Roberto Firmino last played at home for Liverpool against Aston Villa on Saturday, but Cody Gakpo became his natural heir. Photo: GETTY IMAGES/John Powell
If Jurgen Klopp can score one significant win in Liverpool's disappointing season, it's that he has somehow turned recriminations into anticipation.
Confirming the place in the Europa League will come when Newcastle and Manchester United inevitably reach their last point, but the game of accusations of Liverpool's predicament was conceived and implemented in March.
While the players accepted Kop's applause after of their last home game, club legends Roberto Firmino and James Milner serenaded for the last time in the red shirt, wanting to come back and dwell on the mistakes that made the top four so hopeless. subsided.
Liverpool started this season trying to squeeze the last of their winning formula. They end it with Klopp successfully trying out fresh experiments.
Trent Alexander-Arnold's reinvention brought instant rewards, Curtis Jones made his breakthrough as a first-team consistent and Liverpool's Cody Gakpo found Firmino's natural heir.
May is the most unusual month for the team to look and sound with new energy, but a season that couldn't end quickly enough — with Liverpool trailing the top four by 12 points and nine games left — has now ended with a month ahead of time. Klopp is left to curse all those dismal away days and wasted points at the start of the campaign, when the slightest improvement would have kept him in the top four.
He and his supporters have long since concluded how and where something went wrong this time around. The next phase of his fix will be the transfer market, as at least four players — three midfielders and a defender — are expected to give new impetus to a team that has scored 22 of their last 24 points and no longer looks beaten up like they did six weeks ago.
It's not hard to see Alexis McAllister's midfield and Mason Mount's profile fit seamlessly into Klopp's redesigned formation, and Liverpool evolve into an even more technical team based on possession, with Alexander-Arnold working in midfield while still relying on their strikers and forward midfielders press and counter-press like the proverbial Duracell rabbits.
It's no surprise that Klopp is looking for another defender, given Ibrahima Konate gets injured too often and Alexander-Arnold drift means that those behind him have the added responsibility of filling in the gaps.
Aston Villa's organization and tactical mind pointed out where Klopp could be in trouble. Their early penalty came as a result of Ollie Watkins finding the spot that Alexander-Arnold had vacated to Liverpool's right.
Saturday was also a day when, despite their dominance, on those rare occasions when an overflying Alexander-Arnold radar fails, more creativity needed.
But for those senior players who have resigned themselves to a year without football in the Champions League, the deflation of the European "lower division" balanced by a renewed belief that, unlike last August, Liverpool will be ready to sprint in three months.
“I am very excited about the upcoming season,” said Virgil Wang. Dyck. “That feeling started a couple of months ago when we turned the page.
“The preseason is going to be massive. Everyone knows that we are going through some kind of transition and if I am on the rise and I have the opportunity to move on to the next step and Liverpool are knocking on my door, then I will be very happy. very interesting.”
The Dutchman's bullish spirit resonates throughout the club, where despite a significant financial and sporting setback due to a top-four relegation, the mood has changed inexorably over the past seven games.
It's tempting to think of Liverpool. a bit like Aston Villa going through extreme changes after reaching their nadir. Villa needed a new coach. Liverpool needed the same staff to capture fresh perspectives.
Klopp presented his plan to the club's owners some time ago, negotiations to secure his highly publicized goals as soon as possible are ongoing (so he moving away from something vaguely reminiscent of a transfer saga) and after searching so much this season that they were a club in desperate need of a breather, they now sound like they would prefer a shortened summer.
“ The noise I hear is it's going to be a very intense pre-season with a lot of physical work, but also a lot of tactical preparation work,» Van Dijk said. «It is very interesting».
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