Liverpool FC Thread #161:- You'll Never Walk Alone

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Former Liverpool player Glen Johnson has today announced his retirement from professional football.

All the best!

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There’s going to be a big overhaul this summer, despite the fact that our current squad is top of the Premier League table by four points, with 15 games remaining.

Jurgen Klopp’s starting XI is superb, and there are virtually no weak areas from back to front.

However, due to contracts running out, certain players being injury prone and a simple lack of playing time for others, seven seniors could be exiting.

David Lynch of the Evening Standard states that Daniel Sturridge, Lazar Markovic and Alberto Moreno will be departing on Bosmans, with the club not planning on renewing their deals.

Simon Mignolet and Divock Origi will leave due to the fact they’ve barely featured at all this term, although the Reds will hope to make some money back on the Belgians who are still contracted and both a decent age.

Finally, Joel Matip and Adam Lallana could be allowed to depart due to their simple inability to stay fit, although Klopp rates both.

In their place, Liverpool will need another left-back, a centre-back, a playmaker and a striker.

In goal, we reckon Kamil Grabara may step up and become Alisson’s understudy.

For us, we’d love Timo Werner, a versatile wing-forward like Felipe Anderson, and whichever defenders Klopp sees fit!

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It has taken nine long months, but Zeljko Buvac's Liverpool exit has finally been confirmed.

The departure of 'The Brain' was quietly confirmed by the club as Pep Lijnders stepped up alongside Peter Krawietz to become Jurgen Klopp's full-time assistant manager.

Buvac unofficially left the club in April, effectively ending a 17-year working relationship with the manager who famously dubbed him 'The Brain' - but for a long time his name echoed around social media whenever the Reds stumbled.

Very few are privy to what exactly Buvac's role entailed during his two-and-a-half years at Anfield or the influence and impact he had on Klopp and his squad.



However, the highly-respected coach's name has never been too far away whenever the Reds have hit choppy waters under Klopp since leaving.

But slowly, that's starting to change. Liverpool have lost just once in the Premier League this season and improved as an attacking unit as the season has gone on. Talk of Liverpool not being the slick, cohesive unit they were at times last season has stopped.

The Reds have improved as a team and are far more consistent in the league than they ever were when Buvac was around.

So how have the Reds fared since he departed after the goalless draw to Stoke City on April 28?

Liverpool have played 35 games since that afternoon against the Potters and lost just nine times.

Those defeats can - at least, in part - be explained in mitigation.

A 4-2 defeat against Roma in the Stadio Olimpico was still enough to see the Reds qualify for the Champions League final before a rotated lineup was beaten 1-0 away to Chelsea in the Premier League as Klopp perhaps prioritised that game in Kiev.

A loss to Real Madrid in the final owed an awful lot to the error-strewn display of goalkeeper Loris Karius, while Klopp again rotated heavily in the 2-1 reverse to Chelsea in the Carabao Cup this season.

A defeat to Wolves in the FA Cup saw three teenagers in the Reds' starting line up and a loss to Man City - the only one of this Premier League campaign so far - was a close fought affair.

However, there can be little doubt that defeats away to PSG, Napoli and - more alarmingly - Red Star in the Champions League were disappointing performances that were given the result they deserved.

The Reds looked bereft of creativity and lacked the high-octane, intense pressing game they made their calling card throughout most of last season.

Buvac's exit though - as evidence by Liverpool's best-ever start to a Premier League season - is unlikely to be root cause of such off-nights.

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Rafa Benitez was plagued with similar theories surrounding Pako Ayestaran when the Spaniard's most trusted lieutenant was put on gardening leave 11 years ago.

"He said that maybe he would like to leave the club and we are now analysing the situation," was Benitez's terse response when quizzed about his assistant's departure in September 2007.

Ayestaran had worked closely alongside Benitez for three years and helped the club to victory in the 2005 Champions League and the FA Cup 12 months later.

He was credited with improving fitness at Anfield through sports science and detailing the exact minutes played by each player throughout a season, which were factors that greatly influenced Benitez's often controversial rotation policy.

Ayestaran was also believed to have been a big sounding board for Benitez over tactical and technical matters and the ex-Reds manager admitted the departure would be keenly felt.



"Eleven years we have worked together but now we must analysis the situation," he said. "I know things but the best thing now is to say nothing and wait. I think he will go but I don't think he will be at the game tomorrow."

And while his exit coincided with Benitez's failure to land any further silverware at Anfield, Ayestaran's move away was not the death knell some had predicted for Rafa's reign.

The Reds would end the 2007/08 season as Champions League semi-finalists before a fourth-place Premier League finish was followed up by a genuine title challenge that would see Benitez's men fall just short to one of the strongest Manchester United sides in the Premier League era.

Patrice Bergues was another assistant whose importance has perhaps been exaggerated over time since he left Gerard Houllier's side in 2001.

The Frenchman worked alongside Houllier for four years, helping Liverpool win the 'Treble' of the UEFA Cup, FA Cup and League Cup in 2001.



Indeed, the former Lille coach was Houllier's first signing when he arrived at the club in 1998 and the legendary Ian Rush has previously discussed Bergues' ability as an assistant manager - and the impact his exit had on the club.

