The Merseyside derby might have ended with two points less to Liverpool’s tally than the vast majority of the match suggested should have been the case, but the fall-out from the match pointed the finger of blame entirely the wrong way. Much has been made of Jurgen Klopp rotating his side and leaving Brazilians Philippe Coutinho and Roberto Firmino on the bench against Everton, but this was perhaps the smallest contribution to the eventual 1-1 scoreline.
Individual player decisions on the pitch—Sadio Mane at one end, Dejan Lovren at the other—contrived to hand the Reds only a third of what they deserved, not Klopp’s decisions in the dressing room before kick-off.
Instead, what Klopp has shown over the last six weeks has made another point entirely: that Liverpool’s squad depth and overall quality is in a better state now than at any point since the start of the decade.
Quality v Titles
Ok, the immediate response is obvious: if it’s the best squad in ages, why hasn’t it won silverware? Well, two very straight-forward reasons; firstly it came close, reaching two finals wherein anything can happen quite unrelated to how good a team is, and secondly—and far more importantly—the rest of the top end of the English game has improved dramatically, too.
But since 2010, when Liverpool crashed out of Europe early, failed to make the top four and dismissed Rafa Benitez to begin a meandering journey starting with the downward-frowning football of Roy Hodgson, the Reds have replaced squad players poorly and stars not at all, save for one or two exceptions along the way.
Even in Brendan Rodgers’ title tilt campaign, the Reds had a threadbare squad; toward the end run of that season there were only really two regular rotations, with Coutinho and Raheem Sterling at times vying for a single spot (until they both found a place in the diamond), and Joe Allen also in and out of the team according to need.
Last term, when Mane was absent, there was very little attacking thrust or pace, particularly from wide. This year that’s no longer the case; Mane has arguably been least in-form of the front four, outscored in league play alone by Mohamed Salah 13-4.
It makes a big difference to how much Klopp can change the team and still retain a similar level of quality on the pitch, which in turn makes a huge difference to how often the Reds can put in a performance level which deserves three points.
Rotation and spring
Winter 2017 absolutely gutted any title hopes Liverpool had, and almost wrecked their Champions League ambitions too. With Mane out and the likes of Firmino, Adam Lallana or Jordan Henderson run into the ground, the Reds went 10 matches in January and the start of February with a sole win to their name...a cup replay at Plymouth.
Klopp simply couldn’t change the team enough and leave the same level of quality on the pitch, resulting in Divock Origi failing to impact at Old Trafford, Kevin Stewart and Ben Woodburn being the sole midfield sub options at Southampton, a woeful collapse at home to Swansea and the likes of Connor Randall and Ovie Ejaria exiting the FA Cup against Wolves.
The same risk isn’t being taken this time.
Where Firmino and Mane have had rest games recently, Coutinho, Salah and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain have shone. With James Milner back into midfield and the system switching between 4-3-3 and 4-4-2, the middle of the park has remained competitive, aggressive and energetic.
It won’t always automatically lead to a win, as shown against Everton, but it should always mean that a full shift can be put in and the opposition kept under pressure.
Do that better than Tottenham have managed, better than Arsenal manage, and the points tally six weeks from now could start to make a serious difference. Finishing in the top four is more difficult now than it has been in recent Premier League seasons; even as the Reds improve under Klopp, so too does the overall competition under Antonio Conte, Mauricio Pochettino, Pep Guardiola.
It’s time to run as fast as you can just to stay where you are, and the team as a unit can only do that if everyone takes their turn.
Once upon a time when Fernando Torres was absent, only David Ngog was ready to fill the void. Since then Jonjo Shelvey played as a false nine once; Raheem Sterling became Rodgers’ go-to centre-forward, and Martin Skrtel ended up as the striker as the Reds crashed out of the Champions League, without a forward on the bench and needing a goal against Basel.
Last week, the Reds took their place in the last 16 after putting seven past their opponents, and having made half a dozen changes.
Klopp did it again against Everton and but for errant on-pitch decision-making, the points haul would have been similar. He’ll do it again over Christmas, and again over the new year, and he’s absolutely right to.
Because this Liverpool squad, still imperfect and with defensive frailties and all the other issues yet to be resolved, is by far the best in terms of depth and maintaining the starting level of quality than has been on show for far too many of the Reds’ recent campaigns. Come March, April and May, we might just realise how much better it is this year.
