Klopp is the complete antithesis of managers like Jos\u00e9 Mourinho, mean who believe that any problem can be solved by signing a big enough cheque. That\u2019s what gives me hope that we\u2019ll be able to cause a few surprises as the season goes on. Could a team of youth players do enough to compete against even the lowliest of Premier League sides? Probably not, no. But you could put the likes of Kent or Ben Woodburn into a team filled with some of our first-team players and I think they\u2019ll have enough to come away with three points more often than not. I also think that our squad is as strong if not stronger than most of our league rivals, including the defending champions Chelsea.<\/p>\n
I might well be proven wrong, but I think Mourinho is a busted flush. His style of play isn\u2019t good enough to keep United supporters happy, whilst the signings he\u2019s made have done little to alleviate his team\u2019s inability to score enough goals. They\u2019ll be tough to beat, but that isn\u2019t the same as being a side that wins. The Europa League will prove to be a different beast to the Champions League for Arsene Wenger and I\u2019m not convinced that Tottenham\u2019s tactic of selling a couple of their best players and not bringing anyone whatsoever in is a winning one. Guardiola has bought well this summer, but has he yet got to grips with the English game? I don\u2019t think anyone other than last season\u2019s top six will win the title and all of the other clubs have to cope with the demands of Europe too.<\/p>\n
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Rnoid \/ shutterstock.com<\/p><\/div>\n
In my opinion this season is all about consolidation of our position. That\u2019s not to say that we\u2019ll only have an eye on top four, with a challenge for the title more than possible if we\u2019re able to keep our first-team fit for the majority of the campaign. It\u2019s just that mixing the demands of European football and a Premier League season will be difficult and I have a feeling it might just be a step too far to expect us to win it this time around. I believe in J\u00fcrgen Klopp as a manager, however, and I think we\u2019re heading in the right direction. As always, it\u2019s entirely possible that the wheels will come off and I\u2019ll be made to look a fool. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s going to happen, though, so I reckon we\u2019ll once again be a thorn in the side of the teams at the top.<\/p>\n
Prediction: 3rd<\/strong><\/p>\nChampions League<\/h2>\n
There\u2019s a reason that everyone wants to be in the Champions League. It is a meeting of the finest teams in Europe, all going head-to-head in a completion that really does separate the wheat from the chaff. Liverpool without European football is like a banquet without wine, as the old saying goes, so it\u2019s excellent that we\u2019ve got a chance to dine at the top table once more. I\u2019m confident that we\u2019ll have enough to get past Hoffenheim. Yes, it was the toughest draw that we could have got. If you think the German side are happy about having to face us, however, then you\u2019re out of your mind. They\u2019ll be gutted that they\u2019re having to take on Liverpool with the second-leg at Anfield and I think that tells you everything you need to know.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/IMG_9240-533x400.jpg\")
Anfield In The Sun<\/p><\/div>\n
I have no doubt that we\u2019ll be in the Group Stage of the competition, then, but how far will we go? The beauty of this Liverpool team under the guidance of J\u00fcrgen Klopp is that it knows how to get a result against the big sides. In the Champions League, every team is a big side. I\u2019d obviously prefer not to have to face Real Madrid or the like too early on in the competition, but if we are drawn against them then I believe we\u2019ll be able to get a result. I can see us getting out of the Group Stage and getting drawn against Borussia Dortmund or Bayern Munich in the first Knockout Stage, with Liverpool heads falling off all over the place. We took the game to Bayern in the Allianz in pre-season, however, and battered them in a game they were determined to win.<\/p>\n
There is no team in the competition that I think Liverpool should be scared of going up against. That\u2019s not to say that I think we\u2019re going to win it, of course. Given that this is our first time back in the big league since the 2014-2015 season I think getting through at least one Knockout Stage would be excellent progress. If it comes down to a choice between pouring all of our eggs into the Champions League basket or going for the domestic title, I very much hope that the manager does the latter. It didn\u2019t work out for Spurs last season but I don\u2019t care – I want the Premier League more than anything else in the whole wide world.<\/p>\n
Prediction: Semi-Finals<\/strong><\/p>\nFA Cup<\/h2>\n
More than anything else, I think J\u00fcrgen Klopp wants a trophy this season. He\u2019s had two good cracks at the League Cup and has come away empty-handed both times. I have a feeling that he\u2019s realised how much that particular competition takes out of your squad if you go deep into it so I think he\u2019s going to abandon it this time around. I don\u2019t think the same is true of the FA Cup, with England\u2019s most prestigious cup competition offering a chance to not only get silverware but to add a cup that actually means something to the trophy cabinet. He\u2019ll have seen Arsene Wenger win it three years out of four now and might well think that that\u2019s something he can do, too.<\/p>\n
