How Liverpool Can Build for 2016-17 as Current Season Draws to a Close
Liverpool have six games scheduled before the end of the 2015/16 season, seven if they triumph over Villarreal in the semi-finals of the UEFA Europa League, and while manager Jurgen Klopp will stress a focus on the present, his mind will be cast on the future as he prepares to build for 2016/17.
Having arrived in October to replace Brendan Rodgers, Klopp has spent the season overseeing transition both on and off the field of play as the Reds get to grips with his demanding, high-tempo, quick-transition football and the Premier League grows accustomed to his brand of vocal, enthusiastic leadership.
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While a top-four finish in the league is unlikely, Liverpool's success in Europe can be a useful yardstick for Klopp as he prepares for his first season in charge—but, as Saturday's 2-2 draw with Newcastle United proved, there is much to address this summer.
The Magpies fought back from 2-0 down to secure a vital point as Rafa Benitez pushes for top-flight safety, with many of Liverpool's flaws exposed in a hit-and-miss display that left Klopp feeling "not too good."
The 2016/17 season will be Klopp's first full campaign in what Liverpool supporters will be hoping is a long and successful career on Merseyside, and one that should bring considerable change at the club.
So how can Liverpool begin to build for 2016/17 as the current season draws to a close?
Continue to Blood Youngsters in the League
Saturday's Anfield stalemate saw Klopp name youngsters Connor Randall and Kevin Stewart in his starting lineup, with Danny Ward, Brad Smith, Sheyi Ojo and Jordon Ibe all included among the German's substitutes, highlighting a positive approach to youth development this season.
Addressing reporters ahead of the Reds' 4-0 win at home to Everton earlier in April, Klopp outlined his faith in the Reds' young players, saying "the future of Liverpool looks nice":
"A few weeks ago we had a session only with young players in wonderful weather, a really, really good session.
And after the session I brought them together and said, 'I'm not sure if it's okay that I say this, I'm not sure it will help, but pfft, what quality—I can't believe it!'
So now we have to answer the question why only a few of [them] will go through [to the first team]. They have all the skills they need, all the talent.
[...]
You have to educate them, then when we can we have to show that we trust them, and they have to deliver. That's how it is.
"
After telling the Guardian's Paul Wilson at the beginning of his reign that "when I am managing a club I think each young player should smile, because the door is wide open for him," Klopp is certainly following through with his promise.
Seven young players, in Ward (22), Randall (20), Stewart (22), Ojo (18), Tiago Ilori (23), Ryan Kent (19) and Joe Maguire (20) have made their Reds debuts since Klopp's arrival, while Smith (22), Ibe (20), Divock Origi (21), Cameron Brannagan (19) and Pedro Chirivella (18) have also benefited from his management.
With Liverpool nine points off fourth place with four games left to play in the league, and hopes of UEFA Champions League qualification largely resting on their Europa League exploits, Klopp would be wise to focus on youth in these remaining domestic fixtures.
As he prepares for Swansea City, Watford, Chelsea and West Bromwich Albion, Klopp should continue to blood his talented young players, giving them vital experience and resting his senior stars for Europe.
Go All Out For European Glory
While problems with injury, indiscipline and, most recently, a failed drugs test for key defender Mamadou Sakho have all threatened to derail Klopp's first season in charge at Liverpool, one enduring positive stands as the Reds' run for the Europa League title.
April's 4-3 win at home to Klopp's former side Borussia Dortmund ensured the Reds are the only team to remain unbeaten in European competition this season, with that emphatic Anfield triumph characteristic of their fighting spirit.
Having led Dortmund to the Champions League final in 2013, only falling to the might of Bundesliga rivals Bayern Munich, Klopp has considerable experience in Europe, and he has used this to his advantage throughout the current campaign.
Furthermore, as he told Wilson after the win over Dortmund, Klopp is looking to harness the "power" of the Reds' previous European success, with eight major European titles to their name so far:
"I felt it when we played Dortmund at Anfield and I saw it in the streets before the game. I believe that there are some clubs who are always more likely to win trophies than other clubs. I don’t know where that comes from, but I felt it for the first time when I was at Dortmund. Michael Zorc [sporting manager at Dortmund] told me when Bayer Leverkusen were breathing down our necks at the end of one season that I shouldn’t worry. He said they wouldn’t win because Leverkusen never win and that Dortmund were a club that wins titles. I feel that at Liverpool, and I think the supporters do too.
"
With little to play for in the league bar a fifth-placed finish, Europa League glory would be seen as more of an achievement by Liverpool supporters and a tangible marker of progress following Klopp's arrival at the club.
Able to serve as a springboard to further success in 2016/17, with Champions League qualification adding clout to Liverpool's business in the summer transfer market, Klopp should go all out to advance beyond Villarreal in the semi-finals and take on either Shakhtar Donetsk or Sevilla in the Europa League final.
Identify Problem Areas in the Squad
Saturday's draw brought back to the fore one of the key concerns for Liverpool heading into the summer: the ill-fitting, first-choice goalkeeper Simon Mignolet.
Writing after the game, This is Anfield's Henry Jackson described Mignolet's "shocking misjudgment" of the Vurnon Anita cross that led to Papiss Cisse's strike—Newcastle's first in a two-goal comeback—as having "changed the entire feel of the game, with the Belgian again proving to be the weak link."
Mignolet's shaky showing spread nerves throughout a makeshift Liverpool defence, and as Bleacher Report's Matt Ladson also wrote for This is Anfield, "the same underlying issues aren’t going to go away until certain players are moved on and superior replacements brought in."
Despite Klopp saying "there is not a player in the squad where I think 'Oh, why is he here?'" as relayed by Sky Sports's Allan Valente after the Reds' Merseyside derby win, Mignolet is far from the only player with a questionable long-term future at the club.
Martin Skrtel and Lucas Leiva, part of the furniture at Anfield for close to a decade, have contributed to some of Liverpool's worst performances throughout 2015/16, as something of a hangover from previous campaigns, and while neither hold a key role in Klopp's squad, they are part of the group Ladson referred to.
Elsewhere, £32.5 million striker Christian Benteke has cut an awkward figure in the Liverpool squad since Klopp's arrival, while a potential six-month ban for Sakho if he is found guilty—at a minimum, according to Chris Bascombe of the Telegraph—provides his manager with another problem position.
Sakho is one of Klopp's best players, but if he is sidelined for a lengthy spell, a replacement should be found, as with Mignolet, Skrtel, Lucas and Benteke.
Identifying these weak links before the summer transfer window is vital, or Klopp risks another season of inconsistency and capitulation—hampering any progress made through their European exploits.
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