Liverpool is the favorite for the Europa League despite entirely overhauling their midfield in the summer due to the unfortunate fact that they had a bad Premier League season last year.
Despite the various facets of Jurgen Klopp’s complicated personality, there isn’t even a trace of arrogance in his unwavering faith in his Liverpool team.
Because of this, he can declare with complete honesty that his current generation, which he refers to as “Year One,” is considerably superior to the team that reached the Europa League final during his first season at the club in 2016, and is far better than the previous generation.
In spite of a long-term injury to important captain Jordan Henderson and a suspension for his first-choice center back Mamadou Sakho, Klopp put together a shoddy squad that season and managed to advance all the way to the final. Kolo Toure, an aging veteran, filled the vacuum.
Despite completely overhauling their midfield in the summer, they are the favorites for the competition this time around due to an unfortunate Premier League season. And Klopp thinks it’s appropriate. When asked if the two sides were comparable, he responded, “No. The Europa League was too much for us in my first year since we had to play nearly every day, but that was before the final.
“This is a very different team – we’re better prepared…but it doesn’t mean we will be in the final. We enjoy it more than last time because we had no clue what to expect (back then). We played Kazan (in his first Euro game), trying to (cobble together) a team somehow. It was a different squad, we were not ready but we somehow came through. In the quarter and semi-finals we played well but until then I don’t think we were exceptional.”
He does think this team has the quality to be exceptional, with some rising young stars such as 22-year-old Dominik Szoboszlai and Ryan Gravenberch, 21, headlining a fresh-faced group with several teenagers set to star in the coming months. But speaking in Linz, as he prepared to meet the Austrian side in Liverpool’s first Europa League group game after six seasons – and three finals – in the Champions League, Klopp insisted there would be no sentiment in his team selection.
Even 17-year-old phenomenon Ben Doak – who is thought of highly behind the Anfield scenes, with many believing he could be a long term successor to Mo Salah – was told: “We are here to compete, not to give opportunities…for nobody. Not ours and not for them.”
And he carefully emphasized that his goal is to maintain the momentum after a strong start to the Premier League season by boosting the team’s morale with a victory in Austria.
I don’t know how fantastic it can be, but I’m enthusiastic about the potential we have, he continued. It looks fantastic, as I said a few weeks ago. However, what you have is never as important as what you do with it. You can clearly see the spirit; something is developing, as Virgil said. They get along well and like spending time together, so we need to capitalize on that, channel it, and bring it.
Liverpool is expected to win the one trophy after their recent Champions League successes.
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