeeper in the 2020/21 season, is seemingly content with his position after extending his contract last year.
Centre-back
The Merseyside giants seem to have adequate cover at centre-back. In Virgil Van Dijk, Liverpool have one of the world’s finest defenders and in Ibrahima Konaté, Joël Matip and Joe Gomez, have three players who have all shown they can perform creditably when fielded alongside the Dutchman.
Konaté, in the latter half of last season, seemed to have replaced Matip as Van Dijk’s partner at centre-back. However, the Frenchman is injury-prone and in Matip, Liverpool have an able replacement.
This season, with both Konaté and Matip ruled out for long periods through injury, Gomez has again shown he can be a solid alternative by partnering with Van Dijk in 4 of Liverpool’s 7 matches so far this season (before Liverpool’s Champions League tie with Napoli).
Klopp also has Fabinho and Jordan Henderson who can fill in at centre-back when there is an emergency.
Right-back
Liverpool have the world’s best attacking right-back in Trent Alexander-Arnold, and may continue to do so for the bulk of next decade, with Alexander-Arnold only 23.
The Liverpool-born defender may be one of the first names on Klopp’s team sheet, but that doesn’t excuse Klopp’s failure to have an adequate replacement for him on the bench.
James Milner is not a natural right-back and never will be one, as shown so brutally by Phil Foden when Klopp’s men played Manchester City in a league game in October 2021. In the 78th minute, Klopp pulled Milner from the game for Joe Gomez. At 36, Milner’s pace has long deserted him. He has not been among the best players in the Premier League for some years now, in any position.
None of Milner, Gomez or Ramsay can reasonably be expected to challenge Alexander-Arnold for a place in the starting 11.
Gomez, who began his Liverpool career as a full-back before establishing himself as a centre-back, cannot be expected to challenge for a place in the starting line-up both as a centre-back and a right-back. He cannot also suddenly be expected to keep Alexander-Arnold on his toes by transitioning to a specialist right-back.
Twenty-one year-old Neco Williams, who was used by Klopp last season as one of the replacements for Alexander-Arnold, joined Nottingham Forest permanently this summer.
Liverpool signed 19-year-old Calvin Ramsay from Aberdeen this summer as Williams’ replacement, after Ramsay won the Scottish Football Writers’ Association Young Player of the Year Award for 2021. He’s yet to make his Liverpool debut.
None of Milner, Gomez or Ramsay can reasonably be expected to challenge Alexander-Arnold for a place in the starting 11. Nor can they adequately replace him if he suffers a loss of form.
While Alexander-Arnold has been critical in forging Liverpool’s reputation as a counter-attacking brute of a side, his defensive awareness has let his side down many times.
The only alternative Klopp has at right-back with better defensive awareness is Gomez, who cannot be expected to challenge for a spot both at centre-back and right-back. If Alexander-Arnold is unable to play for Liverpool for a sustained length of time for any reason, Klopp will have an uncomfortable situation on his hands.
Left-back
At left-back, Liverpool’s undisputed starter is Andrew Robertson, one of the best in Europe in his position. By his standards, Robertson has had a quiet start to this season.
The Scotland captain’s back-up is the popular Kostas Tsimikas, who danced his way into Kop hearts after scoring the winning penalty against Chelsea in last season’s FA Cup final triumph. While Tsimikas is a skilled left-back and fills in ably for Robertson when required, it remains to be seen whether he can challenge Robertson for a starting spot.
MIDFIELD:
When all of Klopp’s midfield options are fit, his first-choice usually reads Thiago-Fabinho-Jordan Henderson. Naby Keita is also a popular option, with Klopp fielding the Guinean in place of Henderson or Fabinho regularly.
Klopp’s other midfield options included Milner, Harvey Elliott, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Curtis Jones before injuries to Thiago and Keita made Liverpool sign Arthur from Juventus.
Prior to Arthur’s arrival, there were concerns that Liverpool don’t have the quality in depth to cover for crucial absentees like Thiago and Keita. This point was rammed home emphatically in the 1-2 defeat to arch-rivals Manchester United, in which a midfield of Milner-Henderson-Elliott could not cope with a hungry and intense United team.
