I don’t normally write list articles, but as an exercise I thought I’d list some of the ways Liverpool can still improve next season, even without any additions via the transfer market (which appears to be the way the club may have to go in the post-Covid world, albeit still in the market for impressive young talent at a reasonable price, if not immediate first-XI players).
It’s fair to say that 2020/21 could present several potential pitfalls, not least the sating of desire to scratch that most elusive of itches; although equally, it could be argued that no longer having the 30-year millstone will lighten the psychological load, and provide further solidification of the mindset of ‘winners’. You can never say for sure what will happen in the future (although well done if you invested in a job lot of face-masks in 2019), but there are no real issues with the first XI that needs addressing in the next twelve months.
Of course, that is different to saying that there are no players out there who could improve the team, or that every first-XI player is perfect. Jürgen Klopp, Michael Edwards, et al, will not rest on their laurels, but unlike Manchester City in the past two seasons – losing Vincent Kompany and then David Silva (as well as Leroy Sané) – the Reds are not losing any first-team leaders or players (in the case of Sané) who should have gone on to be world-beaters for them. (Indeed, City losing Sané is perhaps the first time they’ve been scalped in the way the Reds were by City in nabbing Raheem Sterling.)
Players can obviously have unexpectedly bad or below-par seasons (or suddenly suffer serious injury that writes them off for a year, or longer), but right now there are no first-XI players at Liverpool who are even on the cusp of decline, and only one in the entire squad (and he’s made of a mix of Ribena and nuclear fusion).
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