When Jurgen Klopp quietly reflects on an eventful 2023 with an Erdinger on New Year’s Eve, the overriding theme will be one of progress at Liverpool.
From an abject start to the calendar year – that saw them beaten at Brentford, Brighton and Wolves between January 2 and February 4 – Klopp’s Reds head into 2024 knowing victory over Newcastle United will either restore their status as Premier League leaders or strengthen it further.
It’s been quite the turnaround from a punch-drunk and mentally exhausted squad lurching through the early weeks of 2023 to the one that has renergised itself sufficiently to launch a credible title challenge in the second half of the campaign.
Considering the flux the club found itself in during the summer months, when there were a string of influential departures within both the playing staff and backroom team, it’s quite the feat that Klopp’s new-look team have been able to navigate themselves back to the summit of English football having come off their lowest-ever finish of a full season with the German at the helm at Anfield.
In truth, there is no one major reason for the upturn in fortunes. No magic wand has been waved and the great reset has been undertaken through hard work, dedication and perseverance.
There have been tactical tweaks, players have signed and old favourites look more like their world-class vintage but it’s been a case of gradual and collective improvement across the board since the real fightback began in the Spring.
Since a chastening day at the Etihad at the start of April, when the Reds were beaten 4-1 by eventual treble winners Manchester City, Klopp’s side have taken 67 points from a possible 90 and have lost just one game in nine months, which of course came at Tottenham Hotspur with a string of caveats attached to it back in late September.
Perhaps the real excitement for supporters looking ahead to a promising second half of this intriguing campaign is rooted in the fact that by many yardsticks, the Reds have not come close to finding top gear just yet. Klopp may bristle at the ongoing chatter around the title but with his team two points clear as of Saturday morning, ahead of that visit from an out-of-sorts Newcastle on January 1, it is a legitimate source for debate as to whether Liverpool can repeat their title-winning feat of 2020.
And while the manager will also baulk at the suggestion, a proactive and aggressive January transfer window could yet make all the difference in the pursuit of major honours. Two years ago, the arrival of Luis Diaz provided the injection of impetus needed to sustain a quadruple charge that lasted until the final week of the campaign, while little needs to be embellished about the lift Virgil van Dijk gave the club upon his own move at the turn of 2018.
Go back further and the captures of Daniel Sturridge, Philippe Coutinho and particularly Luis Suarez were all inspired at the midway point also. Conventional wisdom dictates that January is a sellers’ market but Liverpool have ample proof to the contrary.
Klopp has always stated that a January addition only makes sense if it is a player whose arrival has been expedited from the summer months and, while he might scrunch his nose up at the thought of costly outlays at the turn of the year given they are still without the bounty of Champions League football, the real question is, with so much still up for grabs, can Liverpool afford not to improve their squad this month?
For the first time in what feels like a long while, the Reds will have the chance to build further from a position of strength rather than looking to recruit replacements for outgoing greats and to temporarily patch-up injury-hit squads. It would be foolish to let that pass them by this month.
Manchester City, Arsenal and an emerging Aston Villa will have something to say about it all before the final whistle is blown but Liverpool fans are being given the most precious commodities a supporter can have right now as they look towards the New Year with optimism and hope.
Wherever they eventually land, however, it’s clear that there is a world of difference at Liverpool bouncing into 2024 to the one that limped into 2023
