Ah, momentum. So key at this point of the season. The formbook is a flood of green for Manchester City, their relentless run eating into Arsenal’s now all but obliterated lead.
And while Newcastle and Manchester United are solidifying their Champions League aspirations, and Aston Villa making an unexpected push for Europe themselves, a nod also to the team trying to finish this campaign of contrasts with a flourish: Liverpool.
This season Jurgen Klopp’s side have beat Bournemouth 9-0 (yes, back in August, this season, it feels like years ago) and Manchester United 7-0. They beat Rangers 7-1, then Manchester City 1-0 four days later. They also lost at Nottingham Forest, to Leeds in between wins over Ajax and Napoli, and the reverse fixture with Bournemouth.
Contrasts indeed and a far cry from that exhausting quadruple push last year, but recently the outlook has been somewhat brighter. Five games unbeaten, three straight wins, and now sixth in the table a late push for fourth that will more likely end with fifth and Europa League football.
That would make for an autumn, at least, of Thursdays and Sundays for Liverpool, a first Europa League campaign for seven years, but with a summer rebuild in the offing there is reason to believe this necessary overhaul has already begun.
“Where will we end up, I don’t know, but it will go on after the season,” Klopp said after the 6-1 win at Leeds. “That’s why we need all the results and performances to build on and understand, so we can build something new, something slightly different. It’s our job to find that consistency.”
Klopp reiterated his desire for momentum after Wednesday’s win at West Ham, which moves them to within six points of fourth, although Manchester United have two games in hand.
“We’re not in a position for a [top-four] race,” Klopp said. “The only thing we can do is win football games. I want us to finish the season as good as possible, to take something for next year. I want us to show our real face and not the nice one, the ugly one, the nice one, the ugly one.”
Needing a shake-up, Klopp perhaps took inspiration from Pep Guardiola earlier this month. A 4-1 loss at the Etihad was a reminder of this gap between two sides that have fought for the title in three of the past four seasons, but also goes down as Liverpool’s most recent defeat.
Arsenal:
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) April 27, 2023
Leeds:
Nottingham Forest:
West Ham:
Five assists in four games for @TrentAApic.twitter.com/iQ657DY2Us
Since then, Klopp has operated Trent Alexander-Arnold in a hybrid role – see also: Nathan Ake at Manchester City, so too John Stones – ensuring the full-back is further up field and more central in attack, a role that has produced five assists in four games, some improvement on the two he had notched before April.
Alexander-Arnold in midfield is the headline tweak but not the solitary change Klopp has made of late.
Out of the team has gone Harvey Elliott, an unused substitute for four straight games, and in has come Curtis Jones, starting the five games Liverpool have gone unbeaten since defeat at City.
Jones had previously only started one league game this season, but on Wednesday against West Ham he made the most tackles (five) and joint-most key passes (three), with a passing accuracy (94.4 per cent) also unmatched from anyone else at London Stadium.
“He is doing really well,” Klopp said on Wednesday night.
“He set the tone again with the first counter-pressing situation, he was super-important. That he is a good footballer, we all knew, that he has to improve, we knew as well, and he knows, but he's in a really good moment.
“This team is set up now for the defending, for the defensive readiness. This is a ticket into the team. That doesn't mean the other boys don't do that, but these guys now do it like animals, if you want – and really, I like that, how we chase the ball again. On top of that, we are able to play quite good football and Curtis is involved in that as well, absolutely.”
It is no coincidence that this “defensive readiness” within Klopp’s midfield, where Jones has started alongside Fabinho and Jordan Henderson the last five games, has corresponded with Alexander-Arnold’s improved performances, a greater license to attack, and a forward line slowly returning to full strength is certainly helping, too.
How that will look after the summer is anyone’s guess, with Roberto Firmino expected to leave, but currently Diogo Jota is staking a claim for a regular starting berth, with two goals against both Leeds and Nottingham Forest relegating Darwin Nunez to a bit-part role of late.
Add the return of Luis Diaz to the mix, the winger having come off the bench for the past three matches, and there is a healthier look to this Liverpool side, a freshness that may have come too late for a Champions League place but one that bodes well for next season.
Title challengers again next season? That may be a stretch, but momentum helps, and could continue with a favourable run-in, starting with three home games on the spin against Tottenham, Fulham and Brentford.
And in light of Arsenal’s soul-destroying winless run, a spell whereby greater credit should be laid upon Liverpool’s door for twice pushing this City team until the last day of the season – on top of that 99-point title-winning season in 2019-20 – credit too must go to Klopp for orchestrating this latest clean-up.
The calls for changes were loud, the season was “rubbish” by his own admission just three weeks ago, but he has since emptied those purple wheelie bins himself, and restored a little hope.
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