They had to wait three decades before Liverpool fans and footballers saw the Premier League
title being lifted in Anfield. The thirty year wait was finally over when they were crowned the
2019-20 season Premier league Champions. When the trophy was brought to Anfield on the
Liverpool-Chelsea game, fire crackers could be overheard outside of the stadium while the game
was proceeding. I can only imagine the celebrations that went on during that night- It must have
been a bad time being a police officer in Liverpool trying to ensure the crowds maintained the
required social distance.
Liverpool FC deserved to win the title as they played with hunger and had belief in
themselves even when the game seemed difficult either because they had not scored a goal or
were a goal behind as noted in the games against teams like Tottenham FC, Wolverhampton
Wanderers FC, West Ham FC and Bournemouth FC thus ensuring that they got maximum
points. Even when they front three players(Roberto Firmino, Mohammed Salah and Sadio Mane)
were having a bad day in the office, players like Virgil Van Dijk or Trent-Alexander Arnold and
cameos from the bench like Divock Origi stepped up to the plate and scored important goals that
eventually won them games.
I would like us to take an in-depth look at Liverpool’s’ FC 2019-20 season and assess them to
see if they were really good or were lucky that their close competitors were just poor thus aiding
in offering Liverpool FC a much needed cushion at the summit of the League.
First, the difference of Liverpool and the second team(Manchester City) was a whooping
eighteen points when the season ended(ninety nine points versus eighty one of Manchester City)
which is the highest difference in the 2019-20 season among the top five leagues namely
Bundesliga,Ligue 1, Serie A, EPLand LaLiga. Last year, Manchester City won the league by
beating Liverpool FC by only one single point (Ninety eight versus ninety seven for the latter).
In some of the previous years, we have had to wait to know the champion on the final games
where you would always want to know how your closest competitor was fairing in their game.
For Liverpool FC, by January 2020, we knew it was a matter of when not if they would win the
League. Imagine a team winning the league by January which is the mid-season in England that
is deemed to be the most competitive league in the world!
Secondly, the failure to defend their European glory as they were beaten by Atletico Madrid
on both legs in the last sixteen. The previous winners, Real Madrid have defended the UEFA
champions League three times in a row! Now that is a great team. Being beaten happens but on
both legs? In the last sixteen? If they were any good as they think they are, they should not have
lost the way they did at such an early time in the competition.
Do not get me wrong, Liverpool play some good football under the tutelage of Jürgen Klopp.
They press really high up the pitch and have some really special players who can turn a game
within a short space of time. If they want to be classified as one of the greatest teams like the
Manchester United treble winners or the Invincible Arsenal then they need to win more major
football honors consistently and this can be achieved by keeping their best players and having
good back up options especially a player who can play the way Firmino does and a Left Back
who can deputize Andrew Robertson.