Liverpool’s amazing transformation

Liverpool, the most successful club of England, at last broke the duck of English Premier League title as they clinched the coveted trophy with seven matches in hand Thursday night after a 30-year gap.

These 30 years marked agony and despair for the Liverpool fans, who are one of the most passionate groups in the football world, and many memoirs are being written throughout media - print, visual and social - with the historic achievement.

But Dhaka Tribune dug deep regarding the technical aspects of the game, on and off the field, and tried to find out how the team which used to hover around mid-table in the last two decades or so, transformed themselves into the best team in the world, clinching prestigious titles like the Champions League, Super Cup, Club World Cup and Premier League in the last two seasons, and look forward to dominating the football world as a formidable force.

After perennial struggles, Liverpool, the behemoth, recruited Jurgen Klopp back in 2015 as the coach of the side and the German gradually, with a unique blend of science, passion, skill and determination built his empire from scrap.

We have discussed 10 technical aspects which played key roles in resurrecting the supremacy of Liverpool in England and Europe.

After a tumultuous period in the last few years of the first decade of the century, when Liverpool were on the verge of being bankrupt under the ownership of George Gillette and Tom Hicks, Fenway Sports Grop bought the ownership of the club in 2010. The Boston-based organization that owns the successful baseball franchise Boston Red Sox, tried to imply their successful moneyball game approach akin to baseball in football as well. But, John Henry, the chief of FSG found it difficult. However, he recruited Michael Edwards as sporting director back in 2011 and after a few barren seasons, roped in Klopp as coach.

The dynamic duo successfully implemented the data-driven policy in the transfer market to fetch some players who had immense potential but were undervalued, from nook and corner of the world at a very low price. The likes of Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino were brought from AS Roma, Southampton and TSG Hoffenheim respectively for a low price, Andrew Robertson was bought for a mere eight million pounds from relegated Hull City, and Trent Alexander-Arnold, a lifelong scouser, was picked from the academy. All of them proved much valuable than their original price tag.

Klopp was already a huge success with his style of gegenpressing - the immediate ball recovery and counter press - in Germany and Europe. In his debut match at the EPL, he faced Mauricio Pochettino’s Totenham Hotspur - the erstwhile best pressing side in the league - and deployed the technique. Liverpool players were not capable and had very little practice under Klopp but on that very day, despite a goalless draw at White Hart Lane, it indicated that with more capable players under Klopp, the tactic will thrive.

Klopp implemented a simple yet very successful formation of 4-3-3 (4-1-4-1 without ball). Mane played in an aggressive role out wide while Georginio Winjaldum played box-to-box and Jordan Henderson was in the pivotal role of holding midfielder who enjoyed freedom to make serious attacking impact. The system looked very effective in 2016 when Klopp’s side beat Chelsea, the champion of that season, 2-1 in the away fixture and sowed the seeds of greater future success.

The Brazilian was initially considered as a false nine, but he became the most potent weapon of Klopp’s system as "genuine" No 9. He became the leader of the press. He links up the play, runs the channels to split the opponents' defence and creates space for his comrades. He is also good at header and finishing. But most importantly he makes all-out fight to get the ball when he loses it. Firmino’s impact was evident in big wins of Liverpool in the 2015-16 season against Chelsea and Manchester City and Klopp was making blueprint of using the "engine" of his side to run his well-built machine even smoother.

The sale of Philippe Coutinho, formerly the biggest name of the side, to Barcelona at an astronomical figure of over 142m pounds in 2017 helped the side in many facades. Notwithstanding his talent, he was neither a left winger nor a central midfielder and hence did not quite fit in in the 4-3-3 system. Klopp often had to change the formation to accommodate his star player but when he left the club the tactician was in a sense relieved. 

World football has not seen a more dangerous duo than this in recent times. Mane excelled in the right flank in his first season but when Salah arrived, he took the position and put Mane in the left. For Klopp and Liverpool the move reaped rich rewards as two-footed Mane became even more lethal as he could cut inside with his favorite right boot not only to score goals but also create plethora of chances. Meanwhile Salah, who runs as fast as a gazelle, wrecks havoc in opposition ranks with his goalspree. But the most spectacular thing was their connection, interchange of play and counter attacks which often take place in a blink of an eye. Over the last three years, the triumvirate of Salah-Firmino-Mane has produced uncountable number of counter attacking goals which mesmerized even the staunchest of opponents.

With Coutinho's money, Liverpool could afford to fill some of their gaps and the first thing they did was to buy Virgil van Dijk, the big Dutch center-back. Before him, the side used to play very attractively only to lose for lackluster defense. But the towering VVD, with his immaculate aerial duels and impenetrable defensive capacity solved the problem. More importantly he became the leader of defense as Joe Gomez and Joel Matip got tremendous boost and confidence to improve their game alongside him. VVD also became a regular source of goals in crucial matches with his trademark jumping headers from set pieces. 

With a rock and roll style football, Liverpool reached the final of the UCL 2018 but lost the match to Real Madrid with the early injury of Salah and two of the most horrific howlers of goalkeeper Loris Karius. Klopp and his team learnt the lesson and landed Alisson Becker, one of the finest sweeper goalkeepers, with a hefty sum from Roma. Alisson not only assured his side with big saves in many matches but also became the first attacker as often the buildup started from him or his very clever long throws which most of the time find an attacker in a vantage position to breach opponents' defence.

Despite the presence of a superb attacking triumvirate, the world’s best central defender and goalkeeper, Liverpool’s heart is their two full-backs. The energetic TAA and Robertson run through the wings and relentlessly provide inch perfect crosses to advanced players. With a rigid, hardworking midfield and high backline, these two gets the license of overlapping throughout the match. As a result they yield incredible number of assists every season. In the last season TAA provided 12 and Robertson eight while next best full-back of the league, Everton’s Lucas Digne gave six assists. The amazing capacity of TAA and Robertson makes Liverpool an extremely attacking side and that is one of the main reasons why, along with the above mentioned ones, the All Reds have lost just two matches in total in the last two seasons in EPL, arguably the most competitive league in the world.