For neutrals, the game at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday night was nothing remarkable, a pale imitation of a game involving two big teams. Chelsea and Liverpool played a goalless draw, a game that provided more questions than answers for both teams really struggling at the moment.
For Liverpool, it represents a remarkable fall in the grace that saw them playing every possible game in a club season last term, to be more or less out of the Champions League places. Manager Jurgen Klopp tried to maintain a stoic face, but even he knows that the club must go through another era of transformation to maintain the same standards of success they have been used to in the last 4 years.
Here, we look at the things The Reds need to do to get fired again.
Finish in The Top 4
While this is a long ask, Liverpool needs to finish in the Champions League as it would spearhead what would start as the beginning of the long journey to redemption for them.
Finishing in the Champions League places means they’d have momentum going into next season, have a share in the mouthwatering prizemoney of playing in the biggest club competition in the world, keep a host of their top players, and attract other elite players from across the world.
Certainty About the Owners
News broke out in November 2022 that the FSG Group, owners of Liverpool since 2010, are considering selling the club to interested parties. However, there are no known bidders, as Manchester United is also open to being sold. The Reds hierarchy is looking to sell a part of their stake or fully divest as they look for investment opportunities in other sectors. The uncertainty about the future of the club means that the transfer strategy is currently awkward, with no targets currently identified and potentially pursued in the summer to add quality to the playing squad.
With the squad needing reinforcements to get them back to the top of English and European football, Jurgen Klopp needs to know the club is stable before working with the recruitment team to identify players, convince them of the project and bring them to Anfield.
Massive Clearout of Players
Liverpool has become too pedestrian and predictable as a number of players in their employ are just passengers and not offering anything of value to the team in terms of quality. Tough decisions have been made on certain players as they look out of form, unmotivated, and with nothing to play for.
The likes of Virgil Van Dijk, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Fabinho, and Jordan Henderson have all been consistently below-par all season, dropping average performances, but have not enjoyed a long run on the bench because of a lack of quality competition. The likes of Naby Keita, Harvey Elliot, Curtis Jones, Thiago, James Milner, Diogo Jota, Joel Matip, Tsimikas, and Oxlade-Chamberlain have to show what they are capable of before the end of the season because they have not shown their quality this season due to different reasons.
Jurgen Klopp
Klopp, the manager, also needs to ask himself some pertinent questions as his famed “gegenpressing” style has taken its toll on the players, who have struggled to keep up with the intensity needed of them as they looked to better the exploits of last term.
The German tactician also needs to be tactically flexible and look for variations of his system that would suit his players and get them back to their best.
The Odds
The bookies have Liverpool as slight favorites to finish in the top four places but shop around for the most favorable odds, and for a lighter bet, click here and claim free rewards.
If you’re in England, visit this page for more info and high-percentage payouts.
