There’s a word Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has used a few times when he talks about the upcoming Premier League season.
Fire.
His players? “You can see the fire in their eyes.”
Klopp himself? “I’m on fire.”
It’s what having a bad season — no trophy and a fifth-place finish in the league — does to a big club. It shakes people, invigorates them.
That’s certainly the case with Liverpool amid its first major overhaul in Klopp’s nearly eight years at Anfield.
Get ready for Liverpool 2.0 under Klopp after an offseason of big change.
Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold during the Premier League soccer match between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest at Anfield, in Liverpool, England, Saturday April 22, 2023. Klopp’s rebuild: Liverpool is undergoing its first big overhaul under Jurgen Klopp, with a completely new midfield adding to a much-changed forward line and the repositioning of Trent Alexander-Arnold. How quickly will Liverpool 2.0 come together and can they again become City’s biggest title rival? Credit: AP/Rui Vieira
There’s a completely new midfield. A much-changed forward line (still, though, containing Mohamed Salah). The repositioning of right back Trent Alexander-Arnold as a hybrid defender-midfielder. There’s even a new captain, in Virgil van Dijk.
The question, now, is how quickly Klopp can bring this new Liverpool together. Can the Reds once again become Manchester City’s biggest threat in the Premier League?
“We try to raise the bar again and again and again,” Klopp said. “For that, you need to make changes and we have obviously made now a lot of changes. That opens the door for a lot of other players.”
The overhaul has been coming for a while because of the way Liverpool had neglected to refresh a midfield that once was the team’s heartbeat, only to quickly become its shortcoming.
Liverpool’s manager Jurgen Klopp celebrates towards his teams fans after the end of the English Premier League soccer match between West Ham…
Read the full article here
Leave a Reply