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.
We’re better prepared than before, but that doesn’t imply we’ll be in the championship game. This is a very different team. Due to the fact that we were unsure of what to anticipate the first time, we like it more this time. We played Kazan, trying to put together a team for the first time at the Euros. We weren’t prepared and it was a different squad, but we managed to win. We played well in the quarter- and semi-finals, but before to that, I don’t think we were particularly good.
He believes that this team has everything it takes to be outstanding, with some rising young stars like Dominik Szoboszlai, 22, and Ryan Gravenberch, 21, leading a youthful bunch with other teenagers slated to make their debuts in the near future. But as he prepared to face the Austrian squad in Liverpool’s first Europa League group game after six seasons – and three finals – in the Champions League, Klopp emphasized in Linz that he would not be guided by emotion when choosing his team.
Even 17-year-old sensation Ben Doak, who is highly regarded behind the scenes at Anfield and is seen as a potential long-term replacement for Mo Salah, was informed that “We are here to compete, not to give opportunities…for nobody.” Not for them, not for us.
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 are the favorites to win the final trophy needed to complete the collection of awards available to them under Klopp given their recent Champions League successes.
“I know we’re favorites, but we’re here to play football,” the manager continued. We intend to make the most of this game since we take it seriously. We want to prevail here, but we are not cocky.
Van Dijk is back from suspension, and first-choice talents like Luis Diaz, Alexis MacAllister, and Ibrahima Konate are all scheduled to play, but Doak might still get the chance.