On paper, there was nothing especially notable about Tottenham Hotspur vs Liverpool, a goalless affair at White Hart Lane a few months into the 2015/16 season. Spurs boasted the likes of Harry Kane, Kyle Walker and Christian Eriksen, in a Mauricio Pochettino side that was really beginning to take clear shape, yet holding it to a draw was nothing especially notable — it would finish the campaign with 13 such results.
But this would ultimately prove to be the beginning of a trophy-laden era at Liverpool. This was Jürgen Klopp’s first game in charge — and the two teams would go on to meet a little under four years later, each under the same management, in the Champions League final.
The lack of goalmouth action was certainly not a sign of things to come, with Liverpool becoming one of the most exciting teams on the planet under Klopp’s ‘heavy-metal’ approach. But the first shoots of an identity were there even in that first match, the one where it all began.
There have been tactical tweaks along the way, but that style has remained very much recognizable — even more so since a summer of rejuvenation injected fresh energy into the midfield. However, the personnel at Liverpool looks wildly different, with nobody from that first Klopp XI still at the club. What happened to them all?
Goalkeeper – Simon Mignolet
Simon Mignolet would remain at Liverpool until 2019, although he had long since lost his first-choice status by that point. Loris Karius was infamously preferred in the 2018 Champions League final, and Alisson had been brought in by the time of the meeting with Spurs the following year.
Still, a loyal servant to Liverpool, he deserves his status as Champions League winner. He has also gone on to enjoy great success in his homeland with Club Brugge, claiming three titles in a row between 2019 and 2022. Aged 35, he remains their starting goalkeeper.
Right-back – Nathaniel Clyne
Nathaniel Clyne only arrived in the summer of 2015. But he was a victim of the emergence of Trent Alexander-Arnold, which more or less cost him his starting spot under Klopp. The academy graduate would make his debut almost exactly a year on from this Spurs encounter.
Surprisingly, Clyne remained on the Liverpool books until 2020, although he suffered plenty of injury problems during that time. He also spent six months on loan at Bournemouth in 2019, before ultimately making a permanent move to Crystal Palace the following summer.
He has remained there ever since, making 22 league appearances last season. He has been an unused substitute in each of Crystal Palace’s first four games.
Center-back – Martin Škrtel
Martin Škrtel very much feels associated with an earlier Liverpool era, but sure enough, he started Klopp’s first game. However, he would be gone by the following summer, moving to Fenerbahçe in Turkey.
He would go on to move to Atalanta, although that move was curiously terminated after just three weeks. He returned to Turkey with İstanbul Başakşehir, before seeing out his professional career in his native Slovakia.
He still turns out for local side FK Hajskala Raztocno, where he tells the ECHO that he plays as a striker. Škrtel was invited along as a guest to Liverpool’s pre-season trip to Singapore.
Center-back – Mamadou Sakho
Many Liverpool fans would probably have tipped Sakho to become one of the staples of the Klopp era. But while he began it as a starter, he was sent home from the manager’s first pre-season tour in 2016, and never came back from that.
Like Clyne, he ended up at Crystal Palace. He enjoyed a solid four-and-a-half-year stint there before moving on to Montpellier in Ligue 1, where he remains to this day at the age of 33.
Left-back – Alberto Moreno
Much like his fellow full-back, Alberto Moreno ultimately saw the Liverpool personnel overtake him in the end. The arrival of Andy Robertson at the club ultimately meant the Spaniard’s days were numbered.
Impressively, Moreno kept Robertson out of the side for much of the Scot’s early months at the club. But an injury opened the door, and Klopp never really looked back. Moreno left in 2019 — like Mignolet, having claimed a Champions League title.
He has been at Villarreal since then. Despite suffering a serious injury, he has bounced back, and started the La Liga season opener against Real Betis.
Center-midfield – Lucas Leiva
Another player who doesn’t necessarily feel like part of the Klopp era, Lucas actually remained until 2017. After that, he went on to have a successful five-year stint with Lazio in Serie A.
He then returned to boyhood club Grêmio, although he would ultimately be forced to retire, calling it a day months after a heart condition was diagnosed. Like Škrtel, he reunited with Liverpool on this summer’s pre-season tour.
Center-midfield – Emre Can
Much like Mamado Sakho, plenty would have tipped Emre Can to become a linchpin of the Klopp era. But the midfielder had other ideas, leaving on a free transfer in 2017 — although not before his incredible bicycle kick at Vicarage Road helped return Liverpool to the Champions League.
The move to Juventus did not pan out at all. However, the 29-year-old has become a key component at Borussia Dortmund, where he narrowly missed out on the Bundesliga title last season. He is in the Germany squad for the upcoming internationals.
Central attacking midfield – Adam Lallana
Even in his first game, Klopp showed a reluctance to deploy Philippe Coutinho as his number 10. The Brazilian would spend most of his time at Anfield out wide under the German, and Adam Lallana was one of the reasons why.
With his excellent work ethic and pressing intelligence, Lallana became the poster boy for Klopp’s early changes at the club. The manager remained fiercely loyal to him throughout his stay at the club, before he departed for Brighton in 2020. Aged 35, he still plays for the Seagulls, albeit with a relatively peripheral role these days.
Right attacking midfield – James Milner
Up until this summer, Klopp was just about hanging on to the last vestiges of his first ever Liverpool team. The departure of James Milner finally changed that.
He followed Lallana to Brighton on a free transfer. He has the chance to break the all-time Premier League appearances record on the south coast this season.
Most of his Liverpool appearances came in a much more withdrawn role than on the right flank. But his versatility proved invaluable to Klopp, who fielded him at left-back, right-back and in central midfield over the years.
Left attacking midfield – Philippe Coutinho
Coutinho is definitely another one who many assumed would ascend to the status of legend under Klopp. And in fairness, he almost did, before he forced through a move to Barcelona.
Having rejected overtures in 2017, Liverpool eventually sold Coutinho in January 2018, netting a vast transfer fee in the process. That allowed Klopp to go out and sign Alisson, Virgil van Dijk and Fabinho, setting up his side for massive success.
Coutinho will surely have regretted that decision more than once over the years. His dream move to Barcelona came to very little. Loans to Bayern Munich and Aston Villa followed, before he made a permanent switch to the Midlands.
He had a promising start under Steven Gerrard, but faded badly. Coutinho is now in the process of securing a move to Qatari side Al-Duhail, in a spectacular fall from grace.
Striker – Divock Origi
This always feels like a cracking piece of trivia. Divock Origi was not an especially central part of the early Klopp era, and would even go out on loan to Wolfsburg in 2017/18. It was only later that he became a cult Liverpool figure.
But he was indeed the starter in that first match against Spurs, even crashing an effort off the underside of the bar. Perhaps he would have risen to prominence more quickly had it not been for ligament damage suffered at the hands of Everton’s Ramiro Funes Mori in April 2016.
However, it all worked out in the end, with Origi best remembered for his key role in the latter stages as Liverpool won the Champions League in 2019. That time out, he did manage to score against Spurs.
He left Liverpool on a free transfer last summer. However, the move to Milan has not really worked out, and he made a deadline day loan switch to Nottingham Forest.