“When Patrice Bergues left in 2001, Gerard Houllier replaced him with Jacques Crevoisier and then Christiano Damiano, neither of whom commanded the same respect from players and other members of staff," said Rush, who had a minor coaching role at Melwood at the time.

Bergues was clearly a popular figure around the club, but, Phil Thompson is regarded more fondly for his work during the same period with the European Cup-winning captain actually managing the club in Houllier's absence as he recovered from heart surgery.

"It's different being No1, if only for a while," Thompson admitted on the eve of a Champions League tie in Kiev in 2002.

"The players are fine with it. I know I come across as abrasive but we are all here to do a job. I'm not here to be liked, and nor is Gerard. But I'd like to think that I command a bit of respect from the players."

Thompson would enjoy some short-lived success as a manager, steering Liverpool into the last eight of the Champions League and picking up a Premier League Manager of the Month gong in November and March that season.

Houllier would enjoy further success in 2003, lifting the League Cup after beating Manchester United, and the downfall of the Frenchman was more likely to have been poor transfer dealings of the 2002 summer rather than Bergues leaving.

Undoubtedly, the role of the assistant manager is a crucial strand in set-up of a football club, and while Liverpool are currently without the benefit of Buvac's experience, know-how and attention to detail, Klopp will attest that he has the right men in place behind the scenes.

Indeed Lijnders has grown in importance to Liverpool and Krawietz is a quiet but crucial presence alongside the Dutchman.

One glance at the league table is enough proof at present.

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Pep Lijnders has filled Zeljko Buvac void but new job underlines his importance to Liverpool and Jurgen Klopp



Pep Lijnders' importance to Liverpool has been evident all season.

It's been crystal clear with his input during training sessions at Melwood and on matchdays when Jurgen Klopp frequently uses him as a sounding board on the touchline.

Now the highly-rated Dutch coach's new job title is finally official: assistant manager.

Lijnders has kept a low profile publicly since he returned to Liverpool last summer. Until Monday his role on the list of staff on the club website was unspecified.

That was because Lijnders had effectively filled the void created by Zeljko Buvac's shock exit last April, but he couldn't be named as his successor until the Bosnian-Serb's contract situation had been sorted.

Finally, nine months after Buvac's shock exit, a compromise over his severance package has been agreed. He's no longer a club employee.

Lijnders and Peter Krawietz now both have the same title and they are Klopp's trusted lieutenants, along with goalkeeping coach John Achterberg and head of fitness and conditioning Andreas Kornmayer.

Earlier this season, when Liverpool were still searching for some attacking fluency, fears were voiced in some quarters that they were feeling the absence of the man Klopp termed 'The Brain'.

But the Reds' thrilling Premier League title challenge has well and truly silenced that discussion. Liverpool have gone to the next level without the coach who had worked alongside Klopp for 17 years.

It was telling how quickly Klopp moved to bring Lijnders back to Merseyside.

Shortly after he was sacked by Dutch outfit NEC Nijmegen last May, Klopp made it clear that there was still a job for him at Melwood and the offer was quickly accepted.

Lijnders had walked away from Liverpool four months earlier after being handed a shot at management but Klopp never held that against him.

The Reds boss understood his reasons for going and he knew the value to Liverpool of securing his services once again. Lijnders was invited to the Champions League final in Kiev.

It's been some rise for the 35-year-old, who initially joined the Reds as under-16s coach at the Kirkby Academy in 2014.

Within 12 months Brendan Rodgers promoted him to the senior set-up as first-team development coach - the key link between Melwood and the Kirkby Academy.

It didn't take long after Klopp's arrival for Lijnders to prove his worth to the new manager. He's a student of the game who commands respect, his knowledge is vast and his enthusiasm on the training field is infectious.

Liverpool's style has evolved under Klopp, who has adopted a more pragmatic approach this season.

The Reds boss has also showcased a willingness to embrace new ideas and fresh voices since arriving from Borussia Dortmund with Buvac and Krawietz. Lijnders is playing a key role in that pursuit of glory.

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Record Profit

Liverpool could break the world record for pre-tax profits made by a football club as they look set to beat the €100m mark according to Inside World Football.

Reaching last season’s Champions League final as well as the sale of Philippe Coutinho has boosted the club’s 2017-18 accounts with the run to Kiev reportedly bagging £80m in profit.

Leicester hold the current record (£92.5m) following their Premier League title win in 2016 and subsequent Champions League campaign but the Reds look likely to usurp their domestic rivals this year.

The period also ends before last summer’s transfer window in which Fabinho, Naby Keita, Xherdan Shaqiri and Alisson arrived.

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Kenny Praise

Kenny Dalglish has identified Andy Robertson as a Liverpool role-model.

The Scottish full-back was playing amateur football six seasons ago after being released by Celtic at youth level and is now first-choice for both club and country after joining the Reds in 2017.

“When you sign for a very big club, it can go one of two ways,” Kenny said. “Players don’t always make their mark – but you can hardly say that about Andy.

“For Andy to be where he was just seven years ago to where he is now, is a classic example to any young footballer that you should never give up and never stop believing.

“Indeed, to young players up and down the UK who are freed every year by the big clubs, Andy is a role model.

“He has displayed just what can be achieved by hard work, perseverance and dedication.

“I have to admit I’m delighted to see him commit his future to Liverpool. For me, there are few, if any, better than him in his position.”