5 reasons why Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool title challengers are the real deal

Is it really going to be their year?

Liverpool hit Watford for six on Sunday at Anfield to go to the very top of the Premier League.

The result - and the performance - has got Reds fans hoping that this could finally be the season they end their long, long wait for a 19th league title - and the first of the Premier League era.

We asked our chief football writer Tony Barrett, who has covered Liverpool for the Times and the Liverpool Echo, why this side might just be the one to bring home the trophy the fans crave.

1. The workload is being shared

A little over a month ago, when the possibility of Liverpool being title challengers first began being discussed seriously, Jurgen Klopp was asked a question that he found strange but which could still be posed today. “Are you at all concerned,” his inquisitor queried, “that your main strikers are yet to score a goal?”

[caption id="attachment_96459" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Sturridge has yet to score this season - but Klopp is not worried[/caption]  

As remains the case today, neither Daniel Sturridge nor Divock Origi had registered a single Premier League strike so it was and is a legitimate enquiry. The trouble with it, though, as Klopp pointed out, was that Liverpool were having no trouble whatsoever scoring goals and as long as that continued to be the case there was no cause for the manager to be troubled if any individuals were not chipping in.

If anything, the opposite is true. Klopp's vision of goalscoring responsibility being shared, so that there is no over reliance on any single player, is being realised. Of the five clubs at the top of the Premier League, Liverpool's top scorer, Sadio Mane, has contributed the lowest proportion of his teams goals. While Sergio Aguero and Diego Costa have provided around 33% of Manchester City's and Chelsea's goals respectively, Mane is responsible for just 20% of Liverpool's.

Liverpool may be the league's top scorers so far this season but their total of 30 is not dominated by any player with 10 different ones contributing to that impressive figure. Should they maintain their current scoring rate, Liverpool would exceed their total of 101 goals from 2013/14 when they last challenged for the title. The difference between that season and the current one is that in that campaign Luis Suarez and Sturridge were responsible for more than 50% of their output whereas this time around Klopp has been able to expect goals from throughout his team.

[caption id="attachment_96460" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Sturridge and Suarez scored most of the goals in the 2013/14 title challenge (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)[/caption]  

Of course, it is still only the first week in November and it should be remembered that City had a similar team ethic this time last season only to fall off the pace but to have the goals shared out to such an extent while Sturridge and Origi are yet to open their accounts can't be anything but a good thing. “I don’t care, actually, who scores the goals,” Klopp said when the question was asked at the start of last month. No wonder he doesn't care. It's not the name that matters, it's the number.

2. Liverpool are as well run as they have been for many years

One of the ironies of Liverpool's two most recent title challenges is that they happened despite off-field issues and potentially harmful internal matters that could – and perhaps should – have derailed their bid to become the best team in the country. In 2008/09, their challenge took place against a backdrop of outright civil war at all levels of the club.

Rafael Benitez, the manager, was at odds with George Gillett, the co-owner, and chief executive Rick Parry, while his relationship with key figures in the dressing room was precarious to say the least. Tom Hicks, the co-owner, was at war with Gillett, his supposed partner and was endeavouring to force Parry out.

[caption id="attachment_96461" align="alignnone" width="1024"] George Gillett (L), Tom Hicks (R) and chief executive Rick Parry (C) were all at war with each other in 2008/09 (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)[/caption]  

Meanwhile, in the stands and on the streets, supporters were protesting against Hicks and Gillett. Everywhere you looked, there was acrimony and division and yet Liverpool still ran Manchester United, the eventual champions, a close second with their title challenge gathering real momentum in spring before falling short.

In 2013/14, Liverpool were without Luis Suarez, their best player and talisman, for the first five matches of the season as he served the remainder of a ban imposed for biting Branislav Ivanovic towards the end of the previous campaign. Suarez had also tried and failed to force a move to Arsenal and had fallen out with Brendan Rodgers as a result.

There were also the first signs that all was not well between Rodgers and his employers as differences of opinion over transfer strategy began to become public. Mamadou Sakho was signed but Rodgers admitted he had wanted “a number ten” rather than a centre back with the other incomings including Luis Alberto, Iago Aspas, Tiago Ilori, Simon Mignolet and Kolo Toure.

[caption id="attachment_96465" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Kolo Toure was past his best when Rodgers brought him to Liverpool[/caption]  

Despite such a questionable summer intake, the title challenge that followed was Liverpool's most sustained since they were last crowned champions in 1990 and only came to an end on the final day of the season.

This time around, there are no such distractions for Jurgen Klopp. In the boardroom there is harmony, in the dressing room there is a sense of unity and collective trust and in the stands there is an optimism that has arguably not been felt at this stage of the season since the 1987/88 campaign when Liverpool went 29 games unbeaten.

The good decision to appoint Klopp a year ago has been followed by several more, all of which have contributed to Liverpool being as stable and as positive as they have been at any time in the past two decades. Stability and positivity might not guarantee success but they usually contribute to it.

3. There is still improvement to come

Speaking after his team's hugely impressive 6-1 win over Watford which took them to the top of the league, Klopp was quick to point out that Liverpool's performance had not been flawless regardless of the avalanche of plaudits that was coming their way.

“We could have done a bit better at 5-0 up,” he said as if such a “problem” was an everyday concern for a Premier League manager.

He was right, though. For a brief spell, Liverpool did become complacent and understandably so in some respects given the size of the lead that they had built up but Klopp knows that any lowering of standards can prove fatal in a closely fought title race. He also knows that there is significant scope for Liverpool to improve and that it is his job to ensure that his players recognise that at a time when everyone else wants to tell them how good they are.

