Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s first Liverpool goals in 18 months, coming hot on the heels of Adam Lallana’s first since May 2017, created a great story in Genk on Wednesday, according to Jürgen Klopp. Great news, too, for a manager always looking to evolve and coping with the heightened workload of European champions. Klopp’s increasing options, as well as reminders of Champions League glory, will be another cause of envy for Mauricio Pochettino at Anfield on Sunday.
Tottenham are, in effect, where Klopp found them when he took charge of his first Liverpool game just over four years ago – seventh in the Premier League and almost identical in personnel, too. Hugo Lloris, Danny Rose, Toby Alderweireld, Jan Vertonghen, Érik Lamela, Dele Alli, Christian Eriksen and Harry Kane all started the goalless draw at White Hart Lane. Four years on, all eight would have been in contention at Anfield but for the dislocated elbow Lloris sustained in the recent defeat at Brighton. Stability and consistency are fundamental but Spurs’ season suggests stagnation due to a lack of internal competition.
Last season’s Champions League finalists have gone in separate directions since Madrid and not only in terms of a win ratio of 77% to 31% in Liverpool’s favour from the games that have followed.
Four members of Klopp’s first matchday squad remain at Liverpool – Lallana, James Milner, Divock Origi and Nathaniel Clyne – although the need for a cull was evident long before the team ended that campaign 10 points behind third-placed Spurs. The extent of the overhaul and Liverpool’s investment will not be lost on Pochettino but it is the wealth of options now available to Klopp that demonstrates Liverpool’s refusal to stand still.
Klopp’s response to the threat of a first league defeat of the season at Manchester United and a sterile visiting performance last Sunday was to introduce more than £112m worth of experienced, international midfield talent from the bench. Lallana, Oxlade-Chamberlain and Naby Keïta have had injury-related problems but, with their sharpness returning, they shaped the recovery that preserved the leaders’ unbeaten start.
Lallana scored his first Liverpool goal in 29 months. Oxlade-Chamberlain and Keïta showed more of the penetration and creativity Liverpool fans have craved from a Champions League midfield when rewarded with starts at Genk, although their manager was not entirely satisfied with the overall display. As he said pointedly on Friday when discussing Fabinho’s growing importance: “He played as pretty much the only midfielder in some moments against Genk.”
Klopp may well revert to the tried, trusted, Champions League-winning trio of Jordan Henderson, Fabinho and Georgino Wijnaldum against Spurs – the three have scored one goal between them this season – but the threat to their places and the gamechanging options available to Klopp have grown. Xherdan Shaqiri will also offer a different threat once he recovers from a serious calf problem. “A lot of substitutes we have brought on have had an impact,” said Klopp. “And that is massive for us. It is key to being successful. Otherwise you have no chance.”
With the Club World Cup to squeeze in during December, Liverpool’s resources face constant tests.
Dejan Lovren said: “It is important to change, the season is getting longer and longer. There has been a big improvement from ourselves. When you look back two or three years at some of the changes that came in a game you didn’t see the effect of them. Now, when a couple of players are coming in, especially the United game when three players came on, the tempo of the game changes quickly.
“It says a lot about us. That’s why I was pleased for Adam [after the United game]. It is not easy when you don’t play for 10 games and then you just come in and everyone expects you should play as if you have played for three months. It is not easy like that. But it is great for the confidence and the team overall when players who didn’t play for a long time come in and do well.”