Three days after the defeat to United, Klopp said, “I am the one who said we don’t need a midfielder, and you (the media) were all right and I was wrong. That’s the situation. But the specific point doesn’t change — we will do something but it has to be the right one.”
On September 1, transfer deadline day, Liverpool signed Arthur, who can play as a holding midfielder or central midfielder. Though his stint at Juventus had been underwhelming, Arthur had impressed at Barcelona with his technical ability. At 26, his best years are ahead of him unlike Milner, who as years have gone by has tried to make up what he has lost to time with aggression and tactical fouls.
Harvey Elliott – The Teen Who Could Dislodge Henderson
One unexpected – at least for the casual observer – boost for Liverpool this season has been the form of Elliott, who at 19 seems to have played his way into the first 11. Though the United game was a low point for Elliott, he has in general proved to be an astoundingly effective third-wheel in the Liverpool midfield since Thiago’s injury-induced absence.
Elliott had been part of Liverpool’s first 11 last season itself, starting 3 of Liverpool’s first 4 Premier League matches before injury cruelly cut short the majority of his season.
The Surrey-born teenager possesses, like Pedri does at Barcelona, an easy confidence on the ball. “Harvey got a big knock last season but, like all of the experiences he has had so far, he used it to grow as a person and a player,” Klopp said after Elliott had signed a contract extension with Liverpool earlier this season.
“It was always obvious that he was a good footballer but taking the next steps was always going to be about using information and experiences to grow and this is exactly what Harvey is doing,” the Reds boss told Liverpoolfc.com.
If Elliott keeps up his form this season, he might make it hard for Henderson, the club captain, to find a spot in Liverpool’s first 11 when Thiago returns from injury.
ATTACK
After a troubling start to the season that made fans worry if Liverpool had lost their attacking edge under Klopp, the Reds seem to have refound their mojo. They also seem to have adequate strength in depth – just about.
After the departure of Sadio Mané in the summer, Liverpool’s front-three this season reads Luis Díaz-Darwin Núñez-Mohamed Salah.
When Núñez was sent off in a league game against Crystal Palace and suspended for 3 matches, there were doubts over whether Roberto Firmino would be an adequate replacement. The Brazilian, however, rose to the occasion, emerging from the rut in which he has found himself for the past 2 seasons to register 3 goals and 3 assists in 4 starts so far.
Salah, though, continues to misfire. Liverpool’s talisman has missed easy chances this season, even though his link-up play remains strong.
Núñez has looked lively whenever he has played, displaying excellent technique and superior aerial ability to be a threat wherever he is present.
Díaz has picked up his from where he left of last season, and has continued to be an exciting, reliable presence on the left.
Diogo Jota is returning from injury and fans would hope that he showcases the form he showed for Liverpool in the early part of last season before seeming to lose his touch later on.
A pleasant surprise in Liverpool’s attack has been Fábio Carvalho, the 20-year-old Portuguese signed from Fulham in the summer. Whenever Carvalho has played, he has impressed with his pace, pluck and intrepid spirit. Whether he can sustain this over a full season remains to be seen, as Klopp would know from the relatively subdued showing of Jota in the latter half of last season.
Liverpool’s signing of Arthur must have made Liverpool supporters heave sigh of relief because all their domestic rivals strengthened considerably in the summer. As the legendary newspaper editor Ben Bradlee once wrote, “Getting beaten on a story is bad enough, but waiting to get beaten on a story is unbearable.”
Manchester City signed 6 players in the summer, 5 of them for the first team. Chelsea signed 6 players for the first team, Manchester United signed 5, Tottenham Hotspur signed 7 and Arsenal signed 4 players.
With an experienced starting 11 that knows how to win trophies and a relatively strong bench that might be a little too reliant on youth, Liverpool look set to challenge for honours again this season. Klopp will hope that his squad, while short on experience and talent in some areas, is not deficient in luck in the final third of the season.