Liverpool’s fine season is a reason for all of English football to celebrate – because it’s being driven by home-grown talent.
On the Kop they love nothing more than getting behind local youngsters who are living the dream of every Liverpudlian. And in a testing week, when manager Jurgen Klopp was forced to measure his squad strength because of illness, injury and international call-ups, he discovered the conveyor belt from academy to first team at Anfield is in good working order.
In the 2-0 win at Arsenal in the FA Cup and the Carabao Cup semi-final first leg against Fulham, Klopp’s youngsters and local lads stood up to be counted. From Trent Alexader-Arnold (now facing three weeks out with a knee injury) to Curtis Jones, Jarell Quansah, Conor Bradley and Bobby Clark, they did him proud.
People talk about Manchester United’s academy churning out home-grown talent from the Busby Babes to the Class of 92 and the current crop led by Marcus Rashford, but great Liverpool teams are usually built around a core of local prodigies.
Where Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher were once the soul of Anfield, all of a sudden Klopp has peeled back the curtain and given Liverpool fans a glimpse of the future with kids centre stage – and the future is bright.
We have known about TAA’s talent for several years now, but when his team trailed Fulham in midweek, Jones drove Liverpool forward with his energy and Bradley played with the assurance of a stalwart at right-back.
Quansah settled down nicely at Arsenal in the absence of Virgil van Dijk, and Klopp now has a nucleus of young players who he can trust with regular game time.
I tipped Manchester City to win the Premier League back in August, and I am not going to change my mind halfway through the season, but I will say this about Liverpool: They are the only team who can stop City making it four titles in a row.
I don’t think Arsenal will recover from those back-to-back defeats against West Ham and Fulham, and although Aston Villa’s form has been a revelation I regard them more as a top-four candidates than potential champions.
If Liverpool are still top of the table by the time Mo Salah returns from the African Cup of Nations with Egypt, I can see it being another nip-and-tuck race to the line with City.
When they are all available, Klopp has the best deck of cards to choose from up front – Salah, Darwin Nunez, Luis Diaz, Cody Gakpo and Diogo Jota.
And although I don’t expect them to sweep the board, Liverpool are the only club left still competing for a Quadruple on all four fronts – Europa League, Premier League, FA Cup, EFL Cup.
Wednesday night’s comeback against Fulham was the seventh time this season Liverpool have recovered from conceding the first goal and gone on to win the game.
At Anfield, when they get on a roll, they still look capable of overwhelming opponents with wave after wave of red tides.
And all this after a wholesale rebuild in midfield last summer, with Alexis Mac Allister, Dominik Szoboszlai, Ryan Gravenberch and Wataru Endo all arriving in a rush, seeming to rule Liverpool out of the title race because Klopp’s transition would need time to take root.
But now, with the kids making their presence felt, the Mersey beat is strong and Klopp makes you believe anything is possible.