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Mitch-Gunn \/ shutterstock.com<\/p><\/div>\n
Last season we seemed to favour the League Cup over the FA Cup when it came to team selection in January, but if I\u2019m right that Klopp will abandon the lesser of the two competitions this time around then that won\u2019t be a consideration. Instead he\u2019ll be able to go strong in the FA Cup, knowing that a journey to the latter rounds will afford his players sufficient rest between fixtures. Klopp isn\u2019t an idiot. He\u2019ll know that one of the best ways of persuading both the Liverpool supporters and the players he\u2019s got in his squad that things are heading in the right direction is by winning something. Too many players in previous years have played in good teams but left the club empty-handed.<\/p>\n
We\u2019re in a position right now where our squad is a pleasant mixture of talented youngsters, players who have developed over the years with us and genuinely excellent guys with bags full of experience. There\u2019s no guarantee that that means that we\u2019ll be able to put a cup run together, but reaching two finals one season and the semi-finals of a cup competition the following year suggests that there a players in the side who know what it takes to get results in one-off matches. Can we take things just that one step further than we have in previous years and lift our first cup since 2012? If we\u2019re going to do it I believe that it will be in the FA Cup.<\/p>\n
Prediction: Winners<\/strong><\/p>\nLeague Cup<\/h2>\n
As I mentioned a moment ago, I think that J\u00fcrgen Klopp has learnt his lesson when it comes to the League Cup. Two years running he\u2019s gone strong in this competition only to lose out the first time thanks to a penalty shoot-out and the second time courtesy of two poor legs against something of a bogy team. Whatever else the German will be thinking about his squad this year he\u2019ll be aware that he has some very talented squad players at his disposal. I\u2019ve been immensely impressed by Dominic Solanke in pre-season, for example, and think the manager will find as many opportunities as he can to play the former Chelsea youth striker. I\u2019ve already talked about Kent and Woodburn and you can add Ovie Ejaria to that mix, too.<\/p>\n
![\"Trophies\"](\"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/trophies-680.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
It would make perfect sense for the manager to opt for a youth team in the League Cup, seeing how far they can get and blooding them in a competition that means something but isn\u2019t as pressured as either Europe, the league or the FA Cup. Do you think it\u2019s totally out of the realms of the possible that a line-up of Karius, Alexander-Arnold, Gomez, Klavan, Robertson, Can, Wijnaldum, Ejaria, Kent, Solanke and Ings, for example, could be picked on a regular basis throughout the tournament? I think it\u2019s not only possible but extremely likely. That\u2019s not even mentioning players like Ings, Origi and Sturridge, all of whom probably won\u2019t be in the first XI but will need game time.<\/p>\n
The only question for me is how far that ‘B\u2019 team will go. Jos\u00e9 Mourinho always tends to take the League Cup seriously, knowing that it\u2019s a good chance to get some silverware in the cabinet early doors and give everyone a bit of confidence. I can imagine Mauricio Pochettino starting to feel the pressure of needing to win something with this Tottenham side, with Guardiola also likely to want to win some silverware and perhaps thinking that the League Cup could do the trick. If Klopp does what I believe he\u2019ll do and stick with the young guns then I\u2019m not sure they\u2019ll have enough to make it all the way to the final this time around. I might be wrong, obviously, but my instinct is that we\u2019ll do reasonably well but not quite well enough to mean a double of domestic cups.<\/p>\n
Prediction: Quarter-Finals<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We\u2019ve entered the countdown period for the start of the new season. Fantasy Football teams are being submitted all over the country, bets are being placed and managers are wondering if they’ve done enough to see the entire campaign out without being given the boot. For Liverpool fans it\u2019s a bit of a strange time. On the one hand there is palpable excitement about the possibility of seeing Sadio Man\u00e9, Mohamed Salah and Philippe Coutinho play together, yet on the other there\u2019s a question of whether or not Coutinho will still be here when the window shuts. That to say […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/991"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=991"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/991\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":992,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/991\/revisions\/992"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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