Of the 14 players who featured against Watford, Loris Karius was playing his sixth league game in England, Joel Matip his ninth, James Milner his ninth game at left back, Jordan Henderson his eleventh game in a deep lying midfield role, Ovie Ejaria was making his league debut and even the much vaunted attacking trident of Roberto Firmino, Philippe Coutinho and Sadio Mane were playing together for the eighth time.

 

This is not a seasoned team, it is one in which further development, both individually and collectively, should be expected.

There is no question that Klopp is trying to guard against complacency when he comes out after big wins and says Liverpool could still do better but he is also telling it as he sees it.

“The only thing we have for sure is a pretty good football team,” he said yesterday. “We are still early in our development and a lot of things can be improved.”

At a time when vanquished opponents seem to be lining up to describe Liverpool as the best team they have faced this season, that is a tantalising prospect for them and a troubling one for their rivals.

4. There is real strength in depth this time

In 2013/14 it took only a few injuries for the limitations of Liverpool's squad to be exposed. Brad Jones was their back up goalkeeper, Aly Cissokho and Jose Enrique were battling one another to be first choice left back before Jon Flanagan's emergence, Iago Aspas was the only alternative to Suarez and Sturridge and when Jordan Henderson was suspended for the final weeks of the campaign there was no natural replacement.

In 08/09, their first eleven was particularly strong with a spine featuring Pepe Reina, Jamie Carragher, Sami Hyypia, Javier Mascherano, Xabi Alonso, Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres. While Liverpool's squad players could not have been expected to live up to the standards set by those who were first choice, too many of them fell too far short of them to be considered adequate replacements as illustrated by a support cast featuring Diego Cavalieri, Andrea Dossena, Jermaine Pennant, David Ngog, Philipp Degen, Nabil El Zhar and Ryan Babel.

[caption id="attachment_96470" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Rafael Benitez did not have such strength in depth when he was boss (Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)[/caption]  

The difference now is Klopp has a number of players of first team quality who are not playing regularly. Simon Mignolet, first choice goalkeeper for three seasons, is now deputy to Karius, Georginio Wijnaldum is facing a battle to take Emre Can's place, while Origi and Sturridge are currently being used as options from the bench.

With the ever dependable Lucas Leiva providing cover in both central defence and central midfield, promising youngsters Sheyi Ojo and Joe Gomez set to return from injury and Marko Grujic, Ragnar Klavan, Alberto Moreno and Kevin Stewart all showing that they can be called upon when necessary, Liverpool might not have an embarrassment of riches as far as squad strength is concerned but they do have more depth than has previously been the case.

That was demonstrated in their recent victory over Tottenham Hotspur in the EFL Cup, a game in which both Mauricio Pochettino and Klopp fielded second string line ups with only the Liverpool manager able to be satisfied by what he had seen.

[caption id="attachment_96472" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Klopp's experimental side came out on top when facing Spurs (Photo by Jan Kruger/Getty Images)[/caption]  

“The more players I have, the more difficult choices there are for me but the better it is for Liverpool,” he said afterwards.

It would be stretching things to suggest that Klopp has a number of selection dilemmas because right now his team is pretty much picking itself, but he does have the luxury of knowing that his squad offers him options and alternatives.

For that reason, he is unlikely to be especially busy during the transfer window even if Liverpool's title challenge is being sustained with his priority being to recruit another wide attacker having missed out on Borussia Dortmund's Christian Pulisic during the summer.

5. Fewer games gives them more chance

It might be irritating Klopp that Liverpool's increasingly impressive start to the season is being accompanied by claims that a lack of European football gives them an advantage in the Premier League, but he will also know that a less hectic fixture calendar will help their cause.

As a manager who prides himself on the work he does on the training ground and believes it is there that most improvements are to be made, he has more time to put his methods into practice than Pep Guardiola at Manchester City, Arsene Wenger at Arsenal and Pochettino at Tottenham.

[caption id="attachment_96474" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Unlike Wenger and Pochettino, Klopp does not have to content with European fixtures (Photo by Paul Gilham/Getty Images)[/caption]  

That might not be a positive in terms of Liverpool's European standing but it unquestionably assists them domestically, especially in weeks when their rivals are involved in Champions League games.

“Everyone talks about this but I think 80 to 90 per cent of the time in Europe, the teams becoming champions are in the Champions League,” Klopp said recently. “That’s how it is. Why? Because they have quality, they can rotate, they can rest ­whenever. It’s not too cool when you are not successful. Sometimes it’s an ­advantage, but in the end, why does a team win the league with all these intense games in midweek? Maybe they find an answer.”

There is logic to Klopp's argument with Leicester City being the only recent team to buck the trend by winning the title in a season in which they were not in Europe, but there is also an element of the Liverpool manager using the recent past to both dampen down expectations and to try and ensure that if his team does go on to win the league they get the credit that they deserve.

But while City, Arsenal and Tottenham were facing testing midweek European fixtures against Barcelona, Ludogorets and Bayer Leverkusen, Liverpool were preparing for their next league game against Watford. With Arsenal, City and Tottenham all failing to win any of the league fixtures immediately after their last two Champions League matches, Liverpool took advantage by taking maximum points from their matches.

The only fly in this particular ointment is that Chelsea, another team growing in confidence with every passing week, are also benefiting from being out of Europe. “They have the same situation," Klopp said and while next season he wants someone else to have the advantage other than Liverpool, he knows that his own team must make the most of it this time around if they are to finish top of the pile.

“Of course we want to be in Europe, that is our target,” he said recently. “That is important but for now we have to use this time and grow as a team.”

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