Forget What Gary Neville Says Liverpool Need To Fight On All Fronts
Earlier in the week former Manchester United player turned TV pundit Gary Neville stated that Liverpool should think about ditching their Champions League ambitions and concentrate fully on a push for the Premier League title:
“The Champions League — if I was Liverpool, I would kick it into touch,”
That didn’t go down to well at Anfield with Reds coach Jurgen Klopp replying:
“How would that work? We don’t play Champions League or what? Gary should come over and tell me exactly how that works,”
“How do you prepare for a game when you don’t focus on it? I don’t understands, do we play with kids or what?”
To be honest, I fully agree with Klopp when it comes to this debate.
It would make absolutely no sense for Liverpool to concentrate on any single competition this early on in a season.
They’ve started marvellously well so far this term, winning all five of their opening League fixtures. Earlier today, they kept their unbeaten run going with a very impressive 2-1 away win at Wembley against potential fellow title challengers Tottenham Hotspur.
The Reds haven’t won the English top flight since 1990 and the supporters believe this really could be their year but no one at the club can get ahead of themselves, there’s still a long way to go before trophies are handed out. Liverpool certainly can’t be arrogant enough to discount such an illustrious prize as the Champions League.
Th only way to win such competitions as the Premier League and the Champions League is by winning the majority of football fixtures that you’re involved in. Successful teams build on winning runs and constantly winning should breed the confidence to win important titles.
Plus when you look back at the last transfer window, Jurgen Klopp has brought in new faces to improve the squad and have them ready to challenge on all fronts this term. They’ve now got strong competition for places in all positions and that strength in depth means that they can challenge in multiple tournaments.
The German boss will obviously go throughout the season rotating his starting line-up and his preferred starting eleven will change during the campaign and it will be dictated to by form, injuries and suspensions. That competition for places means that they should be challenging for the main trophies and goals that they’ll have set themselves at the start of the season.
If they are going to sacrifice fixtures then it will be in the domestic cups but even then I still believe they have the squad capable of showing up and doing well in those games. Although I’d expect Klopp to give some talented youngsters their chance in the League Cup and the FA Cup.
The reason why Liverpool didn’t challenge in the league last term wasn’t because of exhaustion. No, it was because they had problems at the back and were too inconsistent against weaker sides.
The Reds have hopefully addressed those issues in their last two transfer windows.
For me, Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp is right and his team should go into every game thinking they can win it and win whatever competition in which they are playing in.
Maybe come January or March, they might need to readdress their ambitions but there’s no way that they should start discounting the Champions League before the competition even kicks into full swing!
Posted on September 15th, 2018 by scott
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