The best Premier squad Liverpool have had, but it still might not be enough
THIS is as good a Liverpool squad in terms of depth, quality and excitement that there has been in the Premier League era.
Two or three have been very good. Think of the one that won the Champions League or the group that finished second in the title race. The squad they had in the first three or four years of the Premier League, that I became a part of, was fairly special too.
But this is the best. The difference with Liverpool this season is that they have addressed long-standing issues in the transfer market this summer.
Alisson is the best goalkeeper Liverpool have had since the first two years of Pepe Reina. That gap is now plugged and he will only get better.
He is comfortable on the ball, pings passes left, right and centre. Yes, he will get caught out once or twice this season, but he will give much more than he takes.
Virgil van Dijk is a Rollsroyce of a defender. I didn’t think he would be this good.
I remember Celtic fans saying a few years back, by the time he had played only five or six games for them, that this guy would kick on and become one of the best in the world.
I spoke to him after the game on Saturday and said since he came to the club Liverpool have had the best defensive record and asked how much of that is down to him. He said, “No, it is very much a team game and it is important we keep clean sheets as a team”, but he comes across very much as a man who has a lot of self-belief.
He knows he can play at an elite level and is starting to show it so that is another big green tick. He is much better than Dejan Lovren and Ragnar Klavan.
He is the most effective centre-back Liverpool have had since Sami Hyypia or Jamie Carragher (both left).
Naby Keita (top, right) gives mobility, skill, enterprise and a new lease of life and has also shaken up the likes of James Milner and Jordan Henderson. Gini Wijnaldum too has stepped up to the plate, and is probably playing the best football of his career which means another new signing, Fabinho, can’t get in the team. Roberto Firmino (above) has been top quality. Liverpool fans love him, I love him, he runs around and his work-rate is great. But I do wonder if Jurgen Klopp was being super greedy, if there was a topquality centre-forward who could improve Liverpool, whether he would move for them.
After the work that has been done on Liverpool’s squad I would rank them as an 8.75 out of 10.
But that still might not be enough to win the league this season.
When you look at some of the other top clubs, Manchester City are probably a 9/10 or even a 9.5/10 for squad depth and strength.
Manchester United are probably the same as Liverpool, but are just being managed differently.
But City are still clear favourites to win this Premier League.