Football Season Guide

Liverpool

In


Sadio Mane (att) Southampton; Georginio Wijnaldum (mid) Newcastle; Loris Karius (gk) Mainz 05; Ragnar Klavan (def) Augsburg; Alexander Manninger (gk) Augsburg; Joel Matip (def) Schalke 04; Luis Alberto (mid) Deportivo La Coruna – end of loan; Lazar Markovic (mid) Fenerbahce – end of loan; Marko Grujic (mid) Red Star Belgrade – end of loan; Mario Balotelli (att) Milan – end of loan;

Out


Jordon Ibe (sp) (att) Bournemouth; Joe Allan (sp) (mid) Stoke City; Martin Skrtel (r) (def) Fenerbahce; Brad Smith (def) Bournemouth; Joao Teixeira (mid) Porto; Kolo Toure (sp) (def) Celtic; Samed Yesil (att) released; Adam Bogdan (gk) Wigan – on loan; Danny Ward (gk) Huddersfield – on loan;

Jurgen Klopp’s reshaping of Liverpool is at full power this summer and using his connections in the Bundesliga the famous manager already secured the services of two goalkeepers and two solid centre-backs from Germany. Klopp also signed Mane and Wijnaldum to provide his team with explosive wingers and Liverpool are seen by many as a much better side than they were just 12 months ago. Klopp is famous for extracting the best out of his players with his very intense and high-pressing style of football, which should see the Reds doing much better this year. Without a doubt the big problems for the Reds last year were seen in defence and the arrivals of Klavan and Matip, for very little money it must be said, will likely improve the defensive record. Karius is also a goalkeeper expected to get a lot of starts, with Mignolet forced to show better things if he wants to maintain his number one position. Liverpool are expected to be all about quick passing and clever runs in pockets of space this season and with the likes of Firmino, Coutinho, Lallana, Mane, Wijnaldum and Sturridge up front goals and pleasant football seem to be guaranteed. Klopp can change the style of play during the course of the games very easily as for his attack he also still has Ings, Balotelli and Benteke, which suggests that if the result is negative Liverpool can play with lots of high crosses. Can, Leiva, Henderson and Milner are the options for defensive midfielders and the gaffer is definitely spoiled for choice even if injuries occur. Liverpool are not playing in Europe this season and this is also expected to help the squad to do well on the domestic stage. In summary the common opinion is that Liverpool will be conceding less goals and at the same time scoring more, which naturally means that their table position should be better than last year.

Target


Liverpool are overlooked by many as title-contenders, but any team managed by Klopp is a dark horse and with the lack of European distractions in midweek the Reds are aiming at a top three finish this season. It seems that there are more pundits abroad than in England believing that Liverpool can be champions, but in Europe they know better what miracles Klopp is capable of.