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The 5 big changes Liverpool need to make to prepare for 2017/18
The dust has barely settled on the 2016/17 season and already Liverpool have flown halfway around the world to embark on a post-season friendly against Sydney FC.
While the match bookended the campaign for Jurgen Klopp’s side, it also provided a glimpse of Liverpool’s future, with four academy youngsters featuring in front of a 72,000 crowd. Teenagers Ben Woodburn, Rhian Brewster and Trent Alexander-Arnold, plus 20-year-old Harry Wilson, will have gained invaluable experience from playing alongside ex-Reds Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher, Daniel Agger and Steve McManaman.
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Naturally, supporters are already begin to look to the future. That starts with the 2017/18 season and, provided they pass the test of a Champions League qualifying play-off, a return to Europe’s elite competition for just the second time in the last eight seasons.
A top-four finish in Klopp’s first full season in England is a clear sign of progress for the Merseysiders, but improvements will be needed again if they are to remain there while also competing in Europe next term.
Here are five changes Klopp will need to make as his side prepare for 2017/18.
1. Solve the injury issues
Without injuries to key players, Liverpool could have been challenging Chelsea for the title last time out. Centre-back duo Joel Matip and Dejan Lovren, plus captain Jordan Henderson and Player of the Year Sadio Mane, all missed 25% of the campaign. Key midfielders Adam Lallana and Philippe Coutinho missed almost 20%.
Klopp insists that the injuries were down to bad fortune and not his training methods or high-intensity style of play. “It’s not about the day-to-day, it is just unlucky,” said the boss in April.
Yet the fact remains that, in Klopp’s first full season in a league with no winter break, his team started like a steam train, blowing sides away with pressing and pace, and ended it crawling over the finish line and struggling to break down defences.
Klopp appointed a new head of fitness last summer, his doppelganger Andreas Kornmayer, and has already moved to appoint a new head physio - recruiting Christopher Rohrbeck from former club Mainz. Whether this move was planned, or a reaction to the injury issues that have beset the Reds this season would be interesting to know.
Every manager will evaluate their season, and while Klopp may publicly bemoan the injuries as simply bad luck, he must be checking if there's something he can do to ensure such problems don’t arise again - whether that’s tweaking the pre-season or in-season training regime, or even the style of play slightly in-match. That’s for the manager to solve.
2. Add more pace
Sadio Mane’s debut season at Anfield proved a revelation, with the Senegal man adding much-needed pace in the final third. His ability to beat defenders and run in behind was a welcome addition, and something that was crucially missing when he was away at the Africa Cup of Nations in January, then again following his injury late in the season.
Finding a player who can add similar qualities to Mane must be high up on Klopp’s summer to-do list, with the likes of Mohamed Salah and Demarai Gray mooted. Bayern Munich winger Douglas Costa would be the choice of most fans; the thought of the Brazilian and Mane flanking Firmino up front, with Coutinho pulling the strings in a deeper midfield role, is an exciting one for Kopites.
While adding pace up front is vital, Liverpool also need speed in midfield and defence. James Milner was a capable but flawed auxiliary left-back, with the 31-year-old’s lack of pace becoming an issue as Liverpool’s season waned.
Ryan Sessegnon is reportedly a major target at left-back and the 17-year-old would certainly add dynamism and energy down the left side, while reported targets Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Naby Keita would both provide pace in central areas.
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3. Sign a partner for Matip
With Matip having five injuries, plus a bizarre standoff with UEFA over his international eligibility, and Lovren suffering eight different injuries, Klopp was rarely able to call on his first-choice centre-back pairing in 2016/17. When he was eventually able to get them consistently alongside each other, five clean sheets were recorded in the final six games of the season.
Such a statistic, though, masks the fact that Liverpool’s style of play was altered in those fixtures, as Klopp sought more ‘adult football’. The centre-half duo were thus afforded more protection in front of them, with Lucas Leiva often in the side alongside Emre Can.
Klopp has admitted it would “make sense” to sign a centre-back this summer and says that a new signing must be able to play “in big spaces” in defence - something that Lovren struggles with. The Croat is too often found the wrong side of his attacker, especially when up against quick forwards, and is woefully exposed when dragged into wide areas.
Virgil van Dijk is seemingly no longer an option, so Liverpool need to find a reliable, leading, left-sided centre-back - one who can help with their set-piece defending and dovetail with Matip.
4. Change the captain
The most controversial suggestion on this list, perhaps, but Liverpool's captain must be able to play more than 30 games a season. That's something Jordan Henderson hasn’t been capable of since acquiring the armband from Steven Gerrard two years ago.
Henderson was sidelined with what the club said was a small foot injury in February; the midfielder was due to be out for a fortnight but eventually saw his season curtailed. Both the player and manager have spoken of a return for pre-season, but neither have been unequivocal about that.
Henderson did well in his new position as a deep-lying midfielder up until the injury, but the truth is that Emre Can is a better option to play the Busquets role in Klopp’s 4-3-3 formation. The German offers more physicality and, three years Henderson’s junior, has more room for development.
There are suggestions that one of the reasons why Can’s new contract has not yet been agreed is that he wants to assume that role, not the box-to-box one he was shoehorned into before Henderson was sidelined.
Klopp would be wise to place his faith in his compatriot in midfield and in doing so appoint a new skipper, although there admittedly aren’t many alternatives who stand out as ‘captain material'.
5. Increase the squad by six players or more
Only 17 Liverpool players made 10 or more starts in all competitions in 2016/17, which, given the injury issues that saw Klopp rarely able to select his best XI, shows how small the squad was.
Next season we can expect a bigger role for the likes of Joe Gomez, Marko Grujic and Alexander-Arnold (who didn’t make 10 starts but will be expected to next season). But Klopp also needs to significantly increase the size of the group in order to juggle domestic and European commitments.
Therefore, the squad must be increased by at least six players, giving Klopp nearer 25 men who make at least 10 starts.
None of that aforementioned 17 are expected to leave (the departing Alberto Moreno only made eight starts) and thus the core will remain intact. That now needs adding to by signing footballers who can improve the first XI, not just squad players.
Out will go the likes of Moreno, Kevin Stewart and Connor Randall, but Liverpool must replace them with players who will push the likes of Lovren and Milner out of the side so that they become squad players rather than starting players.
It’s not an overhaul, but rather the next step in the development of Klopp’s side. It will be necessary if, as the German says, they want to become a consistent Champions League team again.
