After an immense 30 year wait since their last win, Reds fans were delighted to see the team finally lift the premier league trophy at the end of the 2019/20 season. In the season immediately after, fans are wondering whether it will be another 30 years before they are triumphant once again.
The 2020/21 Premier League season saw a third-place finish, ensuring the team qualifies for the Champions’ League group stage, and they ended with two more points than the recently crowned Champions League winners Chelsea. But compared with last season, it was a disappointment, ending with 30 points less than their previous outing, which even winners Man City were nowhere close to matching with 86.
With the next season kicking off on August 14, with Liverpool going head-to-head with Norwich City in their first fixture, many are already speculating about whether the team can make a triumphant comeback to the top of the table. The latest premier league odds show Liverpool are the 4/3 odds on favourites, for a thumping victory in their season opener against Norwich City, the only question is whether they can capture that momentum and run with it.
Check out – Liverpool FC Match Fixtures 2021-2022
What changed between seasons?
The season started with incredible promise for Jürgen Klopp’s team, with the Reds sitting on top of the table after 14 games, holding a comfortable five point lead. Then, the losses started piling up, with only 11 goals scored across the next 14 games, compared to 36 in the previous 14.
The dramatic downfall also saw their record of unbeaten home games finally broken, with 68 undefeated home matches followed by six defeats in six games. The team slipped to seventh place, with some worries that they would not even qualify for the Champions League – a hasty recovery in the final stretch saw them climb back to the top three, but for many fans, this wasn’t enough.
One of the key reasons for the slump is the extent to which the team was affected by key players on injury leave. The team’s defence line up was almost entirely affected, with Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez and Joel Matip all experiencing lengthy time away from the pitch, with Klopp not finding any suitable replacements.
Jordan Henderson and Fabinho were picked as makeshift center-backs, as the manager struggled to lock in an effective replacement lineup. Even his new signings, such as Diogo Jota, couldn’t deliver the goods due to injuries early on in the season.
Klopp’s inability to secure an effective starting lineup amidst this unprecedented challenge is a key factor in the team’s change of fortunes. Of course, it would always be a struggle to find a quick replacement for Virgil van Dijk – and the attempts to reconfigure the team without their star defender were a crucial factor in their losses.
It’s not entirely down to the lack of defence. Although Mo Salah had a strong season, his fellow strikers were just going through the motions; after a thumping win the prior season, it felt like they were often going on autopilot instead of aiming to defend the title.
It shows that, despite taking home Champions League and Premier League wins in the two seasons prior, Klopp still has flaws as a manager. He used more than 18 different center back pairings for the season and didn’t give enough trust to the few players (such as Nat Phillips), who managed to impress during a turbulent period.
Signings and Transfer Targets
At the time of writing, Liverpool have only made one transfer this season, with French player Ibrahima Konaté making the move from Bundesliga team RB Leipzig, where he plays as center back. But the club hopes that Konaté, who also plays for the French under 21’s, will soon be joined by some high-profile new recruits.
None of these names come bigger than Kylian Mbappe, as the forward is coming to the end of his contract with Paris Saint-Germain. One of the stars of France’s triumphant World Cup squad in 2018 and despite his poor penalty resulting in France’s premature Euro 2020 exit, he is one of the most in demand players in the world, with Man United also setting their sights on the star.
The club also hope that former Arsenal star Donyell Malen, now a regular with the Netherlands national team, will make a comeback to the UK. Malen has scored 40 goals in just 81 appearances for PSV Eindhoven – and with The Netherlands coming top of their Euro 2020 group, it’s no surprise he’s being thought of as a dream pick.
Man City remain the biggest competitors for any club in the Premier League, due to their stacked portfolio of players. But that club is hundreds of millions of pounds in debt, whereas Liverpool are the most profitable club in the country, a factor that must be considered when acquiring new talent to ensure last season’s missteps don’t get repeated.
As the club enters talks with some of the world’s most formidable players, fans hope that the team can secure a lineup to return them to their former league dominance. Only time will tell if last season’s chaos was a one off.
