Photo credit: Daily Mail; Cover image credit: Mirror.co.uk
Four seasons ago Liverpool was on top of the table in the Premier league with three games left in the season. Liverpool was sitting on a 24 year title drought, having a five point gap between Manchester city; Our hopes for winning a title came down to these next three games. Liverpool was on an 11-game winning streak heading into fixture 36, knowing that number 36 would be the toughest game of the season against rival Chelsea. Liverpool held the advantage though, playing at home at the famous Anfield. Well…Chelsea had the last laugh as they escaped with a 2-0 win, absolutely shocking Liverpool fans. Unfortunately that wasn’t the only shock, because one week later, in a game against Crystal Palace, Liverpool held both a 3-0 lead and the title in their hands. Then, of course, the unthinkable unfolded with less than 15 minutes left in the match…Liverpool gave up three goals to finish with a 3-3 draw. Those two games will go down as one of the most disappointing endings to a season, as ultimately Manchester City jumped Liverpool to win the league. Overall, Liverpool had an impressive season, with Luis Suarez leading the team with 31 goals. Daniel Sturridge finished second with 21.
After having such a great 2013-14 season, the next few years things didn’t go quite as planned. Suarez was sold to Barcelona, hungry for some new arms to bite (there goes Joe with his editing…). Rodgers couldn’t quite get the right chemistry between the players as they suffered from injuries and other personnel losses, with Sterling being sold to Manchester City. And to top it off, the man, the myth, the legend Steven Gerrard calls it a career with Liverpool (technically a career in general, except he moved on to the MLS for some career stat padding…damnit Joe!!). Just a few months into the 2015-16 season the Liverpool organization decides its time to move on from Brendan Rodgers, which was a decision that plenty of Liverpool fans didn’t mind. After watching the team go down hill, it was time for a change. Just a few days after Rodgers got fired Liverpool announced that they had hired Jurgen Klopp. Klopp had made a name for himself after turning around Dortmund follwoing a few disappointing seasons. He was not only able to get Dortmund back atop the German league, but also took them to the UEFA Champions League final.
The 2016-17 season was Klopp’s first full season in charge, and a season that got our hopes high. Klopp brought in players who made an impact right away. Mane, and Wijnaldum both brought speed and skill, which came in handy in aiding a young forward lineup lead by Coutinho, Firmino and Origi. They went on to score a total of 78 goals in the league, as Coutinho and Mane led the way with 13 goals a piece. A slight struggle in the midfield and on defense cost us a few games during the season. However, Liverpool never struggled with the top teams as they beat Arsenal, Tottenham, Chelsea and Man City. Unfortunately, they cancelled those impressive victories with draws and losses to teams lower in the table. At the end of the season, Liverpool finished 4th in the league, which qualified them for the Champions League Playoff round. It was a relief to see the team back on track as a powerful team in England. With Klopp’s second season just around the corner, we liverpool faithful are hoping the same. Liverpool didn’t waste time as they purchased Mohamed Salah off of Roma, another young powerful forward who will help the team qualify for Champions League group stage. With a few weeks left until we see our team on the field, I hope we can bring in some help on defense to sharpen it up a little. Other than that it looks like another great season is on it’s way!
Klopp knows what it takes to get to the next stage and we are here to cheer him on, as we all have the same thing in mind which is to win the title and end our long drought of miserable seasons.
#YOULLNEVERWALKALONE
Unless you are Joe…read below…
PS – Joe is a salty QPR fan, a team that can barely keep itself out of being relegated in Championship. However, he sees great things coming QPR’s way this upcoming season. He has hopes to some day see his Rangers once again in the Premier league, hopefully beating John’s Liverpool. In the interim, he agrees with Mizis on everything above, as her personally enjoys watching Klopp’s celebratory antics on the sidelines.