Liverpool has a mostly ‘kind’ run of fixtures until it faces Manchester City in late November, but that will present a whole new challenge to Jürgen Klopp.
Liverpool will certainly be pleased with the start it has made to the season. Jürgen Klopp was presented with a tough opening set of fixtures, with trips to Newcastle and Chelsea punctuated by a visit from Unai Emery’s upwardly-mobile Aston Villa side.
The only truly ‘kind’ fixture on paper was the home clash against Bournemouth. By contrast, when football returns after the international break, Liverpool will face distinctly mid-table opposition, with Jürgen Klopp set to take on last season’s 13th-and-14th-placed finishers in quick succession.
In fact, Liverpool has a nice-looking run more or less up to its meeting with Manchester City on November 25. The ‘big six’ label has lost some of its cachet in recent times, but it’s still a reasonable indicator, and Klopp only faces one such opponent in his next eight league games.
However, this could ultimately be the biggest challenge of Liverpool’s credentials. With a new system and essentially a new midfield as well, this is where Klopp will be able to show if he has genuinely returned to title contention.
After all, it was not the ‘big-six’ clashes that truly derailed Liverpool last season. It finished fourth in that mini-league, with four wins, three draws and three defeats. A return of 15 points was underwhelming, but was only two behind Manchester United, eight clear of Spurs, and 11 better than Chelsea. Klopp even landed a blow on Manchester City, emerging with a 1-0 victory in the home league meeting.
That’s without factoring in Newcastle, a side which is surely a regular in the league’s upper echelons now. Liverpool was the only team to do the double against Eddie Howe last season.
Adding in those results, Liverpool actually had a better record against the biggest sides than Manchester United, and only trailed Arsenal by two points. It was the ‘easier’ games that caused the bigger problem for Klopp.
That’s an inevitable symptom of a pressing system that goes horribly wrong. Liverpool remained high up the pitch, but the pressure on the ball dropped off alarmingly, allowing teams to sit deep and then counter at will into acres of space.
Towards the end of the campaign, Klopp developed the new shape to try and help combat that. It worked, although the change came too late to salvage a Champions League finish. But the temporary measure has evolved into the system into which Liverpool intends to fit its next generation, so a series of matches against ‘lesser’ teams will be highly revealing.
Klopp only needs to look at West Ham, his next-but-one opponent, to see what challenge lies in store. David Moyes has mastered the underdog style, and even Brighton has already been stung by a sucker punch this season. The Seagulls somehow lost 3-1 despite boasting more shots, more efforts on target and 78 per cent possession.
In a run that also includes Everton and Nottingham Forest, Liverpool will truly see where its new system is at. It certainly seems workable against other progressive teams, but its fortunes against those prepared to sit deep will ultimately make or break Klopp’s latest innovation. Pass the test, and the game against Manchester City in November could be a massive one
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