It is now 26 years since Liverpool last won a League Championship. Under the guidance of Kenny Dalglish the club won the 1989-90 First Division title, which was the 18th and last time Liverpool were crowned champions of England.
Subsequently the Anfield side have come close to winning a 19th League Championship Trophy on four occasions with them finishing each of the 1990-91, 2001-02, 2008-09, 2013-14 seasons as runners-up in England’s top flight.
Therefore Liverpool have never won the Premier League, which came into existence in 1992.
Klopp building for a brighter future
That represents a source of great disappointment and frustration for everyone associated with Liverpool, which the club’s current manager Jurgen Klopp is currently trying to avenge by developing a side capable of winning major honours.
In terms of working towards achieving that the 49-year-old German, who previously managed Mainz 05 and Borussia Dortmund, is making extremely good progress. Specifically not only does he have a settled team in place but Klopp has also an excellent squad of players with a depth of quality which is arguably as great as that of any other in the Premier League.
So far this summer Klopp has made two marquee signings in the form of striker Sadio Mane and midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum, whilst further strengthening his squad by recruiting the centre back duo of Ragnar Klaven and Joel Matip, along with Loris Karius, who will compete strongly with Simon Mignolet to play in goal.
Well prepared for the new season
Whilst it remains unclear as to whether Klopp will bring in more new players before the current transfer window closes on 31 August, the highly eccentric and knowledgeable manager has without doubt already assembled a talented pool of players who have the potential to make a strong start to the 2016-2017 season.
That is particularly the case since having completed a number of superb signings early in the summer, Klopp has afforded himself time to introduce those players to his way of working, which will be vitally important to suitably equip them to make a positive impact during the new season.
Positive signs during pre-season
Ahead of that Liverpool are currently on a pre-season tour of Alcatraz in the U.S.A, with that consisting of three games. They lost the first of those 1-0 to Premier League rivals Chelsea in Pasadena, following which they are now preparing to face AC Milan and Roma in Santa Clara and St Louis respectively.
Prior to being narrowly defeated by Chelsea, Klopp’s side had won each of their previous four pre-season games against Tranmere Rovers (1-0), Fleetwood Town (5-0), Wigan Athletic (2-0) and Huddersfield Town (2-0), whilst performing impressively in doing so.
Preparation for new season ongoing
Ultimately the challenge for Liverpool is to replicate those excellent showings against stronger opponents, such as AC Milan, Roma, Barcelona and Mainz 05, who they will play in friendlies ahead of opening their 2016-17 Premier League campaign against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium on 13 August.
Whilst that represents an extremely difficult fixture for Klopp’s side, it is nevertheless one which they can go into confident of winning, since they already appear to be extremely well prepared for the new season, whilst still having another fortnight to fine tune their plans for that.
Therein lies the eccentric and highly knowledgeable German manager’s ongoing assignment, which he is embracing with the utmost care and attention.
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