The Summer Break is (Usually) no Friend to the Football Manager
For most teams, the summer can be a nightmare in terms of ruining momentum and rhythm.
Players come back tired from summer tournaments such as the Copa America or the AFCON and won’t have had the chance to do proper pre-season training. Or worse still, they come back injured from their exploits or almost as worryingly, somewhat out of shape after the odd cheeky poolside burger and fries munched down over the summer break.
Or maybe it’s been all change with trusted players moving on and plenty of new faces in the dressing room. Or perhaps there’s been a change of system to be implemented or most disruptive of all, a change in manager.
All things almost guaranteed to spoil all the good work put in during the last few weeks of the previous season.
Except some clubs seem to be a little bit immune to these challenges and a two-month break doesn’t seem to be an issue when it comes to the small matter of not only winning football matches but doing so in some style. Especially if your name is Liverpool FC.
Liverpool Quick out of the Blocks
In the last match of their 2018/19 season, Liverpool was winning the Champions League final on a sweaty, energy-sapping evening in Madrid. It wasn’t a great game and their task was massively aided by an early penalty that was somewhat dubious but was dispatched with minimum fuss by Mo Salah.
Divock Origi put the game to bed in the 87th minute but a drained-looking Spurs had never really threatened too much anyway in an uneventful game in testing conditions that on the night was far more about the result than it was the performance.
65 days later they pushed Manchester City to the limit in the Community Shield, eventually losing on penalties. Ten days later they needed penalties themselves to beat Chelsea in the European Super Cup.
One out of two wasn’t bad given the opposition they were up against on both occasions and another trophy added to the cabinet would have pleased Jurgen Klopp, the players, the fans and the club’s hierarchy. But Liverpool has bigger fish to fry than these competitions that are probably more about TV numbers and sponsorship opportunities than they are about the actual outcome.
And fry them they have. The Premier League title remains the Holy Grail for Liverpool and their fans after 27 failed attempts at winning it and they couldn’t have started their campaign any better than they have. Four matches, four wins, 12 goals scored. Better still for Reds, Manchester City, for many their only genuine rivals, have already dropped points by drawing at home to Tottenham.
So how have Liverpool managed to hit the ground running in this way?
Continuity at the Heart of Klopp’s Philosophy
The secret to Liverpool’s early-season success can probably be mostly explained with just one word- continuity.
Jurgen Klopp obviously stayed on as their Kingpin and has remained 100% loyal to his trusted 4-3-3 formation which has allowed his players to operate in a system they’re used to and comfortable with.
There’s been a little bit of a shift upfront with Salah often playing through the middle rather than starting out wide on the right, meaning Brazilian Roberto Firmino has drifted wider rather than being a ‘false nine’ like he used to be. But then again, this had already been the case for most of the second half of last season and Liverpool’s front three (Sadio Mane completing the fearsome trio) have always had a habit of effortlessly switching positions throughout the match anyway. In other words, there was little or no disruption when it came to the way they play.
There was even less change when it came to players. With no need to sell their best players after so much success on the field, the only names of any note to have left were the freakishly injury-prone Daniel Sturridge, out-of-favour left-back Alberto Moreno and striker Danny Ings, who had been on loan at Southampton last season anyway.
The only somewhat big-name player to have arrived was Spanish keeper Adrian. And that was a last-minute free transfer and we’re only really talking about him because Alisson got injured in their first league match against Norwich. If he hadn’t, they’d be fielding virtually the same XI as that which beat Spurs in Madrid before the summer.
Meanwhile, though the likes of Alisson, Firmino, Sane and Fabinho played in the international tournaments already mentioned, they all came back in pretty good shape. A testament to their own sky-high personal fitness levels and to a lesser extent the training methods and Support Staff at the club.
Can they keep on winning?
If they’re to end the month of September with a 100% record, they’ll have to beat Newcastle at home, Chelsea away and Sheffield United on the road.
Newcastle shouldn’t present too much of a problem. If this had been under Rafa Benitez, they may have been a tough nut to crack as a team who was well organized at the back, disciplined in midfield yet always looking to score on the break or from set-pieces. With all due respect to new boss Steve Bruce, they’re a long way away from that sort of solidity (despite their shock 1-0 win at Spurs) so anything other than a win for the Reds would be a huge surprise.
Sheffield United have already ruffled a few feathers and a trip up to Bramall Lane won’t be completely straightforward. Five points from four games, including a 2-2 draw at Chelsea, shows they’re not a side who’s going to lay down and retreat this season and they’ll do their best to make it an intimidating atmosphere for Liverpool’s thoroughbreds. But still.
Again… the three points should be Liverpool’s there as well.
That, of course, leaves a trip to Chelsea as the most likely match where Liverpool could drop points. The Blues have been one of the more entertaining sides this season to watch as a neutral. One day they’re losing 4-0 at Old Trafford, the next they’re scraping a 3-2 win at Norwich before showing just how vulnerable they can be in throwing away a 2-0 lead at home to Sheffield United, as we’ve seen already.
Frank Lampard may decide his best chance is to fight fire with fire and try to outscore Klopp’s men in an open game. It could lead to a goal-filled match so remember to check the goals markets at Marathonbet nearer the time. It could also lead to disaster for Lampard because whereas fielding youngsters like Tammy Abraham and Mason Mount in attacking positions is very noble, they’re hardly world-class stars like the Mane-Firmino-Salah triumvirate. That one could end 5-2. Above all though, it’s hard to imagine that the largely inexperienced Lampard can compete with Klopp on the tactical front or that Lampard’s youngsters can go toe-to-toe with Klopp’s seasoned campaigners.
Liverpool skeptics may argue and with good reason that they don’t look quite the same without the injured Alisson in goal. True to an extent but Adrian has actually been decent, that clanger at Southampton aside.
In any case, that’s probably a case of clutching at straws in terms of looking for Liverpool vulnerability. The smart money is on Liverpool being on 21 points come to the start of October.
