Liverpool have started their pre-season friendlies in a convincing manner and so far, and the next stop for Klopp’s army will be Huddersfield Town. Soon after the game, the team will be travelling to Pasadena, where Antonio Conte’s battalion will be waiting for the side. The game will be followed by the clash against AC Milan, AS Roma and Barcelona.
Most of the players have not returned to the training yet and therefore, some might miss the start of the 2016-17 campaign. Liverpool, who were considered as a mid-table club at this time of last year have become a most promising side in less than 10 months and the credit goes to their manager Jürgen Klopp. The arrival of the German poised the confidence in the players, suddenly from nowhere, they reached 2 cup finals.
Now, as the side have failed to qualify for the Champions League, the manager will get his time to concentrate on the Premier League itself and that could be a blessing in disguise. With less squad rotation, the manager can offer the prominent roles to the squad. There is no doubt that the team needs an upgrade in certain areas, but the manager is working on it.
So far, he has signed goalkeeper Loris Karius to give Mignolet a run for his money, Joel Matip to fill the void of Toure and Skrtel and Sadio Mane to complete one of the fastest attacking pack in the Premier League. These are surely a great addition to the squad, yet there are certain areas where he needs to work.
The utmost would be the left back role and after that will be the central midfield area. And besides that, if the manager is able to find a perfect centre-forward, that would be the final icing on the cake. There is no doubt that the upcoming campaign of the Premier League is going to be a bang. The new managers and the new players have made it more interesting, so in all that, can Liverpool challenge for the title?
Well, it is hard to comment anything regarding this as we witnessed what happened last season. Three players, namely, Jamie Vardy, Riyad Mahrez , and N’Golo Kante took the Premier League by storm and they finished up being the champions of England. The point being; it is hard to predict what will happen next.
But looking at the current Liverpool squad, as I said it is the most promising and the youngest squad in the Premier League, hence, the less experienced. To be perfectly honest here, and no offense, even if the manager finds the certain players for the positions, it would be hard to challenge for the title. One of the many reasons behind this is the lack of a leader.
Since the departure of Gerrard, Liverpool’s armband has been travelling here and there. Thanks to the injury full campaign of Jordan Henderson, it was transferred to James Milner and we all are aware of the fact that Milner cannot be a long-term successor for the band.
As I stated earlier, it is hard to comment anything regarding the title challenge, but to be practical, Liverpool still needs a couple of years to go for this with all ends up. Liverpool surely have signed some great players, but let’s face it, they are not in the same zone as Zlatan Ibrahimovic or Henrikh Mkhitaryan. The point here is, they haven’t signed any proven named to guide them.
There is no doubt that the fans will be supporting the side through thick and thin, still, we believe a couple of years is what Liverpool need to become a genuine title contenders again.
