Liverpool now have the mettle to go all the way

Klopp’s team more able to run Manchester City close than 2014 version, writes Chris Bascombe

John W Henry, Liverpool’s owner, was holding a rare briefing at the club’s city centre HQ. It was the summer of 2013 and, principally, Henry was in town to use the media to communicate more forcibly to Arsenal to forget about signing Luis Suarez. During the course of the conversation he expressed enthusiasm about the season ahead. “I think we will surprise people this year,” he said.

Aside from assembled eyebrows moving several inches closer to the ceiling, few took notice. Liverpool had just finished seventh, 28 points off the top, had not been in the Champions League for four years and most supporters would have settled for a top-four challenge.

Suarez, rehabilitated, had other ideas. Liverpool went as close as they have been to the title for what will soon be 29 years, losing to Manchester City by two points. Five years on, Liverpool are back in a title shoot-out with City. Aside from the clubs at the top, there are no similarities.

The word Henry used – “surprise” – is pertinent when comparing the title challenge of 2018 to what materialised under Brendan Rodgers. That bid was wholly unexpected, if not in the offices of Fenway Sports Group, certainly beyond Anfield. There was no hint in the form of the preceding two seasons and Suarez’s desire to move to the Emirates demonstrated – initially at least – he did not share his owner’s optimism.

For all the excitement as Liverpool caught Manchester City before their date with destiny with Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea, it proved a bid built on quicksand. Rather than trigger a new era, the season was an anomaly inspired by a world-class striker, overseen by an inexperienced manager whose tweaks to emphasise the strengths of an imperfect team remain underrated. It was constructed around an idealistic transfer policy, the previous summer’s deals focused on youngsters of promise rather than finished products.

Even in the midst of the challenge that evolved, by January 2014 the former chief executive, Ian Ayre, was defending the club’s failure to strengthen. The player Liverpool wanted but did not sign mid-season? Mohamed Salah, who moved from Basel to Chelsea. “We will always compete and know the value of a player and how far we are prepared to go,” Ayre said.

Had Liverpool won the title in 2014, the temptation to compare them with the great Anfield teams of the past would have been irresistible. In truth, it would have had more in common with Leicester City’s win two years later. Suarez would still have left for Barcelona. Captain Steven Gerrard, by then 33, would still have had game time reduced the following season.

Raheem Sterling would still have refused a new contract, visualising a career path taking him to a club annually – rather than occasionally – challenging for honours. Daniel Sturridge would still have had injury problems.

The recruitment strategy would still have had to change to reach the recent point where Liverpool are prepared to match or even outbid Chelsea and Manchester City when a player like Salah or Virgil van Dijk is on the move. Liverpool’s defence, goalkeeper, midfield, attack, manager and coaching staff would still have needed replacing to return the club to the highest level of European football.

The 2014 Liverpool squad were bereft of the players needed to win ugly. Thrillingly, they scored 101 goals. Brilliant but flawed, their run came to a symbolic end when squandering a three-goal lead at Crystal Palace. Liverpool were sixth a year later, back in the land of introspection they inhabited before Rodgers’s arrival in 2012.

The difference between this Liverpool title attempt – this Liverpool Football Club – is stark. Just three of the Liverpool team that ran City so close in 2014 remain at the club. Of those, Jordan Henderson is the only regular starter. The working relationship between the three key figures leading football operations: manager Jurgen Klopp, sporting director Michael Edwards and FSG president Michael Gordon; is flourishing in a manner alien to veterans of managerial and boardroom scraps at Anfield. The days of Melwood press conferences including coded messages to executives about transfer control and squad strengthening are gone.

Of all the compliments directed at Klopp’s side, the fact no one inside or outside the club is using the word “surprise” when seeing them challenge City is most reassuring. Reaching three major finals while

‘The level we’re at now is only the basis for this club to go again’

finishing in the top four in consecutive years is a sign of growth.

“If you want to talk to me about how it felt three or four years ago, the outside view was that it was a completely different club. One hundred per cent it was a different club, it wasn’t that easy,” said Klopp. “Brendan did a fantastic job and in the last few years we have tried to improve everything.

“We built a new stand, we are building a new training ground. The level we’re at now is only the basis for this club to go again. That’s what we want to do. For that we need good footballers and we’ve got that. We have to try everything we can to be successful.”

Given the upward trajectory since Klopp’s appointment, a championship challenge this season was not just expected. It was demanded.

“The pressure is there and has always been there because we know that we have to deliver. We have good players but they can still make next steps and that is what we have to do – to deal with the situation. We are not somebody. We are Liverpool,” said Klopp.

Whatever the outcome over the next six months, there is one certainty: Klopp’s team will not disintegrate as alarmingly as the last Liverpool side to find themselves in this position.