Why refreshed Liverpool can regain the title
Hwith Van Dijk back and Klopp’s team firing on all cylinders, the 3-0 victory against Norwich looks a powerful statement of intent
Virgil van Dijk’s first start since Jordan Pickford rushed out of his goal last October was more than the return of their great helmsman. Without him, Liverpool were defensively adrift. Now they have someone to build their season around. Undemanding and unthreatening, Norwich City were ideal fodder for the rusty Dutchman, who was still too knowing for Teemu Pukki.
“I wanted to be playing because I need it,” he explained. “It will improve me, but knowing my own body, I am not a robot. I cannot be back to 100 per cent immediately.”
There was more. Andrew Robertson started every Premier League game last season and not once was manager Jurgen Klopp tempted to chance Konstantinos Tsimikas at left-back. On Saturday, Robertson’s damaged ankle ligaments gave an opportunity to the stylish Greek and he took it with aplomb until he tired late on. Competition is never a bad thing, of course, and it is there in central defence too, where Rhys Williams, Jordan Henderson, Fabinho, Joe Gomez (injured since November, but on the bench at Carrow Road), Nathaniel Phillips and loanee Ozan Kabak were tried during last season’s injury crisis.
Intriguingly, Klopp chose to partner Van Dijk with his old sidekick Joel Matip – without a game since January following his own ankle ligament injury – rather than new arrival Ibrahima Konate, who sat twiddling his thumbs on the bench, a £36million ornament for now. Like Van Dijk, Matip had a restful evening and almost scored himself, but the pair Klopp referred to as “monsters” know each other’s game intimately. Konate’s moment will come, but defensively Liverpool are firing on all cylinders again.
Midfield dynamism
Liverpool’s midfield trio were superior to Norwich’s in every aspect, speeding up and slowing down the game as the mood took them.
Using every last drop of experience, James Milner was imperious in the centre, while Alex Oxladechamberlain and Naby Keita did the hard running for him. The two dervishes quietly stymied Norwich’s forward thrusts before they reached Liverpool’s defensive line, but they also fed their own ravenously hungry front three.
What works against Norwich may not have the same effect against the elite, but again, Klopp has options, even with Xherdan Shaqiri seemingly Lyon-bound.
Thiago Alcantara and Henderson were not match-fit following their Euros exertions, Fabinho, Harvey Elliott and Ben Woodburn were on the bench and, as he mixes and matches, Klopp has something available to both absorb and exert pressure.
Attacking joy
Diogo Jota’s leg injury, Roberto Firmino’s dip in form and Divock Origi’s continued stagnation contributed to last season’s relative
malaise, where the fifth-highest Premier League scorer after Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane, Jota and Firmino was “own goal” with three. Against Norwich the omens looked promising. Salah, top scorer for the past four seasons but not at his peak last year, was outstanding, creating goals for Jota and Firmino before scoring one of his own. Mane was unplayable at times and when the
excellent, bustling Jota was withdrawn, Firmino was a whole new bundle of trouble for Norwich.
Klopp still lacks strength in depth here. Beyond the big four, it is difficult to gauge where the goals will come from and, significantly, neither Origi nor Takumi Minamino were introduced from the bench on Saturday. If his chosen quartet stay fit, good things will flow.
No more Mr Nice Klopp
Last season’s travails got under Klopp’s skin more than once. Last week he was bemoaning the financial
heft of Manchester City. A selfconfessed bad loser, he has shed his endearing aura of gurning quirkiness and, on Saturday, he chose to celebrate his team’s professionalism, rather than their dazzle.
The message is clear: the Liverpool of 2021-22 will do the ugly things, before moving on to the beautiful ones.
Next year will be Klopp’s seventh at Anfield, equalling his stints at Mainz and Borussia Dortmund. If he wants to scratch that seven-yearitch and move on, he would love to do it with another Premier League title under his belt.