Liverpool Season Review 2020/21
A week on from Liverpool's final game of the Premier League season, let's take a look at the campaign as a whole and how the Reds did in each of the four competitions they took part in.
On the whole, given the circumstances with the injuries, the packed schedule, and the personal struggles some of the players and staff have gone through over the course of the last nine months, this season has to be considered a success with Liverpool qualifying for the Champions League via a third-place finish in the league. The squad that was left to pick up the pieces from the injuries of Van Dijk, Gomez, Matip, Henderson, and Jota (to name but a few) did extremely well to pick themselves up from these setbacks and ensure that Liverpool remain where they are supposed to be amongst Europe's elite. This may have meant that the cup competitions had to take a back seat to make sure that top four was secured, but I'm sure many Liverpool fans will agree with me when I say in the context of this season, that is ok. Let's look through Liverpool's performance in each competition from the 2020/21 season.
Carabao Cup: Fourth Round
Since Wembley heartbreak in the final of this trophy in 2016, Liverpool have only made it past the fourth round on two occasions; the semi-final in 2017, and the quarter-final in 2020 (in which Liverpool had to field the u23's due to having a game in Qatar scheduled 24 hours later). It's fair to say that Klopp has never really had an affection for the League Cup, using it as a chance to field a team of fringe and younger players to see if they have a chance of a spot in the first team for the coming season. This season wasn't particularly any different, and given Liverpool's third-round opponent was an away trip to third division side Lincoln City, it allowed Klopp to field a team with a mix of youth prospects like Neco and Rhys Williams, Harvey Elliot, and Curtis Jones, along with first-team hopefuls like Xherdan Shaqiri, Divock Origi, and Takumi Minamino. Liverpool eventually ran out 7-2 winners, and the likes of Jones and Minamino impressed.
The next game at home to fellow Premier League side Arsenal had a similar line-up, with Salah, Jota, and Milner providing experience with Harry Wilson trying to stake a claim for being involved in the squad. The game was a bore draw and Liverpool lost on penalties, with Wilson missing the decisive spot-kick. With teams such as Brentford, Newcastle, and Stoke progressing to the quarter-final, it felt like it was a year in which Liverpool could have made a claim for winning the trophy that they now have a joint record number of wins in.
FA Cup: Fourth Round
Yet another Premier League opponent awaited in the fourth round as the old enemy of Manchester United and a trip to Old Trafford awaited Liverpool. Klopp pulled no punches and played a strong side, however despite taking the lead and two goals from Mo Salah, Bruno Fernandes' 78th-minute free-kick was the final blow to end Liverpool's domestic cups for the season. Again, it feels like an opportunity missed as United went on to play West Ham and Leicester in the following rounds, opponents that Reds could have manoeuvred to make a return to Wembley.
Champions League: Quater Final
Being in pot one meant a friendly group stage draw for Liverpool's fourth consecutive season in the Champions League. Atalanta, Ajax, and Midtjylland were the three opponents drawn against the English champions. Liverpool finished top of the group with relative ease, only losing once and conceding just three goals, the most impressive result being a 5-0 away victory against high flying Atalanta in which Diogo Jota scored his first Liverpool hat-trick.
The round of sixteen saw Liverpool draw German side RB Leipzig, whose young manager Julian Nargsleman had been touted for a step up the football ladder and has since been confirmed as the next Bayern Munich manager. His style of play was similar to that of Klopp's during his first season in the Champions League with Liverpool - heavy counter-pressing and looking to overload on the counter-attack, whereas Klopp's style has adapted so that Liverpool remain dominant in possession and can create goal-scoring chances with the ball as well as when they don't have it. This made Leipzig a team that played into Liverpool's hands as their press was expected and beaten by the creativity of the likes of Trent Alexander-Arnold, Andy Robertson, and Thiago who found space for passes to Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane who both scored a goal each in both legs to send Liverpool through 4-0 on aggregate.
Real Madrid, the record winners, were the quarter-final opponents for Liverpool and this was always bound to be a tough fixture, even without the likes of the injured Eden Hazard and Sergio Ramos. In a repeat of the 2018 final, the scoreline in the first leg mirrored that of the game in Kiev three years previous as Madrid ran out 3-1 winners as Liverpool were very poor on the night, losing the midfield battle with the likes of Luka Modric, Toni Kroos, and Casemiro proving their world-class ability well into their 30s. Karim Benzema also proved his quality as he ran Liverpool's centre-backs ragged. The second leg was definitely Liverpool's to go out and win, the performances from game-to-game could not have been a bigger contrast as Liverpool dominated at Anfield, but their poor finishing which had been letting them down for months came back to haunt them once again and they could not find the net in a game where only two goals would have seen them through to the semi-final. Disappointing, but the lads put in a great performance, particularly Trent Alexander-Arnold, but ultimately not to be for Liverpool in Europe in 2021.
Premier League: 3rd
Being told of a third-place finish and securing top four on the last day at the start of the season would have definitely been an outrage, but given the trials and tribulations that the Liverpool squad has had to go through this season, third is a massive success. After losing our three best centre backs to season-long injuries by December, it was a miracle that Liverpool sat top of the Premier League table at Christmas after 14 games. The luck wouldn't last as they were as low as eighth place by the start of April after six straight home defeats and seven defeats ten. After all hope of Liverpool qualifying for the top four seemingly gone after Manchester United lost to Leicester, Liverpool won eight of their last ten games, picking up 26 points to launch themselves into third place after both Chelsea and Leicester lost on the final day. This run saw the arrival of Thiago as a player that the fans could well and truly trust as a creative force in the midfield, the generational ability of Trent Alexander-Arnold after being dropped by Gareth Southgate from the England team, the importance of playing Fabinho in midfield, the emergence of Nat Philips and Rhys Williams as a centre-back partnership who developed into decent footballers, and of course the indispensability of Mohamed Salah and his goals as he smashed 33 goals home for Liverpool, his second-highest tally since his miraculous 44 goal season, and became the first Liverpool player to score twenty Premier League goals in three separate seasons. The team pulled out performance after performance in the run-in, including late victories against Aston Villa via a stunning Trent AA at the Kop End, and a simply unbelievable Alisson Becker header to win the game away against West Brom, truly awe-inspiring. That goal was most definitely the catalyst for the team going on to win the final two games against Burnley and Crystal Palace to secure top four since Chelsea and Leicester played each other on matchday 37 which meant a win in all of Liverpool's last three games would get them at least 4th. The Mentality Monsters are back and with the additions of some more players in the summer, including the already confirmed Ibrahima Konate from Leipzig, we are sure going to be back challenging for the Premier League title next season.
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