2024/25 Premier League Preview - Liverpool

After almost a decade, Jürgen Klopp has called time on his days in Liverpool (and most likely the Premier League). The Anfield legend leaves Merseyside having given Liverpool their first taste of Premier League success and a return to Champions League glory, as well as multiple other trophies and honours. Not many successful Premier League teams have instant joy when it comes to replacing long serving managers though. Arsenal and Manchester United know all too much about this, proving how essential it is to have a man at the helm who can establish consistency and get results from the 1st game onwards.

The torch will now be passed to Dutchman Arne Slot. The former Feyenoord manager is in the biggest job of his managerial career by a country mile. Slot certainly doesn’t come without experience or success though. In his 3 seasons at Feyenoord, he managed to win the league, win Eredivisie coach of the year twice and compete in Europe at every level in all 3 seasons. Impressive accolades for a coach that is only 45 years old.

It appears that Slot is going to be a good tactical fit for Liverpool after so many years under Klopp. It certainly won’t be a like for like system but it will have notes of Klopp’s aggressiveness when it comes to pressing high up the pitch as well as inverting the full backs, something Trent Alexander-Arnold will benefit from. However the differences appear to mainly sit within the formation and the team’s overall shape. Rather than Klopp’s 3-man front line, Slot usually deploys 2 players up front, either both up top together or 1 in front of the other with the latter being a more frequent choice.

These tactics could see a shift in responsibilities for a player like Dominik Szoboszlai. If this role of second striker is granted to him over the course of the season, it could prove to be a genius move and it has already been tested out successfully in pre-season. Szoboszlai has an incredible work-rate, a critical factor for anyone playing in this role and it will make him a danger to any team when paired with his fantastic creativity.

What could see Liverpool come unstuck tactically is their lack of players in the pivot. Slot will almost definitely be using a double pivot, meaning that he needs players who are comfortable with receiving the ball in deep areas that can make accurate, progressive passes to feed wingers and forwards. It’s difficult at this moment to predict exactly who will occupy these roles. Players such as Alexis Mac Allister, Curtis Jones and Ryan Gravenberch all prefer playing further up the pitch. 19 year old Stefan Bajcetic will likely need more game time to test his quality and Wautaro Endo hasn’t particularly impressed in this role in pre-season.

With it being quite obvious that Liverpool have this double pivot riddle to solve, it is expected that they will take a dip into the transfer market even though they’ve not spent a penny just yet. They looked poised to part ways with over £50m to bring in Martín Zubimendi from Real Sociedad but the player rejected the move in favour of signing a new contract. Besides the failed acquisition of Zubimendi, there hasn’t been many other credible links to any players at all right now, although it doesn’t take long for a rumour to turn into a signing, even more so when a club with spending power is on the hunt.

What is almost certain to unsettle the fanbase is that this may be the final season at Anfield for both Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Djik, who have entered the final year of their contracts. Salah has been subject to interest from the Saudi Pro League for a very long time and Van Dijk has not been shy about how he is currently weighing up his options. With both players comfortably into their thirties it may only be a matter of time before their standards drop, as it does with many players. It’s thought that this isn’t yet happening as both were very productive last season but as with most players, they may look to move outside of the Premier League to see out their playing days. Liverpool will now look to their plethora of talented players to become the heir to these club legends or they will be forced to buy in yet again.

With a similar squad that doesn't seem to be going anywhere just yet, it leaves Liverpool in a good place. The squad is strong and is deep with talent, especially in forward areas, although more needs to come from Darwin Núñez who has missed 47 big chances in the last 2 seasons in the Premier League. The hope will be that the squad sees less injuries than last season’s 35 which will leave Arne Slot with a good idea of who his consistent first 11 will be. They have some rapidly developing young players that will begin to play a bigger part as time goes on and there is every opportunity that they open their wallet and sign a big name or 2.

Liverpool are well fancied to at the very least remain in the top 4. They may not have the established manager and system that Manchester City and Arsenal have, but Arne Slot could very easily be contending with them as the season goes into next year, should the players take to the tactics. Liverpool are by no means in “rebuild mode” now that Klopp has gone and must push to prove their quality and be contending for the top spot until the final day.

League prediction: 3rd

Squad grade: A

Manager grade: B+