Pundit suggests ‘Liverpool 2.0’ do something better than Jurgen Klopp’s Premier League winning side of 2020

Add as preferred source on Google

After a strong win over Luton Town last night, Liverpool are right in this year’s Premier League title race.

There are still 12 big games to go, but the Reds have put themselves in a great position. Currently four points clear of nearest challengers Manchester City, Liverpool are gunning for a first title since 2020.

The team that won the division that year were arguably one of the greatest sides in the history of football. With Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino leading the line, the Reds conquered all before them.

But speaking on NBC Sports last night after Liverpool’s 4-1 victory, pundit Robbie Earle suggested that Klopp’s ‘Liverpool 2.0’ might actually be more dangerous than the first iteration.

“This is Liverpool 2.0, the next iteration of the Klopp era,” Earle explained. “When it was heavy metal football, intensity, with Mane, Salah, Firmino up front. This team can beat you with other tools, they have goals from different areas of the pitch that I think that team didn’t have.

“There’s a resilience and a confidence and a spirit to a certain degree that I didn’t think was there this year and I didn’t think they could win the title. They’re definitely in with a chance.”

Liverpool 2.0 on the march

It was Klopp who first coined the ‘Liverpool 2.0’ moniker. With plenty of established and important players leaving over the last year or two, this season did have the feel of a fresh new team.

With Alexis Mac Allister now pulling the strings, Darwin Nunez providing the cutting edge up front and Ibrahima Konate at the back, the whole spine has changed.

As Earle suggests, this has potentially made Liverpool even better. Of course, they’re still a new team, so they haven’t had chance to truly hit the heights the squad of 2018-22 did. But they’re well on the way.

Nunez, Konate and Cody Gakpo are all 24. Mac Allister is 25. Then you’ve got the likes of Ryan Gravenberch, Curtis Jones and Dominik Szoboszlai who are all under 24. Even Trent Alexander-Arnold is still only 25. This is a fresh, young team.

The big disappointment is of course that it won’t be one that blossoms under Klopp.

At the start of the season, obviously re-energised by his new signings, it felt like a new era had begun under the manager. Obviously, it’s now clear that that will not be the case.

Klopp will see the team he has so expertly transitioned reach their potential with someone else at the helm.

As a result, the Liverpool of Mane/Salah/Firmino will always be Klopp’s Liverpool. Perhaps it’s better that way.

Nevertheless, this version still has the chance to create history in its own right this season. With all of the verve and impudence it has displayed all year long, they deserves the acclaim.