![]() ![]() They barely made any offseason moves, either, primarily trusting that players like defenders Virgil Van Dijk, Joel Matip and Joe Gomez and midfielder Jordan Henderson would return to previous form after injury they spent their entire transfer budget on a young centre-back (Ibrahima Konate) who's barely played thus far, and they brought in no midfielders to replace the departed Georginio Wijnaldum (PSG) and Xherdan Shaqiri (Lyon). But everything that brought them to that unlikely place - centre-back injuries, more centre-back injuries, midfield injuries, early-season COVID-19 diagnoses, a run of six losses in seven matches in the early months of 2021 - was a source of massive frustration and made Liverpool a very difficult team to preview this summer. The Reds pulled an incredible salvage job late in the season, taking 26 points from their last 10 matches to secure a top-four finish (and Champions League bid) that seemed terribly unlikely as late as March. Like plenty of clubs, Liverpool would probably like to forget the 2020-21 season altogether. They are pressuring the ball as much as they ever have, they are attacking with a bit more intensity and verticality, and Salah, long one of the world's best players, is producing at an otherworldly clip. ![]() Whether Liverpool is a particularly "adaptable" club at the moment or isn't, one thing is certain: They're playing really, really well. ESPN+ viewers guide: LaLiga, Bundesliga, MLS, FA Cup, more Imagine seeing all that and thinking, "Meh, too inflexible." It boggles the mind. Imagine watching Mohamed Salah post the easiest hat-trick of his life and his team carving through United with ease, pouncing on mistakes and romping to five goals in 48 minutes, seemingly without ever having to shift past about fourth gear. ![]() Imagine watching Liverpool-United on Sunday, seeing Liverpool cut with ease through the weakest, most unorganized high press they've seen all season. Amid talk of the need for a "cultural reset" at the club, Miguel Delaney noted, "Key decision-makers at the club willingly say they never wanted to go down the Manchester City or Liverpool route of having a defined style of coach, because that means you can't be adaptable." A piece in The Independent, however, stood out for one particular reason. On Monday, the day after Liverpool's 5-0 destruction of Manchester United at Old Trafford, every major publication (including this one) ran pieces on the match as either a referendum on the mediocrity that United have become, as an end-of-days moment for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's tenure as United manager, or both. Liverpool's best form of Jurgen Klopp's tenure? Breaking down reasons behind Reds' brilliant run You have reached a degraded version of because you're using an unsupported version of Internet Explorer.įor a complete experience, please upgrade or use a supported browser ![]()
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